James Patterson: “I Like To Think I’ve Saved Lives”
For best-selling author James Patterson, writing funny books that children really want to read is a very serious business indeed
The thing about trying to recall the years when you were growing up is you can never be quite sure what it is you actually remember, and what you’ve heard as stories. So, I think I was reading at the age of three – but whether that’s real, or something imagined and told to me by my mother, I don’t know.
I was definitely literate from quite an early age; I wouldn’t say that it was necessarily a turn on for me, though – I wasn’t a huge reader as a child, and I feel a lot of that had to do with the kinds of books that were set before me back then. It’s so important to put books in front of children that they are going to gobble up and ask for more of, but those just weren’t the kinds of titles I was given, as a rule. I do remember being very interested in biographies, and particularly the lives of the saints, which I found intriguing; they were such wonderful stories. I enjoyed The Hardy Boys, and adventure tales like Treasure Island were important to me. But when I look at the world of children’s literature now, and write a lot of it myself, I can see how I missed out on a properly varied literary diet when I was young. All broccoli and carrots isn’t the way to get most kids reading.
There’s a tendency for parents and teachers to draw a distinction between so-called ‘serious’ literature and genre fiction. But I don’t think it’s as great a divide as people believe. There are some out-and-out masterpieces, of course; but there are also plenty of frankly so-so ‘highbrow’ books that get critical acclaim, and some mystery and suspense novels that are overlooked, but really quite special. Take J.K. Rowling; I don’t know that the Harry Potter series is great literature, but it’s wonderful storytelling. She’s a very talented writer, and she has saved lives. I like to think I’ve saved lives, too, with my kids’ books. In fact, anybody who doesn’t believe that’s the job of a children’s writer should go do something else. If you don’t have a passion for getting kids to be competent readers, you shouldn’t be in this business.
That’s why I have been so driven to set up initiatives like readkiddoread.com, which makes it easier for teachers, librarians, parents and grandparents to find books that they might match up with different kids and the Patterson Scholarships to support teacher training. In the States the Patterson Pledge Program, in partnership with Scholastic, funds school libraries and in the UK we partnered with World Book Day to do the same. There are countless studies showing the power of reading to create better citizens – husbands, wives, neighbours; the more we read, the more compassionate we become, as a society. And kids who aren’t hooked into it by the time they are twelve or so, well, they risk getting lost. Completely. We can’t let that happen.
When I’m writing for children, I try not to condescend to them. I respect their intelligence – they get it, they just might not have as much information as adults sometimes – and I aim to tell them a story that offers something worth thinking about, as well as being a lot of fun. With the I Funny series, for example, you have a kid who wants to be a stand-up comedian. What do you have to do if you really want something? Study, study, study – so that’s what he does. And on top of that, he can never be a ‘standup’ comedian, because he’s in a wheelchair, which raises a whole other thing about the power of humour to get us past certain problems in life. Similar themes come up in Jacky Ha-Ha, which is a terrific book about a Tina Fey kind of character, who wants her own daughters to know what it was like for her growing up with six sisters and a stutter, struggling to be heard. And then I have a book coming out later this year called Pottymouth and Stoopid; I know some gatekeepers might look at that title and get a little nervous about bringing it into the library, but it’s actually about word-bullying, which is so prevalent and damaging these days (and not just in schools and playgrounds, either – look at politics, and the tabloids). It’s a neat story; kids will read it, and love it, and there’s something to get their minds working, to talk about in class. I think, in fact, Pottymouth and Stoopid might be the most important book I’ve ever written.
James Patterson’s new book, Pottymouth and Stoopid is published this June.
