We need more books that relate to these experiences. But in reality guys are sensitive, shy, and often make a fool out of themselves.

For boys there is a lot of pressure to be macho, to be a dude who has adventures and isn’t sensitive.

We need more books that address the real male experience.

Boys are dealing with hormones, they want things like beer and porn.

What issues do boys deal with and want to read about? This is why these four male authors did this panel to show young men that reading and writing can be masculine. They begin to associate books with a feminine pursuit. And in his world he sees people who read (teacher, librarians, etc.) as women.

Once a boy turns ten or eleven he begins to associate with things that are masculine.

Boys and girls want to read the same things.

They want someone they can associate with on the day-to-day experience.

Boys want to read book with realistic male protagonists.

Boys are looking to get out into the world.

Authors Ben Esch (Sophomore Undercover), Blake Nelson (Paranoid Park, Gender Bender, Girl), Andrew Smith (Ghost Medicine), and Allen Zadoff (Food, Girls, and Other Things I Can’t Have) share their insight as to what makes boy books kick so much butt! Part social satire, part teen-mystery parody, and wholly hilarious, Sophomore Undercover is a dazzling debut that will make headlines with teens everywhere.What makes a book for boys? How do we get boys to read more? These questions and more were discussed at the LA Times Festival of Books YA panel this past weekend. That is, of course, if Dixie can stay out of juvenile hall, the hospital, and new age therapy long enough to piece it all together. Once he follows the guidelines of his hero, Mel Nichols (journalism professor at Fresno State University and author of the textbook Elementary Journalism) this high school reporter just might save the world. He soon discovers that the scandal extends beyond the football team to something far bigger and more sinister than he ever thought possible.

However, when his editor insists he drop the story and cover homecoming events instead, Dixie sets off on his own unconventional and often misguided investigation. But Dixie's luck takes a turn when he stumbles across one of the jocks using drugs in the locker room not only does he finally have something newsworthy to write, but the chance to strike a blow against his tormentors at the school as well. He shares a locker with a nudist linebacker, his teachers are incompetent, and he’s stuck doing fluff pieces for the school newspaper. For fifteen-year-old, adopted Vietnamese orphan Dixie Nguyen, high school is one long string of hard-to-swallow humiliations.

Sophomore Undercover by Ben Esch