This series rocks! READ THEM! You need more? (sigh) Okay……
Guys Reads started around 10 years ago with Guys Write for Guys Read: Boys’ Favorite Authors Write About Being Boys. Jon Scieszka, however, is no stranger to getting boys to read. His Time Warp Trio series was his way of writing for the boys in his classroom who did not have anything to read. Flash forward a few years and Scieszka is knows for many picture books and novels, including the Guys Read series.
I will say: I do not believe in “boy books” and “girl books” but sometimes, yes, we need something that is traditionally a “boy/girl” book. With Guys Reads, even though it says Guys, I have always thought this to be the general “guys” as in “Hey you people of any gender you wish to be READ THESE BOOKS!”
Heroes and Villains is number 7 in the serious, but due to each book being a separate theme, read whichever one you want. The theme is what is a hero or villain. The older reader will see that sometimes the villain is the hero and the hero the villain. It is all how you look at it. The younger reader will just see a hero story. Several of today’s authors have been chosen by Scieszka. Some I was unfamiliar with (Cathy Camper) others I knew well (Sharon Creech and Laurie Halse Anderson) and others I became realized who they were after reading their biographies at the end.
Each author or illustrator will create a short story on the theme of the book. The themes chosen so far are: Thriller; Other Worlds; True Stories; Funny Business; Sports Pages and Terrifying Tales. And if you are not a fan of a subject no worries, you can pass, but I would recommend not. I am not a fan of sports or non-fiction but was pleased by the tales that came out of those books.
Adults read these books. Kids read these books. Aliens from Mars read these books! Please, just read these books!