I got involved in friendly discussion with one of the new publishers on the block. They said they were looking (among other things) to fill the near empty niche of fiction for boys. Among the examples they cited were ‘Hardy Boys’ .
I’m curious. For me ‘Hardy Boys’ were 11-14 reading. I read all of them (they were in the school library when I moved schools) when I was 12 in a month or so. We had two recess periods – a long one (big break) and a short one (little break). I’d move briskly to the library at big break, finish one, put up with class, go back at little break and take out my permitted 2 – which I would read before the next day (in between hooliganing around in the ‘bush’ and supposedly doing homework. No series really survives that assault, and I soon had to look for other things to read. Like that, ideally. Inevitably I was asking the various adults in my life.
The one thing that struck me, back then even, was that ONLY early teen boys seemed to read those. They were successful because… they were easy appealing reading fodder for boys, and libraries, and doting parents bought them for their kids. No adults read them. No older boys (the age of the protagonists) seemed to read them. If they read a little, they seemed to graduate to adult cowboy or shoot-’em-up detective books… or if they were ardent readers, to adult books in general. There was relatively little sf/fantasy available in that time and place.
So: to me ‘Hardy Boys’ type books were aimed at the young edge of ‘YA’ — a market almost entirely supported by libraries and adults buying them for children. Tell me if I am wrong, by all means. It may have changed with e-books, but I still don’t see a lot of boys buying their own books.
The downside with this is despite the huge need for such books (something I really believe in. I remain a starry-eyed idealist, and I want boys to have the stars _I_ had in my eyes from reading the sf I could get my hands on) you can’t sell them unless libraries buy them, bookstores stock them (so adult browsers looking for something for young Charlie will spot them) or exceptional advertising in some way of which I know not… it’s a hard-sell (particularly for an indy) as ideological capture of libraries and booksellers means boyish-boys books are icky.
There were a handful of sf books aimed at young readers that, to be honest, no adult would have read (The Capt. WE Johns Kings of Space lot spring to mind) – but SF and Fantasy crossed the line in a different way. I’m thinking particularly of the Heinlein Juvies here. The author was well enough known and loved so that adults were buying for themselves… and also for young Charlie (and Edna-Mae and…) because THE ADULTS loved reading them, loved the author and wanted their kids and nephews and nieces and friends’ sons etc. to enjoy this treat. I’d say the same holds true for Pratchett’s books for younger reader (Tiffany Aching stories, The Bromeliad). Despite the lead characters being young – and thus easy for the young readers to identify with, there’s a story adults enjoy too.
It’s a very hard line to follow. To my mind it is the ONLY way to break through the barriers of library/bookstore adults have to buy them (but don’t particularly want to read them). Look, I hope the day of every book having to be a sermon on political correctness with rainbow colors and strange ‘genders’ in which ordinary boys get a minor bit part if at all, (or a role as loser and villain) will pass in these outlets. But it won’t happen easily or soon. So, yes, I know I’m no Heinlein, but that was exactly what set out do: write a Heinlein Juvie style novel (think FARMER IN THE SKY) which I hope adults will love, and boys will see themselves in. So: that’s STORM DRAGON. It’s coming out in April, from RACONTEUR PRESS.
Now tell me to shut up and take your money. 🙂
Mad Genius Club 
13 responses to “Books for boys”
I loved your Changeling’s Island, so I can’t wait! Congratulations!
Well, when Wee Jamie, the Wonder Grandson is old enough to begin reading, I will definitely take your money. Of course, I shall read them first, just to make certain they are appropriate reading for him 😉 . And I do agree that there is a sad lack of engaging books for younger teen and tween boys … which is how my daughter came around to advising me to make my re-fit of the Lone Ranger western adventure – my Lone Star Sons series.
As an aside – when I was a young teen myself, I very much preferred the boys’ adventure books, which were all about exploring! Escaping a POW camp, climbing mountains, fighting piracy on the high seas, spying — all of that, as opposed for the girls books, which all seemed to be about suffering at the hands of the mean girls clique at school and attracting the attention of the handsome boy. Barf!
Shut up and take my money! Excellent news, Dave.
With schools “theses days” (I feel old just saying that!) not doing a good job with the basics, having a good books to counteract the drivel they try to force feed the kids is excellent.
Shut up and take my money! I’ll be buying it for my grandson.
I am on my library board (actually I am chair of it). The librarian and I have been discussing exactly the issue of books for boys and how to get more of them. (She has a young son, so for her it is personal.) She was particularly distressed because a teen reader was looking for SF with young male protagonists, and she found none that had been published in the last two years.
Storm Dragon sounds like it fills the bill and could be the leading edge of the books for boys effort at my local library. I will recommend it to her.
Also, get me a review copy. I will see if I can get Epoch Times to review it. If not, I can run it in Ricochet.
Sounds like a winner, Dave. Heaven knows it is a freaking desert out there these days.
I’m aiming a little older, 17+. When boys become men. Some of us have been 17-ish for 50 years or more, I figure it may be a larger market. ~:D
Little kids, Tom Swift, Doc Savage and Thunderbirds. Bigger kids (like myself) John Carter of Mars. Ray guns, space ships, and the incomparable Deja Thoris.
I always liked that line.
I read the Hardy Boys books in 3rd through 6th grade, 9-12 years old. They weren’t in my junior high library, and the public library only had them in the “children’s” area (which was on a completely different floor than the adult sections, which made keeping age appropriate books/people easier to keep track of). By junior high I was reading “adult” books like Alistair MacLean, Louis L’Amour, and Agatha Christie, along with some of the Heinlein juveniles and fantasy books by Tolkien and Terry Brooks. Because I had already read a fair smattering of the classics like Swiss Family Robinson, The Three Musketeers, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Tom Sawyer, my English teacher allowed me to bring books from home for our independent reading assignments.
I haven’t looked at much that has come out lately, mostly because my daughter is into fantasy with a romance angle. And those I need to flip through to make sure there’s no explicit sex scenes in.
I was an AVID Hardy Boys fan growing up and can tell you that it very much depends on the series in question as there exist several different Hardy Boys series. the first, the old “blue spines” was indeed aimed more middle grade; however, when the series changed to being paperback in the 70’s and 80’s the content matured. And the Casefiles series was definitely young adult. Later, there was a graphic novel series and then a reboot that was aimed back down to more middle grade, but I can’t speak to those.
I was reading Hardy Boys books well into my late teens. Further, I am a woman who started reading the Hardy boys when I was 10. I had been given a Nancy Drew book the year before, but as soon as I discovered the Hardy Boys, I tossed Nancy to the side and never looked back. The only time I even looked at Nancy was in the Super mysteries that was a series of stories with Nancy Drew working with the Hardy Boys and if I couldn’t get my hands on a Hardy Boys book.
The super mysteries were absolutely young adult with romantic tension set up between Nancy and Frank and even a couple of kisses here and there.
And I was reading my Hardy Boys books well into adulthood. Further, I can also tell you that there is a large and loyal fanbase out there for the Hardy Boys. I was not alone in my local neigbherhood. The books were often checked out by the local kids, and my best friend in school and I would sit on the bleachers and discuss the latest story all during recess. I used to be a member of a message board for fans of the series and most people there were actually adults who either came to the series through the blue spine books or through the 70’s tv show. The adult fans well outnumbered the kids fans. And the board was populated 99% by women. If you go to ff.net or AO3 and look at the fan fiction for the Hardy Boys, you’ll also find that most of it is written by people 16+, not 10-14 year olds.
so in my personal experience 1) no, the books do appeal to a much wider audience and it just comes down to the content put in and 2) the books also appeal to much more than just the “boy” segment; girls absolutely will love the books just as much as boys do.
Also, there is potential to take such a series and age it up too. I can tell you that the one thing that the adults wished for was stories for the brothers set when they were older – either in college, or even post college, working together to establish their own business.
Now granted, is that the way it is now? I don’t know; I’m an adult fan of Hardy Boys, not a kid. But I can say that as a kid, the concept of the Hardys appealed very much to me, and if we go by the movies that are quite popular these days with the young adult subset, I don’t have any problems believing a new series similar to the Hardy Brothers could be popular again. And the point of these publishers who listed the Hardy Boys, Encyclopedia Brown and others as examples are aiming for a group that has very much been cut out of the market all together. The question is why do boys/men not read? Because there is nothing out there for them. And if you can’t hook a boy in his middle grade years with something that appeals to him, can you really expect him to pick up books to read when he is older?
Also, my final word on this to address the marketable outreach. This isn’t the 80’s and 90’s where children are by and large siloed into school systems and locked into what is provided by their libraries or schools. Today, the homeschool market is growing fast and the number of children that are being homeschool is exploding. And you know what? those homeschool parents are absolutely looking for books that will appeal to their sons. So no, I also disagree that the only way to sell middle grade boy books is to somehow break into the market captured by “Scholastic.” And further, all it takes is capturing that boy’s attention with one book. Kids absolutely do follow their favorite series and will clamor for more of what they like. Their parents might be the ones who choose to buy the first book, but if that book appeals to the boy, he’s going to want more. Will marketing such books take a little creativity? Sure, but that’s true of adult indie published books too. But I don’t think its going to be nearly as difficult as you might think and I do very much believe the audience IS there.
What a great comment. I wonder how we can tune into the homeschool market. The only Hardy Boys I encountered were blue spine ones.
The one thing I notice is that when I was young and the right age for juveniles, they could feature young adult protagonists. Nowadays the young adults require juvenile protagonists — except in stories with characters in the military.
I was reading Andre Norton’s Catseye with an online group, and they were trying to puzzle out why it felt so mature, and I observed that Troy had to support himself, like Katniss, but for Troy, looking for a job is just life.
Starman Jones was a problem for me–I was 10 and didn’t have the vocabulary. OTOH, I did a lot better a bit later. (If only they had Kindles in 1962. The built in dictionary would have saved a lot of running to the house bookcase.) Farmer in the Sky was a highlight in junior high (7th & 8th grade), where it was in the library. OTOH, they also had Tale of Two Cities–made for the lamest book report of my school history. (I made a few pages in…)
Heinleinesque SF? At any age, I’m good. Take my money!
I LOVED Farmer in the Sky. Compared to our setbooks… Lord of the Flies – made me want to punch the author. What potential for a bang-up adventure, wasted.
So I have found it useful to research the Stratemeyer syndicate. I had enjoyed versions of many of their series.
There were series in US libraries that also hit some of the same beats, without being actual Stratemeyer.
I think I read a lot of those into my twenties, when various life things hit a lot of my reading habits.
The Stratemeyer books were pretty constantly edited and revised to make them ‘suitable’ for the intended audience of contemporary children. I’ve read some of the more original versions, but a significant number of the ones I read as a kid were later versions.