Books: Let's Hear It For the Boys

Recently there's been a lot of talk about how the poor economy is having a negative impact on book sales. One area where agents say editors are still aggressively looking for new titles is novels for tweens and teens with male protagonists. To understand why this is so, one need only stroll through a bookstore to see how female-dominated most offerings are. Since the theme at TFC this week is Books, I thought I'd go through the list of books I've read thus far in 2008 to see which ones with male protagonists I could recommend. And here they are:

DEADLINE, by Chris Cruthcher. After being diagnosed with an incurable form of leukemia, 18-year-old Ben Wolf decides to forego treatment and keep his illness a secret, instead electing to pack an entire lifetime worth of living into his senior year.

GYM CANDY, by Carl Deuker. A high school football player resorts to steroids to amp up his game.

BOY TOY, by Barry Lyga. A then-and-now story about how the sexual relationship a boy has with his teacher at age 12 still affects everything in his life now that he's 18.

KNIGHTS OF THE HILL COUNTRY, by Tim Tharp. Think "Friday Night Lights" only in small-town Oklahoma, where sometimes football even ranks ahead of God and country.

GETTING THE GIRL, by Marcus Zusak. An earlier work from the best-selling author of "The Book Thief," set in Australia, about family dynamics and competition between brothers.

And since I'd be remiss if I made such a list and didn't give a shout-out to my own husband:

SOMETHING HAPPENED, by Greg Logsted, about a 13-year-old boy, still mourning the death of his father, who falls prey to the attentions of a hot new teacher; and ALIBI JUNIOR HIGH, forthcoming, also by Greg Logsted, about the globe-trotting son of a CIA agent, forced into hiding, who now faces the real challenge of his life: junior high.

Oh, and I just happen to be working on a new book myself with a male protagonist.

QUESTION OF THE DAY: WHAT BOOKS HAVE YOU READ WITH MALE PROTAGONISTS THAT YOU CAN RECOMMEND?

Be well. Don't forget to write.

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