Interview with Iron Guy Carl of Boys Rule Boys Read!

November 12, 2014 by Daniel Johnston 1 Comment

Hi guys, today I’ve got an interview with Iron Guy Carl, a librarian who blogs over at Boys Rule Boys Read! I’ve been trying to do an interview with him since the beginning of the year, but since technology didn’t permit, we eventually decided to do a text interview. Here it is!

1.How did you become a librarian?

I wanted to work for the library and volunteered a lot, doing things like storytelling. The library people knew I was looking for a job, so they let me know when one came open. Remember that when you all get old enough to look for jobs.

2.What kinds of things do you do in your day-to-day work?

You mean when I’m not bench-pressing 200-lb. books to maintain my MANLY physique? Actually, I do a bit of everything. I work at a small library, so everyone has to be able to do all the things librarians do—check in books, check out books, look for books, put books on shelves, etc. I also sit at the front desk and answer questions. I’m also one of the children’s librarians, so I do a lot of storytimes—and clean up the children’s room after programs! I also do some specialized things. For instance, I coordinate the volunteers for the library.

3.What is your favorite part of your job?

Writing for the blog and doing storytime. Both are a lot of fun.

4.How did you get the nickname Iron Guy Carl?

I wanted to call myself “Iron Man” but some comic book company beat me to it.

5.Your blog is called Boys Rule! Boys Read! Do you also help at the library with girls? 🙂

Of course! That’s what MANLY MEN do—help those who need help. Really, I’m always happy to help anyone find what he or she needs. It’s rewarding to see anyone, boy or girl, find the right book or resource.

6.What kinds of books do boys enjoy the most that you’ve seen?

Percy Jackson, Harry Potter, My Weird School, The 39 Clues, the Hunters, Seekers and Warriors series by Erin Hunter, James Patterson’s Maximum Ride and Daniel X books, and Eoin Colfer’s Artemis Fowl books.

Boys also like books by Dan Gutman, Gordon Korman and Dav Pilkey. Also nonfiction about military things, sports and animals.

7.What books did you like most when you were a boy?

Wow. It’s been a long time since I was actually a boy. (some say I’m still a 10-year-old at heart) To give you an idea how long, Kennedy was president when I was a boy. (go look that up and see how long ago that was!) I read a lot of nonfiction at first, like a lot of guys back then, especially books on battles throughout history. Then, one day, the librarian at my school told me to, “Get out of the numbers” (meaning the Dewey Deciaml numbers for nonfiction) and read some fiction. She handed me a copy of The Three Seater Spaceship, one of the Spaceship Under the Apple Tree trilogy by Louis Slobokin. I was hooked and read a lot of sci-fi after that. When I got to be a teen, I read The Lord of the Rings and was knocked out I’m still under its spell. Nowadays I read a bit of everything as you see from the blog. I bet you couldn’t find any of the Spaceship Under the Apple Tree books anymore except on Amazon. But I’d like to check if they’re available on my Nook.

Note: Here is The Space Ship Under the Apple Tree on Amazon 🙂

8.You’ve been running your blog for a number of years. What made you decide to start it and what has made you keep it up?

Back in 2006, the Web 2.0 came out and our library system taught us how to use it. One of the new things in Web 2.0 was blogging. I’d always wanted to find a tool to help boys find good reads and blogging was perfect because it’s interactive. That’s how I came up with the idea of writing reviews and getting boys to write in as well. I’ve kept it going because it’s been so much fun and I’ve found so many great books. And I really like it when boys tell other boys about terrific books.

9.Who do you think is the main target audience for your blog; kids, parents, or both?

Both. I started this blog to reach boys but a lot of grownups picked up on it over the years. So, even though I’m writing primarily for boys, I know a lot of grownups read the blog and I keep that in mind because they’re the ones who buy the books for their boys or for their schools or their libraries.

10.You’ve featured a number of reviews from kids on your blog. What has your experience been with these kid reviewers?

It’s been great! We had several guys like cyber kid 303 and Michael who wrote in regularly. You can find some of their reviews if you look in the 2006—2009 section of the Blog Archive. They wrote some great reviews and we had a lot of fun. I think they’ve aged out now but I hope to get more guys write in. (hint, hint!)

11.What changing trends are you seeing with libraries as things are becoming more digital and what do you think is the most important thing for them to remain the special places that they always have been?

You’ve asked what we used to call the $64,000 question. A lot of people are trying to figure that out now so that libraries don’t go the way of the dinosaurs. And I think it’s already happening. Libraries are becoming community centers. I don’t mean the type of community center where you go and shoot basketball; I’m thinking of a safe place in which people can access computers, especially people who can’t afford computers, or where they can study alone or in groups, get information or help finding information they couldn’t find anywhere else, gather together and work on community issues and, of course, find books movies, music, etc. Will all books, movies, and music become digital some day? Possibly. People will still need libraries, though, in some form and I really believe that libraries will adapt to whatever changes take place.

Thanks so much!

Thank YOU, Daniel!

Thanks again to Iron Guy Carl for providing us with this insightful and interesting interview. Make sure to check out his website Boys Rule Boys Read!

Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher Review

October 1, 2014 by Daniel Johnston Leave a Comment

I’m always (usually :)) open to book recommendations, so when my cousin recommended to me the book Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher I thought I might as well give it a shot.

Summary

This was a famous book several years ago when it came out in 2007, and I can see why. It’s young adult and deals with a lot of complicated themes, such as alcohol, rape, and most majorly suicide.

This book does some things cleverly well, especially in writing style. The story is centered around a girl named Hannah who committed suicide. A boy named Clay gets a package one day, and it turns out they are thirteen tapes detailing thirteen different people and the ways in which they made her commit suicide (except Clay, who she says is ok). Clay represents the model of how the author wants us to be, although is character is a little bit artificial.

Throughout the book, we follow Clay around as he visits the spots Hannah talks about, reliving her life since she moved to the town. The author does a very good job recreating those emotions and stories, and there is a lot to be learned from this style of writing.

Note: Here is my video review.

Basically, the gist of the story is that Hannah moved into town a new girl, but very soon gets labeled all kinds of bad things. There are rumors swirling around about her that she had sex with a boy, when all she did is kiss him. Following this, a whole series of bad things happen that eventually leads her into deeper and deeper despair and eventually she decides to leave the world. The thirteen reasons why are the thirteen people who she says made her kill herself.

Basically, the whole point of the book is that if people had reached out to Hannah more and helped her, then she may have not killed herself. So we should all go out of our way to be nicer and not label people like Hannah was.

Negatives

However, there are also a lot of negative things about this book, and to me they outweigh the positives.

First, this whole book consists of people acting extremely wildly. There is a rapist and people who are allowing his actions. People are breaking each others windows, drinking a ton, spreading crazy lies. One boy even takes notes out of Hannah’s “good wishes” box or whatever it’s called just to get back at her. I don’t know if I’m naive, but that kind of stuff simply doesn’t happen. Not once have I ever witnessed people in real life acting so outrageously as in this book.

A more apt title for this book may be, “Thirteen reasons why not to act like animals.” This outlandish behavior makes the book very unrealistic and greatly reduces the power of its message. If it was able to show Hannah being effected by more common behavior that we might actually do, then it would make sense. It may actually be inspiring to try and view how you’re treating other people. But it’s not helpful to tell us to not act like a rapist.

Although we get in touch with Hannah’s emotions a lot, we never really can fully see the connection between those and suicide. The implicit connection is that feeling so alone and mistreated was what made her kill herself, but we never really get to so that. This is really not a book about suicide. The suicide is used as more of an attention-getter to get us to pay attention to what was causing Hannah pain. The main problem is seen as twofold: That she never asked for help, and that good people didn’t try hard enough to give her help.

The book also doesn’t hide the fact, however, that Hannah brought a lot of this on herself. She let herself be treated poorly, be cast as a person she’s not, and at the end of the book even lets somebody have sex with her who she absolutely doesn’t want to. The real problem is Hannah and everyone around her acting very stupidly.

Do I Recommend this Book?

This book is a crazy mess of all kinds of complicated themes that leaves us with no clear idea what is going on, which is not necessarily a bad thing. The message at the end of the book is to reach out and be nice to people because you don’t know what they’re going through, but this doesn’t really tie into the rest of the story super well. Also, it’s unrealistic because nobody is going to walk around trying to help people with their problems. It is good to be a nice person, but that isn’t going to save Hannah.

Thirteen Reasons Why does do a very good job of encouraging readers to look beyond what they normally thought of people as, and instead give them a fresh chance. In this book a gross misunderstanding of Hannah contributed to her misery and eventual suicide. This one of the things the book does best and it does a very good job driving this point home.

This book has vastly positive reviews, but I believe that is mainly because it deals with such emotional topics. Not many people have ventured to write a young adult book about things like suicide, and the author must be commended for trying. But I think a lot of people like the book just because it brings up deep topics that they haven’t really thought about or understood too much. The fact that there are many flaws in the way Asher deals with the subject matter is lost to them. They may be overwhelmed with the way the book throws the whole kitchen sink at them, or they think that any book that brings up emotional topics has to be a good one. I bet if my cousin were to read this book again, now that she’s older and more sophisticated, she wouldn’t be so impressed by it.

So in the end, there are many positives and also many negatives for this book. It is worth reading simply because it is written very well and the author manages to conjure up tremendous imagery that makes you feel like you are right in the story. Still, there are many flaws in the story that make it fall far short of the impactful book it could have been. I wouldn’t give it to anyone younger than 14, and would probably recommend waiting until 15 or 16 so they don’t get completely blown over by the book. In any case, it’s definitely one that will you get thinking.

7 Lessons Learned from 4 Months away From Blogging

September 28, 2014 by Daniel Johnston 3 Comments

Hi everyone, as you may have noticed, I haven’t posted anything on this site since I graduated high school back in May (yay!). I’ll share more about what’s going on later, but I’ll definitely be writing more regularly now. So I’d like to share some of the biggest things I learned from my four-month hiatus:

1. Getting Kids to Read Isn’t Enough to Help Them Become Readers

Over the summer, I volunteered for several weeks at a reading literacy program. I will write more extensively about my experience with that later, but it shocked me the level of illiteracy going on in this country. Even in my city, many people have absolutely no idea how to read.

Most of these kids have no ability to understand books at all. Nor are they trying to read because they want to actually understand the books. They have long since decided that reading is boring and something that they must do. If they come across a book they really enjoy one day, then they might become a reader. Maybe not; some people just aren’t. But if all they’ve been reading is books they have absolutely no interest in, then they’re only going to dislike books more and more, and may never know if they could’ve experienced great happiness from reading books they really did like.

That’s why book reviewers are so important, because you only have a certain amount of opportunities to sell a child on the idea of reading. They may trust you and read the first few times, but if the books you give them are boring, they’re never going to want to read again. But if you give them really interesting books that they love, then they’ll want to read as much as they can! That’s why “reluctant readers” will commonly love certain books. It’s not that they don’t like reading or their reading abilities are insufficient; it’s that they’ve never had a book they enjoyed that would make them want to read.

I already knew all that, but I guess I learned how many people still think that just by forcing kids to read any old book they are going to become great readers. It is not going to happen.

2. Built to Last

This website has continued to grow in traffic since I stopped updating it. Several of my all-time best traffic days have been in the last couple of months, and I’ve still been getting feedback and questions. Part of this I believe has to do with recent Google updates, but it only goes to show that the important thing is that I have created a website of value that actually helps people and stands the test of time. Even though my traffic increases every time I take a break, it still amazes me. I have no doubt that even ten years from now someone could be looking up my reviews and stuff on this website and it would be just as relevant then as it is today.

3. Time Away Makes it More Important

I’ve always taken the information on this website very seriously, and being away for awhile makes me appreciate even more how great a website like this can be and motivate me to make sure everything I do here I always do with the greatest passion and make it the best that I can. I’m continually trying to make everything I do better and better, and I want this website to be the type that people will smile from having seen and known, and a magical place that I will always be proud of.

4. Connections

The purpose of this website is of course not to make money, like a lot of similar ventures out there are. Instead, I do it because I enjoy it and I like the idea of helping people. But I was again struck at how great this website is for developing connections and getting opportunities that I would never have gotten otherwise. I’ve gotten to know some great people because of it and gotten to do some great things and I can only hope that will continue in the future.

5. We Can’t Decide what Happens So We Should Just Do Our Best

This goes along with the last one. Nothing that has happened as a result of this blog could I have possibly foreseen when I started it back in 2009. Nor could I foresee now the great things that are going to happen. But in creating this website I’ve just done what has felt right and enjoyable to me, and I’ll keep doing exactly that and hope good things will happen!

6. What I Like about Books is Going into a Great World

Of course, even though I’ve taken a break from this blog, I haven’t taken a break from reading or writing; in fact, I’m reading more than ever before! I’ve learned, beyond anything I previously discovered, that there is a world that exists in my mind, a magical world of greatness, where things sparkle and everything is great forever. This is the world I’ve committed my writing from now on to try and express, and the judge of any book to me is how accurately they create that world.

7. I’m not a Kid Book Reviewer Anymore-and that’s ok!

When I first started this website, I was twelve years old and most certainly a kid book reviewer. Now I’m 17, going to college part-time, and am not really a kid book reviewer in the strictest sense. That’s ok, though, because I’ve only gotten smarter and learned more, and the meaning of a kid book reviewer to me is someone who understands kids, and therefore is able to give accurate advice about what books they like. I understand what books kids like these days now as much as ever, so I’m going to just keep calling myself a kid book reviewer. At least for now 🙂

Thanks for reading this and stay tuned for more!

Everest by Gordon Korman Review

May 14, 2014 by Daniel Johnston 7 Comments

Gordon Korman has written so many good books that it’s always been hard for me to decide which one is my favorite. Sometimes I’d think it was Swindle, sometimes MacDonald Hall, and other times Everest.

Korman did three action trilogies (each book is about 150 pages, so they’re quick reads): Island, Dive, and Everest. In Island, a group of kids gets stuck on an island. In Dive, kids discover a conspiracy going on with an underground treasure. And in Everest, several kids try to peak Mount Everest. It is one of my favorite action works by Korman, and a gut-wrenching, exciting read.

Summary

The first book is called The Contest. That’s because a team of four kids are setting off to try to summit the highest peak in the world. They start out with a bunch of interesting kids, but in the end only four can remain.

Originally the plan was to take some of the more experienced climbers, along with Ethan Zaph, a sixteen year-old who is the youngest ever to peak Everest. However, Ethan joins another climbing team and they decide to take a risk and go with some younger people.

The main character of the story is thirteen year-old Dominic. Even though he’s small and his brother (not him) is renowned as a world-class climber, he is chosen to be a member of the four because of his inventiveness and hard work.

Tilt is another one of the four. Unfortunately, Tilt is very self-centered and a bully. It costs him later as he pays a very high price. Samantha is a fearless climber, and Perry’s uncle is rich and paying for the whole expedition. Cap is their expedition leader and naturally pushes the group very hard.

The second book is called The Climb. In this book we cover the challenges of getting from to base-camp, adjusting to the altitude, and all of that exciting stuff. Unfortunately, Dominic gets altitude sickness and very nearly misses the expedition.

There are also starting to be rivalries within the group, as Tilt is causing all sorts of problems. We learn that Perry doesn’t even actually want to climb, and much more.

Finally in The Summit, we get to see the teens make a push for the peak. This is by far the best book in the trilogy. It’s hard to say because so much happens, but basically there’s a small window they have where the weather is good enough to go for it…unfortunately, there’s a massive storm.

Things get crazy as Dominic and Tilt use their willpower to try to get to the top against all possible odds; including the government. Who will become the youngest person to summit Everest?

The very beginning of the series was a funeral. One of the climbers is going to die on Everest. There is only one question: Who?

Review

Like I said, Everest is great. Korman obviously put a lot of effort into writing this one, and it shines through loud and clear. The character development is not as good as in some of Korman’s other books, but combined with the intense action their adventures really hit hard.

Although Korman uses a lot of descriptive terminology about the climb, and though he explains a lot of the technical stuff, we really never get a very good picture of what climbing Everest would really be like. That’s okay though; it’s not the purpose of the book. I’d guess it would be pretty hard to get a good grasp on it without being an experienced climber yourself.

I would for sure recommend reading this book because the action and suspense is great, and the writing is just spectacular. It leads us into a new and exciting world up on the mountains the we can dream of, escape to, and feel with. Everest reaches the highest summit for boys aged nine to thirteen.

The Last Shot by John Feinstein Review

May 5, 2014 by Daniel Johnston Leave a Comment

Everyone loves mysteries. Everyone loves sports books. What about a book that combines both?

The Last Shot is the first in a series of sports thrillers written by John Feinstein. His writing is awesome and the books are entertaining and instructive about sports while also providing a lot of suspense and action.

Summary

At the beginning of the book we meet 14 year-old Stevie, a big fan of NCAA basketball. For him the pros are a waste of time; college basketball is what is really exciting.

He enters an essay contest for the Final Four and wins first prize! That means he and fourteen year old girl, Susan Carol, will be traveling out to cover the games!

The two are taken under the wings of reporters Bobby Khelleher and Tamara Mearns, who are very interesting characters. Even though Stevie is from the east and Susan Carol is from the south, they are eventually able to get along pretty well. The biggest problem is that Susan Carol likes Coach K, Duke’s legendary coach, while Stevie most certainly does not.

Although no one expects them to break any big stories or do any really serious reporting, Stevie and Susan Carol manage to stumble upon a huge scandal: Star player Chip Graber being blackmailed to throw the championship game against Duke.

The two know they need to do something…but what? Will Stevie and Susan Carol somehow manage to be resource and stop the bad guys, or will Chip be forced to throw the game?

Review

This is a great book that preludes many to come. This is only the first of six books in a variety of sports, each with just as many plot twists as another.

All of the characters in the book are so real I almost feel like they could come to real life. They all have their own endearing quirks, habits, and thoughts that keeps you laughing and wanting to read more.

Although I didn’t know much about basketball (and even less about college) when I first read this, Feinstein does a great job of making it exciting and explaining it in a way anyone can understand.

Boys with inclinations to sports will definitely love this book. It’s told third person limited from the perspective of Stevie, so girls probably won’t be able to identify as well.

The book also tells us a lot about journalism, and does this also in a very interesting way that makes us want to read. Even if it’s not your world, you’ll be wanting to learn more and more about it!

In addition, The Last Shot speaks to a common fantasy kids have; being a reporter at a national sporting event. There aren’t a lot of kids that don’t dream about that.

I’d recommend The Last Shot for boys around fifth to seventh grade. It’s not complex writing at all, but will keep you on your edge of your seat the whole time. The Last Shot is a definite slam dunk.

Click here to get The Last Shot by John Feinstein

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Millicent Min, Girl Genius by Lisa Yee Review

May 1, 2014 by Daniel Johnston 8 Comments

After the school year of seventh grade ended, there was only one school thing left for me to do: Summer reading. You’d think this would be easy for me, of course. After all, I’m a great reader!

The books on the list didn’t excite me, however. They all looked like some kind of weird romance or fantasy that I wanted no part of. One of the books, however, was Millicent Min, Girl Genius by Lisa Yee, a good book that I’m glad to have read.

Although the main character in this book is a girl, I was able to identify with her a lot because she is smart like me, and she faces a number of debilitating social and family challenges.

Summary

Millicent Min is an eleven year-old girl who is enrolling in her first college class over the summer. She’s already about to be a senior in high school, and has won numerous awards for her intelligence.

Social skills don’t go so great for Millicent, however. She is able to befriend the teacher in her college class, but all the other students hate her. So do the people at her high school. After all; she sets the curve! Everyone her age is jealous of her for going to high school. Millicent has no friends.

She does have a cool grandmother, though. Maddie is in her fifties but still asks like she’s a young woman. She’s a remnant from the hippy movement, and Millicent loves spending time with her. It was Maddie who convinced Millicent’s parents to let her enroll in a college class.

Unfortunately, Maddie is planning to move away. Millicent doesn’t get along with her parents quite as well, and they are worried that she’s going too much into her mind and not getting enough interaction.

With that in mind, Millicent’s parents decide to sign her up for the volleyball team. She isn’t too thrilled at this as she’s not very athletic. Before too long, however, she realizes that it’s nice that nobody there knows how smart she is!

She soon befriends a girl named Emily who is also bad at volleyball. Millicent has never had a friend before, but she does her best to fake it with Emily, and does a pretty good job. Emily is a totally normal girl, and it makes Millicent feel really good to hang out with her. Of course, Millicent has to pretend that she’s just of average intelligence.

Joining the volleyball team isn’t the only thing Millicent’s parents have her do. They also have her tutor a boy named Stanford. Stanford is smart, but he pretends he isn’t for the sake of his friends. Their tutoring sessions are pretty painful.

Things get pretty sticky, however, when Emily and Stanford begin to flirt. Will Stanford reveal Millicent’s secret? Will Millicent become friendless once again, or will she be able to save her relationship with Emily?

Review

Millicent Min, Girl Genius is a great book. Millicent tells the story herself, and we get to know her very well. All of the other characters in the story are kind of weird, but they fit in with the crazy kind of world Millicent lives in.

Reading this book gives an interesting picture into what it is like to be a really smart kid, and I think a lot of people can relate. Although not many are gifted to quite the degree of Millicent, she is very interesting to a lot of smart people.

I found the social interactions interesting because it deals with some real problems. While some people may think any smart kid pretty much has it made, there are definitely trade-offs. This is one of the only books I have read that deals with complex middle school interactions and approaches them from a more basic level for people still trying to get into that world.

The whole message of this book is that being smart is awesome, but having good friends is just as great. I think a lot of people feel like Millicent in terms of treasuring the social events of a preteen. It may make kids appreciate the friends they themselves have more.

I’d definitely recommend this book. The main character is a girl, so a lot of boys may not enjoy reading it as much. However, there are also books written from the perspective of Stanford and Emily. I haven’t read them, but I would guess they’re also very good.

Millicent Min, Girl Genius is a great book for middle-school aged kids. You don’t have to be a genius to realize that Lisa Yee did an awesome job with this book!

Click here to buy Millicent Min, Girl Genius

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