Camp Half-Blood in Colorado

I get many emails from kids around the world asking if I can open a branch of Camp Half-Blood in their area. After the great success of the Austin camp last summer (thanks to Topher Bradfield and Bookpeople) interest in the idea is definitely building. I just found out that Hillary Davis, children's librarian of Englewood Public Library in Englewood, Colorado, has arranged a six-week afterschool Camp Half-Blood for kids age 9-13. You can check out the details on the library's website: http://www.englewoodgov.org/Index.aspx?page=130. We're going to be sending Ms. Davis some books, T-shirts, activities and bookmarks for the kids. If your library or bookstore is interested in hosting a Camp Half-Blood or "Percy party," send me an email. I may be able to help with promotional goodies and ideas!

Haley's Recent Reads

My son Haley, eleven years old, offers his opinion on his most recent read, Terry Pratchet's A Hat Full of Sky.

A Hat Full of Sky Review
by Haley Riordan

If you are into comedy and magic A Hat Full of Sky is a book for you. The story is about a girl named Tiffany who is a witch and goes to get a mentor, but then a mind-controlling demon the hiver chases her. Meanwhile her friends the Nac Mac Feegle, four-inch fairies with attitude, are trying to save her. In the book the Nac Mac Feegle try to save her by going into the mountains standing on each other’s shoulders dressed as a man riding from stage coach to stage coach trying to get up the mountain. When the hiver gets in Tiffany's head the Nac Mac Feegle have to also go in and kick out the hiver. Also in the book Tiffany finds out a secret about the hiver that no one else has found out before.


The book has a few good jokes in it that are really great. In some parts it’s kind of slow but still a great read. My favorite character in the book is Rob Anybody the feegle because he is really funny and puts in some good jokes, like once he was in a bath and saw a duck and Miss Level (Tiffany's mentor) put her ear to the door and she heard, “What ar yu looking at yu scunner,” and then she hears a bubbling and a sinking noise. The book gets slow at the very end. When Tiffany gets rid of the hiver its just talk talk talk. My favorite part is when the hiver takes over Tiffany and she has to fight it. Even though some parts are slow it’s a great book and I really had a good time reading it.

The Perils of Proofreading

Oh, the joys of editing!

One of my wife’s pet peeves is when people complain about errors in my books. Not as if Becky and I don’t complain about typos, too, when we’re reading novels. Errors are annoying, and they can pull the reader out of an enjoyable story. Still, Becky just hates it when someone points to some mistake in one of my books -- a missing word, a misspelling, a typo -- and comes to the conclusion: “No one proofread this book!” Alas, nothing could be farther from the truth, but still errors happen. Why?

A tour of the editing process may be in order. The revisions start with me, of course. As the author, I must take final responsibility for any errors in the text of my novel. By the time I send a manuscript to my editor, I’ve spent a year with the story. I’ve read every chapter at least twenty times, trying to fine-tune it. That’s part of the problem. I know the story so well by then, I can easily miss errors. I skim over missing words because I know what is supposed to be there, and my mind simply supplies it. After I’ve checked the manuscript so many times that I just can’t read it anymore, I give it to Becky and several other members of my immediate family to proofread. I also read it aloud to my son (if it’s a Percy Jackson book). Reading aloud, by the way, is tremendously helpful for revision. I recommend it to every author. I catch sentences that don’t sound right and dialogue that needs revision, as well as many typos.

After all this, the manuscript is sent to my editor. She reads it primarily for content changes. This character needs work. This part of the story needs some tightening. She also catches many grammar or punctuation errors that eluded me. The manuscript then comes back to me. I make changes and corrections. It goes back again to my editor, who gives it another pass. If she approves, it then goes to the copy-editor, who is the real stickler in the process. He goes over the manuscript with a magnifying glass, studying the grammar, spelling, and usage. He checks all factual references to make sure they are correct. Wherever necessary, he capitalizes, punctuates, and basically standardizes the language. He even types up an extensive style sheet, sometimes 5-6 pages long, listing exactly which rules of grammar he invoked and which forms of usage will be the law in this particular manuscript. My editor then reads it again and sends it back to me. I give it yet another pass and then send the manuscript back for typesetting.

Now you would think, at this point, the manuscript would be free of errors. Unfortunately, this is not the case. Sometimes the manuscript is re-keyed completely during the typesetting process, allowing an opportunity for a whole new set of errors to be introduced. I do get to look at the galley (the typeset manuscript) before it is bound and turned into an advance reading copy -- the kind that says ‘uncorrected proof,’ though this is something of a misnomer. Still, errors slip through.

Becky knows how long and arduous this process is, which is why she feels the need to rise to my defense when someone wonders why I don’t edit my manuscripts more carefully.

Me, I’ve become more philosophical about it over time. In a 90,000-word manuscript, five or ten typos shouldn’t be surprising. I knew I was in good company when I read Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince two summers ago. The hardcover edition has some glaring typos in it. This was the most anticipated literary event in the history of the world. You would think if any book would be error-free, it would be Harry Potter. But, no. Even his magic was no match for the dreaded Lord Typo.

So next time you come across an error in a book and are tempted to blame a lazy editor or lazy author, just remember us toiling away in the land of comma splices and hyphenated words. We try, dear reader. We really do!

Does a Teacher's Gender Affect Learning?

This was posted by the AP today -- a controversial but fascinating study that suggests boys learn more from men, while girls learn more from women. Certainly this is open for a great deal of debate, but it's at least food for thought.

When I was in the classroom, I was very aware of being one of only a few male teachers at the middle school level. And male teachers in the elementary school? Rarer still. Parents would often express how much they depended on me to be a role model for their boys. "We are so glad he finally has a male teacher," they would say. I can't tell you how often I heard that.

I don't know how much of a difference my gender really made to my students. I tried to be very aware of treating girls and boys equally, and did a lot of training on how boys and girls learn best. But I knew that many parents put great importance on their boys having male teachers to look up to. I always felt the weight of that responsibility. It will be interesting to see if this study sparks a debate.




Study: Teacher's gender affects learning

By BEN FELLER, AP Education Writer

WASHINGTON - For all the differences between the sexes, here's one that might stir up debate in the teacher's lounge: Boys learn more from men and girls learn more from women.
That's the upshot of a provocative study by Thomas Dee, an associate professor of economics at Swarthmore College and visiting scholar at Stanford University. His study was to appear Monday in Education Next, a quarterly journal published by the Hoover Institution.
Vetted and approved by peer reviewers, Dee's research faces a fight for acceptance. Some leading education advocates dispute his conclusions and the way in which he reached them.
But Dee says his research supports his point, that gender matters when it comes to learning. Specifically, as he describes it, having a teacher of the opposite sex hurts a student's academic progress.

"We should be thinking more carefully about why," he said.

Dee warns against drawing fast conclusions based on his work. He is not endorsing single-sex education, or any other policy.

Rather, he hopes his work will spur more research into gender's effect and what to do about it.
His study comes as the proportion of male teachers is at its lowest level in 40 years. Roughly 80 percent of teachers in U.S. public schools are women.

Dee's study is based on a nationally representative survey of nearly 25,000 eighth-graders that was conducted by the Education Department in 1988. Though dated, the survey is the most comprehensive look at students in middle school, when gender gaps emerge, Dee said.
He examined test scores as well as self-reported perceptions by teachers and students.

Dee found that having a female teacher instead of a male teacher raised the achievement of girls and lowered that of boys in science, social studies and English.

Looked at the other way, when a man led the class, boys did better and girls did worse.

The study found switching up teachers actually could narrow achievement gaps between boys and girls, but one gender would gain at the expense of the other.

Dee also contends that gender influences attitudes.

For example, with a female teacher, boys were more likely to be seen as disruptive. Girls were less likely to be considered inattentive or disorderly.

In a class taught by a man, girls were more likely to say the subject was not useful for their future. They were less likely to look forward to the class or to ask questions.

Dee said he isolated a teacher's gender as an influence by accounting for several other factors that could affect student performance. But his study is sure to be scrutinized.

"The data, as he presents them, are far from convincing," said Marcia Greenberger, co-president of the National Women's Law Center, which works to advance the progress of women.
Greenberger said she found Dee's conclusions to be questionable and inconsistent. More broadly, she said, boys and girls benefit by having male and female teachers as role models.
"I don't think there are many parents or students, looking back over their educational careers, who haven't been inspired by a teacher of the opposite sex," she said.

"And many have had very unhappy experiences with teachers of the same gender that they are. We have to be careful of too many generalizations," Greenberger said.

Student success cannot be narrowed to the gender of the teacher, said Reg Weaver, president of the National Education Association, the country's largest teachers' union.

Experienced teachers, good textbooks, smaller class sizes and modern equipment all influence how boys and girls do in class, Weaver said.

"Students benefit by having exposure to teachers who look like them, who can identify with their culture ... but this is just one variable among many," Weaver said.
Dee said his research raises valid questions.

Should teachers get more training about the learning styles of boys and girls? Should they be taught to combat biases in what they expect of boys and girls?

In the nature-nurture debate, he said, teacher gender belongs.

"Some people will react strongly to this," he said. "But I've taken pains to explain that we need to be cautious about drawing policy conclusions. As provocative as this all might seem, I really haven't gotten that much negative feedback."

The Newbery Post

I’ve gotten more emails about my previous post, Patrick’s Summer Reading Blues, than any post I’ve ever done. It seems I touched a nerve! The responses ranged from “You’re being too harsh on Newbery books” to “I can’t believe you had the courage to say something about the Newbery. Thank you!” Several simply said, “Amen!”

I try not to rant too much. Honest! Doubtless the post was fueled by my frustration as a parent who wants his child to love reading. This was compounded by my years in the classroom and my experience with some (not all) Newbery titles.

When it comes to children’s literature, I tend to be a populist. My primary concern is youth literacy. What will appeal to the most children? What will get them reading? What will inspire them to pick up more books? A book that can do this is, to me, a “best book” for children. If the book has levels of meaning, beautiful writing, great characters, a haunting story – that’s all wonderful and important. But will children enjoy it? Will they stick with it long enough to recognize those literary merits adults care so much about? If the answer to these questions is no, then I have a problem with that book.

I remember reading some decidedly mixed on-line reviews of a recent Newbery winner. Many of the book’s most ardent supporters said something like this, “This book has great literary merit. While it’s true children may not like it, older teens and adults will love it, and –” At which point I thought: Whoa, wait a minute. Children won’t like it, but you’re arguing that it deserved to win a children’s book award? What is wrong with this picture? Hopefully, the book’s supporters were as off-base as the book’s detractors. Hopefully some children will like it. But perhaps this particular Newbery title is not the sort of book that should be made required reading for all students. Unfortunately, since the Newbery is the “gold standard” of children’s literature, this is often what happens. Perhaps, you may say, the problem then is not the award books, but how we use the award books in the classroom. I would not disagree with that. But how do we change this? How do we change the conception that the only books worth reading, the only ones worthy of prestigious attention, are the hard ones very few children like? To paraphrase Mark Twain, “literature is the books everyone agrees are great, but no one has read.”

Since I left the classroom, I’ve been a volunteer reading tutor at a local elementary school, working one-on-one with at-risk second graders who are struggling with reading. In a way, this has brought me full-circle, since I began my teaching career working in public schools in the poorer districts of San Antonio. I’ve spent about half my career in public schools, half my career in private. I’ve seen a huge range of student ability. As I do school author visits, I go everywhere in the country. I do presentations for Title I schools struggling with teen parents and gangs and extreme poverty. I do presentations for the most elite private schools in the country. When I think of children’s literature, I see the thousands of faces of all those children. I see my eight-year-old reading buddy at Cable Elementary. And of course, I see my own sons, both of them reluctant readers, despite what their dad does for a living. I care about books that will get them excited about reading – that will light up their faces and make them think, “Wow, reading can be fun after all!” To me, that’s a “best” book!

New Warnings for ADHD Medication

This was in the news this morning. While none of this information is new, it will be interesting to see if fresh warning labels change people's perception of ADHD medication. My feelings about these drugs are ambivalent. On the one hand, I've done a lot of research, gone to a lot of workshops, and heard a lot of experts speak about ADHD. I've seen firsthand the difference that proper levels of medication can make to a child's performance in the classroom. Some children really do better when they take these medications. On the other hand, I know that the number of medicated children in the U.S. is many times greater than in other industrialized countries. The diagnosis for ADHD is very subjective. The medicines are overprescribed, and sometimes children who are simply rambunctious in the classroom are labeled ADHD. Conversely, some children who are ADD but do not display hyperactivity are missed. This happens frequently with girls. Last year, our son Haley was on Ritalin for the first time. It was unsettling to watch his behavior change while our doctor tried to find the right medication and the right dosage. While he did better in the classroom, he seemed to compensate for this by going wild at home once the medicine wore off. This year, we are home-schooling. Haley is off medication, and so far, doing fine. I'll post an update on this as the year goes along.

In the meantime, the ADHD medication debate will not go away . . .


New warnings on ADHD drugs

By Susan Heavey Mon Aug 21, 8:26 PM ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Several drugs to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder must include new warning information about the risk of heart problems and psychotic behavior, U.S. health officials said on Monday.

The drugs, which include GlaxoSmithKline Plc's Dexedrine and Novartis AG's
Ritalin, must include a warning about the possible risk of sudden death and serious heart problems,

Food and Drug Administration spokeswoman Susan Bro told Reuters.
The drugs, stimulants that can raise blood pressure, must also include warnings about the risk of behavioral problems such as aggression and mania, she said.

Bro could not confirm whether other ADHD drugs -- Johnson & Johnson's Concerta and Eli Lilly and Co.'s Strattera -- also were ordered to carry the warnings.

Strattera already includes a caution about suicidal thoughts, while Shire Plc's Adderall already carries a warning that misuse can cause heart problems.

The FDA's decision comes months after two separate panels of outside experts offered conflicting opinions on whether the risks warranted the strongest warnings possible -- a so-called black box.

FDA's Bro could not confirm whether the heart warning was boxed. But a letter from Glaxo made public earlier on Monday advising doctors about the new warnings said the heart caution was a boxed warning.

Other non-boxed warnings about psychotic behavior, stunted growth, seizures and vision problems also were included, Glaxo's letter said.

Holly Russell, spokeswoman for the British drugmaker, said Glaxo agreed with the FDA's request to add the warning language and complied with the agency's recommended wording.
Other drugmakers did not immediately return calls seeking comment.

In March, FDA advisers said new information about the risks should be added to the labels for attention deficit drugs. The outside experts stopped short of supporting a boxed warning, saying they did not want to scare off patients or their parents.

A different FDA panel in February recommended black box heart-related warnings but said it was unclear if the drugs caused heart-related complications.

Some doctors have expressed concern that new warnings could dampen use of the medicines, which the FDA has estimated see about 1 million prescriptions for adults and 2 million for children each month.

Critics say many of the prescriptions are unnecessary and that the drugs are over used.
FDA's Bro said the agency began contacting Glaxo and Novartis about the new warning requirements in May.

That same month, Canadian health authorities publicly warned people with high blood pressure, heart disease and other medical problems to avoid taking medications for ADHD.

Demigod of the Week

I want to send a shout-out to Elior, our demigod of the week from Israel. Elior emailed several months ago after he finished The Lightning Thief. He told me he was having trouble finding The Sea of Monsters, because most of the bookstores in Israel carry a limited supply of children’s fantasy in English, and he prefers English to reading Hebrew. (So far, Percy Jackson is not available in Hebrew).

Three weeks ago, during the most recent surge in fighting, Elior wrote again and told me that things were really tense in his hometown, which is very close to the Gaza Strip. His family was dealing with the threat of rocket attacks, it was difficult to travel, and the only thing that gave Elior a sense of normalcy was being able to escape into a book. He was basically stuck with Harry Potter, because that’s all that was available, and he still hadn’t been able to find The Sea of Monsters.

His letter was so moving, I made arrangements to send two copies of The Sea of Monsters to his hometown – one for Elior and one for his school library. I wasn’t sure when the books would arrive, if they would arrive at all, but within a week Elior wrote back to tell me the books had made it safely and he was already halfway through.

As I told Elior, the conflict in the Middle East is always very much on my mind. I pray daily for those affected by the violence on both sides of the Israeli border. There is too much tragedy and too much suffering. I wish I saw an end in sight, but the situation is so complicated and the resentment is so deep. In the meantime, my best wishes go out to all the children who are caught in the middle of the conflict, and I hope each of them can at least find solace in a good book. Stay safe, Elior, and keep reading!

Patrick’s Summer Reading Blues

My younger son Patrick went back to school this week. He was not exactly thrilled, but he’s a good student and does well once he gets back into the classroom. His one big gripe: the summer reading assignment.

I’m sure many parents are familiar with the dreaded summer reading assignment. This year, Patrick was asked to read six free choice books (This part was easy; He likes the Magic Treehouse series) and one required book, Ginger Pye by Eleanor Estes. Ginger Pye was . . . problematic.

Patrick found the book extremely slow and hard to relate to. After many nights of struggling, we finally special ordered the audio version and used that to supplement his reading. This was better, but still the book was not a great experience for him. Patrick is eight years old, and he has already started forming opinions about school and reading: School is boring. They make you do things that don’t matter. Reading is boring. The books aren’t fun and they don’t mean anything to him.

As a teacher and writer, I have a lot of trouble hearing him talk this way. Unfortunately, after struggling through Ginger Pye with him, I am hard-pressed not to think the kid has a point. I tried reminding him that some books are great. I write books, after all, so he should love reading. Books pay for his tuition! But Patrick just shrugged. He bases his opinion on what he is required to do: read Ginger Pye.

The day before school started, we lost the book. Perhaps Patrick threw it away, as he had been threatening to do all summer. I don’t know. At any rate, we had to drive to the bookstore to buy another. I called in advance to make sure the store had copies. They did. They always keep Newbery titles in stock. As we were checking out, the clerk raised her eyebrows and said, “That’s an old one, isn’t it?” True, the book was published in 1952. But hey: It’s a Newbery title, so here it is, still being read fifty-four years later.

On the way home, Patrick took the book out of the bag and looked at it. He grumbled for a while about how much he wished he could burn it. Then he said, “What’s this thing on the cover?”

I glanced back. “That’s the Newbery Award medal.”

“What’s it mean?”

“Well, it means a group of librarians voted it the best book for children the year it came out.”

Patrick looked stunned, then appalled. Then he rolled his eyes dramatically, and with as much eight-year-old contempt as he could muster, he said, “Librarians!”

I tried to explain that the Newbery is supposed to honor quality literature, books that really make kids think, not necessarily the books that are the most fun to read. I told him Ginger Pye might have been more accessible back when it was published. Patrick was having none of it.

“Adults may like it,” he said firmly. “Kids don’t.”

And I think Patrick put his finger on a problem that still troubles the world of children’s literature. What kids read is dictated by adults – from the writers and editors to the booksellers and librarians. We are all well-intentioned. We do our best to decide what will be good reading for children, but sometimes we pick what we think kids should like, not what they do like. And when we don’t promote books children actually want to read, what happens? We produce generation after generation of nonreaders.

Now I’m not blaming the Newbery Award for our barely literate society. Some Newbery books are absolutely stunning. But you’ll excuse me if I say, having taught English for fifteen years, that very few Newbery titles are . . . er . . . crowd-pleasers. Try as I might, my students quickly learned to steer away from Newbery titles when they were given a reading list to choose from. Why? That little gold sticker, in their minds, had come to mean “BORING.” Those were the required books, the ones you only read if you had to.

I sometimes wonder what the Newbery committee envisions when they choose their books. I imagine they picture a solitary book-loving child, curled up in a library chair by a window on a rainy day, happily absorbed in a thought-provoking novel. I doubt they picture a classroom full of twenty to thirty reluctant readers, forced to study the novel because it’s “on the list,” even if the novel was published twenty, thirty, or fifty-four years ago. Unfortunately, in promoting quality children’s literature, the Newbery too often forgets the word “children.” We use these books as our canon of must-read titles. These are recommended. They must be safe. They must be quality. The parents certainly cannot complain if a book has that little golden sticker. And in using these books over and over for decades, we end up convincing kids of what they already suspected: Reading is boring. Reading is hard, and it doesn’t apply to their lives. I doubt this is what any librarian would want, but all too often that’s exactly what happens. Ask the parents in Patrick’s class who were grumbling about Ginger Pye at the pool party. Ask Patrick. And please God, grant me the wisdom to remember that I am writing for children, not golden stickers. If children don’t enjoy my books, I haven’t done my job.

Rick's recent reads

I've been reading a surprising amount of "grown-up" books lately. It's kind of nice to go back and forth between YA and adult. Some of the most recent titles I've read:

Freakonomics, Levitt and Dubner. Okay, so it takes me a while to get to titles everyone else has read. This was a very quick read. I finished the whole thing in one plane flight. I can see what the buzz is about. The way the authors turn "common knowledge" on its head and play with statistics is truly fascinating. The lesson: Don't take anything for granted. Some of the chapter headings were more sensationalist than substantive: How are Real Estate Agents Like the Ku Klux Klan? . . . this one was a stretch, and the gist of the chapter didn't really address any true similarity, but it sure caught my attention. I did feel, at the end of the book, that the author's introductory assertion (warning) was correct: It was a book about nothing, and it left me with a kind of empty feeling. There were tidbits of fascinating information, a mosaic of weird factoids. But it didn't really have a unifying theme, other than the theme that there is no theme. In that alone, it's probably the perfect book for the times: deconstructionism, chaos theory . . . This book fits right in.

The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini. Another book everyone else seems to have already read, and another one I finished in a single sitting. Honestly, I'm usually not a fast reader! The writing was beautiful, crisp and evocative. A perfect sense of character and setting. I loved the story. It was impossible not to care about the characters. As an author, I had some minor quibbles with the plot toward the end. There were some moments that just screamed "symbolism" or "irony," as if they were designed to be analyzed in a literature class or discussed in a book club. These jarred me out of the story, because they seemed so unrealistic in an otherwise beautifully authentic narrative. I can't be too specific without ruining the story, but if you read the book maybe you'll see the bits I mean. Despite this, it was a gorgeous novel well worth reading.

School Days, Robert B. Parker. Ah, good old Spenser. This is the series that got me into reading mysteries back in college, and eventually lead me to write a private eye series of my own. I've had a love/hate relationship with the later Spenser novels (which to me is everything from The Widening Gyre forward). I am, I admit, one of the Susan-haters. I can't stand Spenser's love interest, which is one reason I loved this book. Susan is hardly in it at all. Neither is Hawk, Spenser's sidekick. (Hawk would probably shoot anyone who referred to him as a sidekick, of course.) The novel is just Spenser doing his thing, and the story has a playful energy I haven't seen in Parker's novels in a long time. I really liked this book. The subject matter is timely but a bit icky (I can't tell you without spoiling the plot, but you'll see what I mean). Still, it was classic Spenser. If you want a straight-forward PI novel with good entertainment value and a great sense of humor, this book will not let you down. My favorite part was that I read it on the way to Boston, Spenser's stomping ground. I got to the city, after reading Spenser novels for twenty years, and found myself walking down Boylston Street, which I'd heard described so many times but had never seen. It was quite an experience!

New Bedford Boys and Girls Club

I just got back from a nice event in New Bedford, Massachusetts. I flew into Boston, my first time in the city . . . well, unless you count driving through it twenty-one years ago on our honeymoon. Boston is a beautiful city. The weather was warm and sunny, a nice change from blistering humid Texas. Wednesday afternoon I spoke to about a hundred and fifty kids at the Boys & Girls Club in New Bedford. Considering that I was an author, taking kids' time away from basketball or baseball or hanging out in the computer lab, they were surprisingly well-behaved. They had good questions and they really knew their Greek mythology during the blue candy quiz. Thanks to Comcast and Toon Disney who provided each kid with a free signed copy of The Sea of Monsters and an ice cream party (I'll let you guess which gift got the louder applause).

A nice article from the local paper, The Standard Times, is below.

'Monsters' book enthralls youngsters

By ZACH ROCHA, Standard-Times correspondent

NEW BEDFORD — Comcast and Toon Disney wanted to give the children at the Boys & Girls Club of New Bedford a "Passport To Reading." But it was Rick Riordan who wanted to give them a passport to Greek mythology.

The award-winning author from San Antonio, Texas, read an excerpt from his novel, "The Sea of Monsters," to about 150 children yesterday, helping to start the Comcast and Toon Disney-sponsored Passport to Reading program.

"The Sea of Monsters" is the second installment of a five-part series by Mr. Riordan about the fictional adventures of an adolescent boy named Percy Jackson. "This guy was good. I've never seen our kids that quiet for that long before," joked Robert Mendes, executive director of the Boys & Girls Club. "They were really good when it came to the question-and-answer session. He was asking some tough questions, and they knew a lot about the Greek mythology."

Mr. Riordan decided to read the opening five pages to the novel's third chapter because "that's where the first high-action scene takes place." Twelve-year-olds Kayla Britte and Sarah Mello enjoyed his animated delivery.

"I thought the author was really funny," Kayla said. "I thought he was very funny when he did the voices of the old ladies," Sarah said. "I'm very excited about the next book."

To get youngsters charged up about books is what Comcast and Toon Disney intended the program to do. The start of school "is only a month away, so we wanted to get them reading outside of the classroom. They can take this with them," said Becca Fracassa, community relations coordinator for Comcast.

Jessica Gioglio, Comcast's public relations coordinator, said every child in the program will receive "a reading passport and will get a stamp after every book they read. After they've read 10 books, they'll receive a certificate of achievement and a set of collectible bookmarks." The Boys & Girls Club is one of five national stops that Toon Disney is making on its Passport to Reading tour.

For the past few years, Comcast has contributed to the Boys & Girls Club, which was responsible for bringing the program here.

"Two years ago, our volunteers painted most of the interior of the club," Ms. Fracassa said. "We provide free cable and Internet to the club, and we recently donated 150 books as part of a New England-wide book donation drive."

"We were just very honored that they've continued to support us," Mr. Mendes said. Ms. Fracassa said the program might expand to other areas in the community.

The Titan's Curse Cover!

I just received this from Hyperion: A first look at The Titan's Curse cover, as it would appear next to the other books in the series. I think it looks pretty amazing! There may be a few minor tweaks, but this is very close to what the final cover will look like when it hits the bookstores in May 2007. This is the American cover. As soon as I get a look at the UK cover, I will let you know.

Boys at School

Becky came across an interesting article on educating boys from The Independent in the UK. The problems are almost identical to what we face here in the US. It's very interesting to me how much more "gender-aware" education has become since I began teaching. We've made excellent strides addressing the educational needs of girls (though we still have a lot of work to do), and now it seems a movement is underway to understand how boys learn best. Long overdue, I think!



Boys at school: Long climb back to the top

Experts have been wringing their hands at the underachievement of boys. But now a group of schools in Yorkshire is showing the world how to kick-start their enthusiasm for learning.

Hilary Wilce reports
Published: 27 July 2006

Boys don't do well in school. They work less hard than girls, act up in class, and fall down in exams. Their underperformance hampers their life chances and blights society - disaffected youths are the main perpetrators of violence and anti-social behaviour. Yet to many teachers and parents their failure is an enigma. What can you do, they shrug. They're boys.

The answer is: a lot. And fast. In fact, a city-wide project is proving that we already know exactly what to do to get boys going. And when it is done, results show up almost immediately.

Eighteen months ago a group of Bradford schools set out to raise boys' school marks, behaviour and aspirations. A pilot group of 22 primary schools began the work, and 18 of them improved boys' attainments within the year, with 13 seeing an average increase of 5 per cent in literacy and 10 per cent in numeracy in national test scores.

Teachers are also seeing a real turnaround in boys' attitudes, and boys are reporting changes. "I feel a lot better about everything," says Grant Steel, 14, whose secondary school is one of the nearly half of all Bradford schools now involved in the project. "I'm much more positive about what I can do now."

A number of separate actions are fuelling the change, but behind them all is the realisation that many of the things that motivate boys have been stripped out of schools with recent reforms. Girls have stoically adapted to the changes, but boys have often lost the plot.

"Over the past 15 years school has become a more narrow and drier kind of affair for some pupils," says Chris Ford, director of the city's Excellence in Cities Action Zone, which is running the project. "The pressure is all on literacy and numeracy. There is less time for a broader curriculum. But if you have a rich curriculum, hands-on learning, a rich life beyond class, and behaviour policies that are firm and plain, then boys and girls achieve equally."

There are, he says, about a dozen small things schools can do, "but when you have got them all going on, the overall culture of the schools shifts and you see reactions very, very quickly, usually within a couple of terms."

Boys tend to have high energy levels and need active lessons and lively sports programmes. They like to be given good reasons for doing things, enjoy practical tasks and often prefer non-fiction reading. They are uncomfortable with feelings, can find it hard to express themselves, and need people to understand that underneath their rowdy behaviour can lurk very low self-confidence.

However, give them firm behaviour boundaries, clearly structured work, and a sense of respect and attention, and they not only flourish, but relish the feeling of belonging to an institution they are proud of. "Once a school gets boys on board, they become really strong ambassadors," says Chris Ford. "They are proud to wear the shirt."

The project is training teachers to be more aware of these needs and encouraging schools to draw up action plans. But there is no magic template. What schools do varies according to their circumstances.

The project has brought in expert tutors, such as Gary Wilson, an education consultant who has spent years supporting boys' achievement as an adviser in Kirklees, and has encouraged teachers to think about how to develop boys' reading, writing, and emotional literacy

However, Ford stresses that boys are not "a problem", nor do they all fit the stereotype. The Bradford work addresses broad tendencies, and the things it advocates are good for girls, too. "What this is all about is offering differentiated provision according to the learning needs of pupils. I would like to see it as a normal part of any school's development plan."

At Shirley Manor Primary School, learning is visibly lively and active. Nursery children - girls as well as boys - climb trees and hang from branches. In the adjoining playground, older children are enthusiastically acting out being Viking berserkers, while Year 5 children are using digital cameras to make their own cartoons. Staff have been trained to think about how to communicate better with boys. "You need to use far more empathy and get their full attention. For example, you might crouch down and say, 'I understand you're upset...' and talk it through, and then say 'So do you think it might be a good idea to say sorry?'," explains assistant head Tracy Annal. When it comes to developing literacy, "Boys have to have a reason for what they are doing, and you have to do it in a practical way."

Behaviour policies are firm and fair, team spirit is fostered, and an awards system gives children merits for doing well. Boys are also encouraged to be playground mentors, helping children who are feeling lonely or who are bullied.

"I became a mentor because I'd been bullied," says Thomas Ramsay, 10. "I like helping other people and it helps if you know what children feel like when it's happening to them."

Teachers say much of their training highlighted what they already knew, but making it more explicit has brought results - the school's national test benchmark English results went up by 2 per cent in 2005, and maths results went up by 6 per cent. Gillian Wilson, a Year 5 teacher, says that as a result of the project she has "changed it all, thrown it all out" and brought in more drama and role play to her lessons, changed her choice of books, and found new ways to teach literacy. "This has really developed me as a teacher, and hooked in the boys. Their creative writing is fantastic now!"

Across the city at Salt Grammar School, teachers have been trained in boy-friendly methods and resources, and are seeing test scores go up, although deputy head teacher IanMorrel stresses the importance of making changes subtle and low-profile.

Boys tend to like clear, multipart lessons where they know what they are going to do and how they are going to do it. They prefer active learning and practical tasks to reading and writing, and can be drawn out by direct questioning.

"Boys don't put up their hands in class," points out Morrel. "They tend to think, 'Oh, she's going to answer, so there's no point thinking about it.' But if they know they might be picked, they have to think it through.''

At GCSE, where boys can flounder in the face of large pieces of coursework, teachers now know to "chunk it down" by spelling out clearly what has to be done and encouraging pupils to focus on one thing at a time.

Boys' literacy has been developed through daily quiet reading, increasing the number of boy-friendly library books and library lessons. Librarian Jean Luxford often finds herself buying requested books on sports or motorbikes. "We often have twice as many boys in the library as girls. They have their heads down and are reading!"

The school is supporting capable but underachieving younger pupils. Borderline pupils in years 9, 10 and 11 have been given study support and a programme of activities and visits. They have learnt the importance of evaluating and redrafting work, and taught different methods for revision.

Sixth-formers act as mentors, and the success has been clear. This year almost all the Year 9 pupils hit their maths and science target level, and 61 per cent got one or two grades higher in maths than expected.

Ben Priestley, 13, was "well chuffed" that his results exceeded expectations, and says his geography teacher expects an A* from him at GCSE! "The group wasn't for people who were thick or naughty, just those who needed a bit of oomph putting into them. I knew I could do it. I just didn't know how to express it.

"We did a lot of group work and a lot about how to learn, and about people skills and how to talk to people. I'm a lot more confident now. We were taken to see Imran Khan, and I stood up in front of 500 people and asked a question! I just feel a lot better about everything. Everyone should have this sort of thing."

Mentor Tom Hickey, 17, says he volunteered because he remembers being in the same position at their age and not getting help. "My role in the group was just to answer questions and help them through. But it's helped my skills, too. I'm thinking of being a social worker. And it really works. I'd recommend it to anyone."

Eighteen secondary schools and 59 primary schools are now involved in the project, and their work is beginning to attract widespread interest.

"We have consistent data across all schools. Last year's Sats results were encouraging, and we're getting lots of reports of a calmer atmosphere and of changes in individual behaviour," says Chris Ford. "We're not surprised by what has happened, but we are a bit surprised by the speed of it." What needs to be done now, he says, is to consolidate it and make sure it "sticks" in schools.

"But there's no reason to think this wouldn't work anywhere. After all, we didn't invent it. It's what Ofsted and HMI and other people have been saying for years. All we've done is to take their good advice and turn it into effective practice - but in a way that allows every school to tailor it to its own setting."

Boys don't do well in school. They work less hard than girls, act up in class, and fall down in exams. Their underperformance hampers their life chances and blights society - disaffected youths are the main perpetrators of violence and anti-social behaviour. Yet to many teachers and parents their failure is an enigma. What can you do, they shrug. They're boys.

The answer is: a lot. And fast. In fact, a city-wide project is proving that we already know exactly what to do to get boys going. And when it is done, results show up almost immediately.

Eighteen months ago a group of Bradford schools set out to raise boys' school marks, behaviour and aspirations. A pilot group of 22 primary schools began the work, and 18 of them improved boys' attainments within the year, with 13 seeing an average increase of 5 per cent in literacy and 10 per cent in numeracy in national test scores.

Teachers are also seeing a real turnaround in boys' attitudes, and boys are reporting changes. "I feel a lot better about everything," says Grant Steel, 14, whose secondary school is one of the nearly half of all Bradford schools now involved in the project. "I'm much more positive about what I can do now."

A number of separate actions are fuelling the change, but behind them all is the realisation that many of the things that motivate boys have been stripped out of schools with recent reforms. Girls have stoically adapted to the changes, but boys have often lost the plot.

"Over the past 15 years school has become a more narrow and drier kind of affair for some pupils," says Chris Ford, director of the city's Excellence in Cities Action Zone, which is running the project. "The pressure is all on literacy and numeracy. There is less time for a broader curriculum. But if you have a rich curriculum, hands-on learning, a rich life beyond class, and behaviour policies that are firm and plain, then boys and girls achieve equally."

There are, he says, about a dozen small things schools can do, "but when you have got them all going on, the overall culture of the schools shifts and you see reactions very, very quickly, usually within a couple of terms."

Boys tend to have high energy levels and need active lessons and lively sports programmes. They like to be given good reasons for doing things, enjoy practical tasks and often prefer non-fiction reading. They are uncomfortable with feelings, can find it hard to express themselves, and need people to understand that underneath their rowdy behaviour can lurk very low self-confidence.

However, give them firm behaviour boundaries, clearly structured work, and a sense of respect and attention, and they not only flourish, but relish the feeling of belonging to an institution they are proud of. "Once a school gets boys on board, they become really strong ambassadors," says Chris Ford. "They are proud to wear the shirt."

The project is training teachers to be more aware of these needs and encouraging schools to draw up action plans. But there is no magic template. What schools do varies according to their circumstances.

The project has brought in expert tutors, such as Gary Wilson, an education consultant who has spent years supporting boys' achievement as an adviser in Kirklees, and has encouraged teachers to think about how to develop boys' reading, writing, and emotional literacy

However, Ford stresses that boys are not "a problem", nor do they all fit the stereotype. The Bradford work addresses broad tendencies, and the things it advocates are good for girls, too. "What this is all about is offering differentiated provision according to the learning needs of pupils. I would like to see it as a normal part of any school's development plan."

At Shirley Manor Primary School, learning is visibly lively and active. Nursery children - girls as well as boys - climb trees and hang from branches. In the adjoining playground, older children are enthusiastically acting out being Viking berserkers, while Year 5 children are using digital cameras to make their own cartoons. Staff have been trained to think about how to communicate better with boys. "You need to use far more empathy and get their full attention. For example, you might crouch down and say, 'I understand you're upset...' and talk it through, and then say 'So do you think it might be a good idea to say sorry?'," explains assistant head Tracy Annal. When it comes to developing literacy, "Boys have to have a reason for what they are doing, and you have to do it in a practical way."

Behaviour policies are firm and fair, team spirit is fostered, and an awards system gives children merits for doing well. Boys are also encouraged to be playground mentors, helping children who are feeling lonely or who are bullied.

"I became a mentor because I'd been bullied," says Thomas Ramsay, 10. "I like helping other people and it helps if you know what children feel like when it's happening to them."

Teachers say much of their training highlighted what they already knew, but making it more explicit has brought results - the school's national test benchmark English results went up by 2 per cent in 2005, and maths results went up by 6 per cent. Gillian Wilson, a Year 5 teacher, says that as a result of the project she has "changed it all, thrown it all out" and brought in more drama and role play to her lessons, changed her choice of books, and found new ways to teach literacy. "This has really developed me as a teacher, and hooked in the boys. Their creative writing is fantastic now!"

Across the city at Salt Grammar School, teachers have been trained in boy-friendly methods and resources, and are seeing test scores go up, although deputy head teacher IanMorrel stresses the importance of making changes subtle and low-profile.

Boys tend to like clear, multipart lessons where they know what they are going to do and how they are going to do it. They prefer active learning and practical tasks to reading and writing, and can be drawn out by direct questioning.

"Boys don't put up their hands in class," points out Morrel. "They tend to think, 'Oh, she's going to answer, so there's no point thinking about it.' But if they know they might be picked, they have to think it through.''

At GCSE, where boys can flounder in the face of large pieces of coursework, teachers now know to "chunk it down" by spelling out clearly what has to be done and encouraging pupils to focus on one thing at a time.

Boys' literacy has been developed through daily quiet reading, increasing the number of boy-friendly library books and library lessons. Librarian Jean Luxford often finds herself buying requested books on sports or motorbikes. "We often have twice as many boys in the library as girls. They have their heads down and are reading!"

The school is supporting capable but underachieving younger pupils. Borderline pupils in years 9, 10 and 11 have been given study support and a programme of activities and visits. They have learnt the importance of evaluating and redrafting work, and taught different methods for revision.

Sixth-formers act as mentors, and the success has been clear. This year almost all the Year 9 pupils hit their maths and science target level, and 61 per cent got one or two grades higher in maths than expected.

Ben Priestley, 13, was "well chuffed" that his results exceeded expectations, and says his geography teacher expects an A* from him at GCSE! "The group wasn't for people who were thick or naughty, just those who needed a bit of oomph putting into them. I knew I could do it. I just didn't know how to express it.

"We did a lot of group work and a lot about how to learn, and about people skills and how to talk to people. I'm a lot more confident now. We were taken to see Imran Khan, and I stood up in front of 500 people and asked a question! I just feel a lot better about everything. Everyone should have this sort of thing."

Mentor Tom Hickey, 17, says he volunteered because he remembers being in the same position at their age and not getting help. "My role in the group was just to answer questions and help them through. But it's helped my skills, too. I'm thinking of being a social worker. And it really works. I'd recommend it to anyone."

Eighteen secondary schools and 59 primary schools are now involved in the project, and their work is beginning to attract widespread interest.

"We have consistent data across all schools. Last year's Sats results were encouraging, and we're getting lots of reports of a calmer atmosphere and of changes in individual behaviour," says Chris Ford. "We're not surprised by what has happened, but we are a bit surprised by the speed of it." What needs to be done now, he says, is to consolidate it and make sure it "sticks" in schools.

"But there's no reason to think this wouldn't work anywhere. After all, we didn't invent it. It's what Ofsted and HMI and other people have been saying for years. All we've done is to take their good advice and turn it into effective practice - but in a way that allows every school to tailor it to its own setting."