On November 18, 2011 I heard Michael Sullivan speak at the Schaumburg Public Library. While I am not a youth services librarian, I knew it would be worthwhile to hear his "Connecting Boys With Books
Why Boys' Lit Gets a Bad Wrap." I was right. Not only was it the best presentation I had heard in a long time, it may have been the best presentation I have ever heard. Professionally I will need to review the four pages of notes I took and write a report to share with everyone back at the library. What made this even better was that I was not expecting to learn about myself as well. I often get asked how I became a librarian. I usually like to say I was an un-employable history major. I didn't want to teach and sure as heck wasn't going to law school. I also spent a lot of time studying and writing papers in the college library so when I graduated into a recession, it was only natural to pursue the MLS so I could become a librarian. That's all true but there really was more to it. I did not realize that however, until I heard Michael speak. At one point during the presentation he asked a young man in front what his "aha" moment was. When was he hooked as a reader. I thought about it, and thought about it, but couldn't not think of when I knew I got hooked on reading. It wasn't until later when Michael was pointing outthat 35% of incoming male freshman at UCLA when asked, stated they did not read. Of course that is not true. Boys read the box scores in the newspaper and they read baseball cards Michael pointed out, the problem is the young men questioned never considered that reading because it did not fit with what they thought, and had been taught, was real reading. Right there, "AHA," I had my moment. That was me. I never considered myself a reader in high school but I was memorizing the backs of baseball cards up until that summer after high school graduation. I could and still can tell you the year Cal Ripken and Kent Hrbek were born (1960) as well as other useless stats and trivia. I also poured over the box scores when my father came home with the newspaper (which he would read while watching the evening news, Barney Miller, Hills Street Blues, etc...) but like those freshman, I didn't consider that real reading. I also have every issue of Guitar for the Practicing Musician, later just Guitar, which came out in 1983 and ceased in 1999. I woud read the articles learning about all the blues players I didn't start listening to until a few years after college. Hello, I lived right outside of Chicago. In Creem Magazine I was reading about the punks and the Stones and in Circus, it was Judas Priest and Iron Maiden or just Priest and Maiden for you metalheads.
The picture above was of one of my favorite books from my home town library. I was lucky enough to purchase it when it was withdrawn some years later. It's about fire trucks. I loved the fire trucks but boy did I hate reading those stories we had to read in the fourth grade. I don't remember what they were about but I do remember I would rather look out the window than read one of them. They certainly were not about fire trucks, or any other kind of truck for that matter.
Who knew, I never realized it but I really was a reader even though I did not venture into the library much during the junior high/middle school and high school years. Thanks Michael, thanks for my "aha" moment.
