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There’s a lot of talk these days about the reading habits of boys.  There’s this idea floating around out there that boys of a certain age, say, 9-12, (or what I like to call the swell age of cool) do not read.  The common wisdom is that they are too busy with their PSP’s or X-Box three-millions to pick up a book.  Girls read and they like books about lovelorn vampires – the rest need not apply.

Hogwash.  Balderdash.  (insert own old-fashiony sounding outrage here)

Boys do read, we just need to give them books that they want to read (hint, the word ‘lovelorn’ should not appear anywhere in the summary).  Give them action and adventure and humor, but give it to them in a good book – one that respects their intelligence and doesn’t talk down to them.

Tonight I had the pleasure of having coffee with fellow boys-lit scribe Aaron Starmer, the author of the awesome DWEEB, and he confirmed my own suspicions.  The boys are there and they want something to read – they love a good story just like anyone else – it’s just our job to give it to them.

So you see that, boys?  See how I stood up for you there in the face of public disdain? See how I got your back?  So, since we are all best friends now, have you heard of this little book out there called POWERLESS?  I hear it’s pretty good . . .

This very nice review came out today from Publishers Weekly:

In a wholly satisfying debut, Cody tackles themes of heroism, sacrifice and coming-of-age, as played out in a comic book–inspired good vs. evil scenario. Soon after arriving in the small town of Noble’s Green, Pa., where his family has moved to take care of his ailing grandmother, 12-year-old Daniel Corrigan discovers the existence of real-life superheroes. In this town, certain kids develop superpowers, which they use in secret to perform good deeds (for the most part). One catch: as soon as they turn 13, their powers and all related memories vanish. As Daniel forges a friendship with these extraordinary youths, he uses good old-fashioned investigative skills rather than superhuman abilities to uncover the secret of their powers’ origins and the dark force that has been preying on the town’s children for decades. What do comic books from the 1940s, a pulp hero, a burned-down orphanage and a pair of superhuman bullies have to do with the mystery? It all comes together in a tightly woven narrative characterized by a persuasive premise, memorable characters, a bit of intrigue and a sense of wonder. Ages 10–up. (Oct.)

I have to tell you, all Mondays should start off like this.  And Tuesdays, and Wednesdays . . .

Powerless is out in stores so now’s the time to get and talk to folks!  (I’m working on my folksy twang)

Here are a few upcoming events I’ll be playing a part in:

November 4 – Teen Author Reading Night (6-7:30, Jefferson Market Branch of NYPL, 425 6th Ave, at 10th St.)

Matthew Cody, Powerless
Matt de la Pena, We Were Here
Tom Dolby, Secret Society
Barry Lyga, Goth Girl Rising
Marianne Mancusi, Boys That Bite
Courtney Sheinmel, Positively
Robin Wasserman, Crashed
Maryrose Wood, What I Wore to Save the World

Funny, the day your first book arrives on the shelves several things DO NOT happen:

• You do not get an envelope marked “Publication Vacation” and filled with plane tickets and cash.

• You do not get called “m’lord” by passerbys and lesser-thans.

• Swelling Music does not play as you enter book stores.

Several things DO happen, however:

• You get lots of very nice well-wishes from friends and professionals and friendly professionals.

• You get to see your book on bookshelves.

• You get to take care of your sick child, clean runny noses and take temperatures like usual and make them feel better and that’s actually pretty swell.

And if you’re really lucky your world’s best wife and brilliant best friend conspire to create this illustration from your book’s prologue:

Intrigued by the picture?  Well, lucky you the book’s on sale! Get thee to a bookery!

The artists (best friend’s) name is Kristopher Pollard and he’s a freelancer based out of the midwest.  If you like what you see contact him at [email protected] for a look at his online portfolio.  It’s worth it!

One of the wonderful things about great literature is its timelessness – good stories stick with us for years and years.  Some of these stories are so beloved that the readers inevitably begin to clamor for more.  When we fall in love with a group of characters it’s only natural to ask what happened next, or what happened before . . .

Peter Pan is one of those great books and, happily, writers Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson have given us the story of before with their series of prequels, the Starcatchers books.  The authors will be joining me at the Thalia Kids’ Book Club at Symphony Space on Sunday October 25th to talk about the latest book in the series, Peter and the Sword of Mercy.

Yours truly will be on hand to moderate the discussion (though I suspect they’ll need little help from me!) and renowned actor Jim Dale (the voice of the Harry Potter audiobooks) will join them for a reading and Q&A.

With those three sharing the same stage, I’m sure this will be a book club to remember, so get your tickets early!

As the publication date approaches, this wonderful Powerless review popped up on the Borders site written by none-other-than their head kids’ book buyer:

How would you feel if you could fly, but knew you’d soon lose that ability? How would you deal with a town bully so strong he can pick up cars? How can kids keep a secret from a whole town for generations?

These are some of the questions posed by Matthew Cody’s fantastic new middle grade novel Powerless which goes on sale on 10/27/09. Fan of comic books, super-heroes, and plain old good mysteries will love this book of friends banding together before they are overcome by a terrible fate.

But here’s my favorite part – a bit of a teaser:

I don’t want to spoil anything, but the villain in the story is one of the most interesting characters. While he is creepy, he may actually be doing good…

Are you hooked, yet?  Then go pre-order it today!  Otherwise some playground jerk will just spoil it before you have a chance to get a copy!

Follow the link here for the rest of the review, (just click on “Customer Reviews”).

One of the very nice bits of good news for Powerless has been Random House’s decision to include it in their “It’s a First” promotion.  This is where they pick a few first-timer titles every season and give them a little extra love.

There are some great looking books on this year’s Fall list and here’s the link to the site if you feel like checking them out.  PLUS you can download a pdf brochure with little excerpt from each book!

I want to give a big thanks to all the great campers I met this week at the Thalia Kids Book Club Camp!  I knew it would be a good time, but I had no idea that I’d be meeting such a talented group of young readers and writers.  I am SUPER impressed with all of them.

On Wednesday we went to the Random House offices where my fantastic editors and designers met with the kids and gave them a little lesson on book publishing 101 (I learned a few things, too!)

But by far the coolest part came on Friday, when I got to read stories and poems the campers had been working on all week long.  Together with actress Bernadette Quigley, we read the stories out loud on stage for an audience of staff, campers and parents.  Haunted houses, superpowers, time travel, dogs and homelessness . . . these stories touched on so many different genres and subjects, that I couldn’t begin to pick a favorite.  But I am sure that some of these kids will grow up into the authors of tomorrow and I can’t wait to read their stuff.  I’ll be able to say “I knew them when . . .”

Here’s a quick pic from the visit to Random House.  Take a jump over to the Book Camp Blog for a lot more pics from the week.

I attended exactly 3/4 of a summer camp when I was a kid.

The first was a soccer camp that my best friend was attending.  Granted, he was two years older than me and he’d been playing little league soccer for years but I thought I had the skills to compete with the big boys (Note: I spray-painted my soccer ball silver and pretended it was the Death Star, so you see where my skills really lie).  I lasted a day and a half.

Next was Cub Scouts Camp.  Now this time I was really excited – Cub Scouts!  Wilderness!  Hiking! Camping!  While a poor sportsman I was a pretty darn good outdoorsman, I loved scrambling around in the woods, building forts and catching snakes (catch-and-release only, I promise.)  I looked forward to Scouts Camp all summer long – two weeks in a national park exploring, adventuring.  Maybe I’d learn to whittle.  I’d always wanted to whittle.

But the first day of camp arrived and with it so did the rain.  So we sat in a shed behind a church and painted paper fish to go in our imaginary aquarium.  The next day the sun came out, but the humidity was so bad that the den mothers decided to cancel the scheduled hike and spend an extra hour on arts and crafts.  On the third day . . . well, I really have no idea what they did on the third day because I wasn’t there.  I quit.

So if you add up my total summer camp attendance it makes just under a week.  Roughly 3/4 of a single, short summer camp.

But I will go out on a limb and say that my spotty camp record is because I never had a camp as cool as this:  This summer I’ll be a part of Symphony Space’s Thalia Kids’ Book Club Camp!  What a great time this is going to be!  Follow the link and take a peek at the line-up of activities they have planned and I bet you’ll wish you were a kid again.  As a matter of fact, I may see if I can snag an extra-large camp tee shirt and disguise myself as Matty the Giant Twelve-Year Old, just so that I can hang out with Brian Selznick!

And that is by far the coolest thing I’m doing this summer!

So cool, yes? I’m thrilled at the new look of the place – designed and built by the extraordinary Denise Biondo.  Powerless is just around the corner (well, November is still a few months away so let’s just say that it’s lurking near the corner and down the street a bit.  Maybe even stopping for cup of coffee and a doughnut first, but it’ll get there!)

What I love about the site is its pulp/comic book feel, presented in a clean, modern design.  Mystery and adventure and a big old “Kaboom!” – what more could you want?

But there have been a lot of exciting developments over the last few weeks and I’ll be posting them here soon.  But to start I’d like to give a HUGE shout out of thanks to Jeff Smith and Jonathan Stroud for their kind words about Powerless.  Their exact quotes are up on the site, but I’ll leave it to you to find them.  (See, it’s like a treasure hunt!  We even have games at matthewcody.com!)

So take a look around and let me know what you think!

Happy to announce that I signed the contracts today for Powerless‘ Italian debut!  Molto importante publisher Mondadori has aquired Italian rights to the novel thanks to super-agent Kate Schafer Testerman’s super-agentin’.

If there are any Italian booksellers who want to schedule a signing, I will tell you now that I am willing to make that trip - I will suffer for my art.

This is my first foreign rights deal and, of course. the question of the day from friends and family has been, ” Wow, I didn’t know you spoke Italian!”  My answer is that I don’t, but I am rooting for Fabio on Top Chef so I think that counts for a lot.

For those New Yorkers amongst us, I’ll be chatting with Jonathan Stroud as part of the Thalia Kids’ Book Club series at Symphony Space on January 25th.  We’ll be talking about the wonderful Bartimaeus Trilogy of course, but we’ll also get into Jonathan’s brand new book - Heroes of the Valley.  It’s not out until January 27th, but I got the chance to read it over Christmas and it’s good.  It’s real good.

If anyone has any good questions for Jonathan, go ahead and post them here. I’ll see if I can fit them in.

Clarion Writers' Workshop

I recently got an email reminding me that the Clarion Writers Workshop is accepting applications for it’s 2009 session.  I, myself, am a proud graduate and would recommend it to anyone looking for a shot of writing adreniline.  It’s six weeks of intensive, immersive writing geekery and it’s also a lot of fun.  The teaching is excellent, the staff great, the campus beautiful and the San Diego beaches are gorgeous.

When I was there way back in aught ‘07, I got up at the crack of dawn and went for a jog in the neighboring eucalyptus forest, then attended workshop for a few hours and spent the rest of the day writing, or talking about writing before taking a little hike down to the cliffs to watch the sun set over the Pacific.  If it was the weekend, some of us would head for the beach to swim with the seals. Oh, and there were squirt-gun fights.  Sound like a good way to send the summer?  Then check out the info below:

Announcing the

2009 Clarion Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers’ Workshop

@ UC San Diego

June 28 to August 8, 2009

The Clarion Workshop is widely recognized as the premier training ground for aspiring writers of fantasy and science fiction short stories. Many graduates have become well-known writers, and a large number have won major awards. Instructors are among the most respected writers and editors working in the field today. The 2009 writers in residence are Holly Black, Larissa Lai, Robert Crais, Kim Stanley Robinson, Elizabeth Hand, and Paul Park. The six-week workshop is held on the beautiful beachside campus of the University of California at San Diego.

Since its inception in 1968, Clarion has been known as the “boot camp” for writers of speculative fiction. Each year 18-20 students, ranging in age from late teens to those in mid-career, are selected from applicants who have the potential for highly successful writing careers. Students are expected to write several new short stories during the six-week workshop, and to give and receive constructive criticism. Instructors and students reside together in campus apartments throughout the intensive six-week program.

The application period for the 2009 workshop is January 2 – March 1. Applicants must submit two short stories with their application. Scholarships are available. Additional information can be found at http://clarion.ucsd.edu.