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I’m writing from the 51st Annual Literacy Conference.
The event is hosted by the Arkansas Literacy Association. I came last year too, but this year’s conference was extra special.
This year I got to be on a panel alongside Arkansas authors Trenton Lee Stewart, Roland Smith, Darcy Pattison, and Maria Hoskins. The panel was hosted by the always lively Craig O’Neill. For introductions, Craig read each author's bio “pro-wrestling” style, moving his way through a laundry list that included multiple New York Times bestsellers, award winners, and too many foreign translations to count.
Once the panel was over, I hurried off to give a “breakout session.” My talk was supposed to be about how to “hook male readers.” The theme of the entire conference was “Constructing lifelong readers and writers,” but somehow, I got stuck with the boys.
In case you aren’t aware, boys — males in general — are falling farther and farther behind the opposite sex when it comes to reading. I know this from my time spent in the classroom and my experience as a novelist. I can’t tell you how many industry conversations I’ve had about “appealing to the female readership.”
Why?
Because women read more than men, especially when it comes to fiction.
So, there I stood in a room packed full of mostly female teachers, each one wanting to know how to get their boy students to read. I took the politician’s approach and turned the question around, asking them when they first noticed the drop off. At what age did boys stop reading?
Fourth grade.
Fourth grade! That’s nine or ten years old, folks!
For the next hour, I sat back and listened as these teachers talked. I was moved by their stories, all the different techniques they’d employed, trying to get young men to read. Sadly, they weren’t having much luck, which was the reason I was there.
With cell phones and tablets and eventually trucks and girls to compete with, fostering a love of literature in young men is no short order. The teachers knew this. I knew it too. But what I wanted to make sure they knew was why reading was important.
Like it or not, the days of just dropping a book in a student’s lap and telling them to “Read!” are gone. These days, kids need to know why.
And that’s exactly what I asked the teachers: “Why should kids read?”
The answers I got included everything from mental health to empathy to building a better sleep routine. Each response was unique and beautiful and well thought out, but it wasn’t what I was looking for. It wasn’t what had hooked me all those years ago.
What hooked me was a feeling. A spark. A vibe that filled whatever classroom Johnny Wink walked into. If you’re a regular reader of this column, you’ve seen me mention my favorite teacher of all time, my college creative writing instructor, my heartfriend — Johnny Wink. That man was what did it for me. He was my “why” when it came to reading and writing. He still is.
When I try to pin Johnny down with words, though, I can’t quite explain him. I just saw his raw energy, his zaniness, his curiosity, how the dude had all 154 of Shakespeare’s sonnets committed to memory, and I knew I wanted a piece of that.
I wanted to be like that.
So, that’s what I told the teachers. I challenged them to create that same spark, that same energy in their classrooms. Answer the “why” question every day with their actions and energy. Be so on fire for books you quote your favorite passages from memory.
When students brush up against such a teacher, they feel it. They know they’re in the midst of something special.
Which is why I concluded my talk by reciting Sonnet 64, a favorite of my former professor’s late wife, Dr. Susan Wink, fourteen lines that moved her to tears every time she heard it.
The teachers were clapping when I finished, not crying, and my bald head was tingling. I don’t know if anybody else felt the spark, but I sure did.
Don't Know Tough
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In Denton, Arkansas, the fate of the high school football team rests on the shoulders of Billy Lowe, a volatile but talented running back. Billy comes from an extremely troubled home: a trailer park where he is terrorized by his mother’s abusive boyfriend. Billy takes out his anger on the field, but when his savagery crosses a line, he faces suspension.
Without Billy Lowe, the Denton Pirates can kiss their playoff bid goodbye. But the head coach, Trent Powers, who just moved from California with his wife and two children for this job, has more than just his paycheck riding on Billy’s bad behavior. As a born-again Christian, Trent feels a divine calling to save Billy—save him from his circumstances, and save his soul.
Then Billy’s abuser is found murdered in the Lowe family trailer, and all evidence points toward Billy. Now nothing can stop an explosive chain of violence that could tear the whole town apart on the eve of the playoffs. |
Ozark Dogs
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In this Southern thriller, two families grapple with the aftermath of a murder in their small Arkansas town.
After his son is convicted of capital murder, Vietnam War veteran Jeremiah Fitzjurls takes over the care of his granddaughter, Joanna, raising her with as much warmth as can be found in an Ozark junkyard outfitted to be an armory. He teaches her how to shoot and fight, but there is not enough training in the world to protect her when the dreaded Ledfords, notorious meth dealers and fanatical white supremacists, come to collect on Joanna as payment for a long-overdue blood debt.
Headed by rancorous patriarch Bunn and smooth-talking, erudite Evail, the Ledfords have never forgotten what the Fitzjurls family did to them, and they will not be satisfied until they have taken an eye for an eye. As they seek revenge, and as Jeremiah desperately searches for his granddaughter, their narratives collide in this immersive story about family and how far some will go to honor, defend—or in some cases, destroy it. |
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