Monday, November 10, 2008

What kind of books do teen boys really want?

13-year-old Max Leone gives us his opinion in Publishers Weekly, arguing that "[t]he reason we read so little in our free time is partially because of the literary choices available to teenagers these days."

So what kind of books does Max think should be published?

All his points are worth a read (seriously, this is one entertaining guy), but my favorite is this:
Vampires, simply put, are awesome. However, today's vampire stories are 100 pages of florid descriptions of romance and 100 pages of various people being emo. However much I mock the literature of yesteryear, it definitely had it right when it came to vampires. The vampire was always depicted as a menacing badass. That is the kind of book teenage boys want to read. Also good: books with videogame-style plots involving zombie attacks, alien attacks, robot attacks or any excuse to shoot something.
(via)

6 comments :

Anonymous said...

I believe Max is my new hero.

Colleen said...

When I started reading about the vampires I died laughing - this kid nails what has happened to the vampire genre over the past decade. When did they stop being scary and start being sexy - I don't know if we should blame Ann Rice or Laurell K Hamilton or anyone of the dozens who followed them.

Someone write a horror book for this kid, quick.

Trisha said...

Me, too.

"100 pages of various people being emo"? Cracked. Me. Up.

I'd actually love to see what kind of story Max would write, if he has any interest in writing. (Hey, it is NaNoWriMo...) A vampire/zombie vs. alien/robot shootout, maybe?

david elzey said...

But for every reader like Max I can show you three more who (a) don't care about vampires and (b) don't want video game style storylines.

Still, his point of the vampire genre is dead on.

I'd like to suggest to anyone looking for the next trend that zombies are the new vampires. How long before the zombies become sexy, you think?

holly cupala said...

That's funny. He's right on.

Unknown said...

Try Stephen King's "Salem's Lot". You'll be afraid to go to sleep!