News & Features » January 2014 » C.J. Farley Talks Game World and the New National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature

C.J. Farley Talks Game World and the New National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature

Game World author C.J. Farley penned a blog post earlier today in response to the appointment of author Kate DiCamillo (Because of Winn-Dixie, Flora & Ulysses) as the new national ambassador for young people’s literature. From “Can Social Literature Compete with Social Media?”:

Parents have probably felt that their kids aren’t reading enough even before the first video game was invented. But today they’re feeling that feeling more. The percentage of parents who say their child does not spend enough time reading for fun has risen since 2010 across all age groups of children (36% in 2010 to 49% in 2012).

I recently wrote a fantasy novel called “Game World,” and part of my motivation was to create a book that would engage younger readers by tackling themes and subjects that they care about, including video games and social media. I wanted it to be the kind of book that kids and parents could read together and have something meaningful and fun to discuss.

Reading can be more of a social experience, if friends and family are brought into the process. When my 11-year-old son started a two-person summer book club with a friend not long ago, he was much more engaged in the reading process than when he was reading alone. And according to the Scholastic report, having reading role-model parents or a large book collection at home has a greater impact on kids’ reading frequency than household income does.

DiCamillo is likely to be a terrific ambassador for young people’s literature. The problem is, once children’s literature needs an ambassador, there’s already a problem.

Read the rest of the article at the Wall Street Journal‘s Speakeasy blog.

Posted: Jan 2, 2014

Category: News | Tags: Because of Winn-Dixie, books, C.J. Farley, children, Flora & Ulysses, Game World, Kate DiCamillo, middle grade, Speakeasy, Wall Street Journal, YA, young people's literature