From: Brenda_Bowen at prenhall.com <Brenda_Bowen>
Date: 05 Jan 1999 23:04:03 -0500

Here's a question to get the conversation going:
     
     There is an accepted convention among publishers that kids who play
     sports don't want to *read about* kids who play sports: They want to
     be out there, doing. This has been borne out at a number of publishing
     houses, where sports fiction (series especially) has been tried and
     has failed.
     
     There are exceptions, of course: baseball seems to have a loyal and
     literate following; girls' sports fiction does pretty well, as long
     as the focus is on "glamour" sports -- horseback riding, gymnastics,
     ice skating; and many isolated titles, e.g. THE RUNNER (Voigt),
     IRONMAN (Crutcher), S.O.R. LOSERS (Avi), are read for years.
     
     So, teachers and librarians, is it true? Can we not consistently hook
     sports-players on books about their sport? Are we going about it in
     the wrong way? Or are we making a mistake to think that sports
     players *want* sports books. Maybe after working out all morning,
     practicing football all afternoon, nursing injuries all evening,
     football players want to curl up with some great science fiction.
Received on Tue 05 Jan 1999 10:04:03 PM CST