I love how information just comes to me. I don't seek this stuff out. It just finds me. I'm a "friend" of School Library Journal on Facebook. The benefits of this "friendship" is that I get to stay current with what's going on in the land of the SLJ at the same time I'm checking my friends' latest status updates. A recent SLJ Facebook post caught my eye and immediately made me laugh out loud: Boys Trail Girls in Reading; Can Fart Jokes Help? an article by Leanne Italie, Associated Press. I said aloud, "Why am I not surprised?" I live in the land of gross humor every day. And ya know? It really stinks sometimes! It gets old really fast for a mom. My sons, ages 6 and 9 heard the sudden outburst of laughter. "What's so funny, Mom?" So I showed them the title. Their response: uncontrollable giggles. Then, "Oh! Can we read it?" I'm personally not a fan of gross-out humor. But I'm wise enough not to underestimate its power in children's books --if it gets kids reading. I've read every one of the Wimpy Kid books with my boys and I'm a believer: stories with high gross-out factors draw many reluctant readers in before they even realize they are reading. Jon Scieszka, author and creator of Guyreads.com says, "We have to meet (boys) where they are." I guess that includes Grossland sometimes... I can deal with that, as long as Grossland is just a little side trip and not a destination.
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