A Little Q and A with Sharon Grover

If you were intrigued by my March 14 post, Math is from Mars, Books are from Venus, then check out this Washington Post transcript with Sharon Grover, a youth services selections specialist at the Arlington Public Library in Virgina. In an online chat with the Post, she answers important questions involving ways that to help young boys enhance their reading skills. Here's a sample:

Alexandria, Va.: Dear Ms. Grover, I am a children's book writer. Do you think it matters whether the book's main character is a boy or girl? My husband thinks that if it's a girl, boys won't read it and vice versa. I think a good story stands by itself.

Sharon Grover: Generally speaking, boys seem more attracted to books about boys, and I've rarely met a boy who willingly reads a story without boys in it. On the other hand, boys as well as girls are drawn into books like Lois Lowry's Number the Stars, which proves that good story theory of yours.