Ruby Slippers Posted December 3, 2008 Posted December 3, 2008 This is cute. http://www.nypost.com/seven/12022008/news/nationalnews/i_wrote_the_book_of_love_141817.htm He's only 9, but this pint-sized pickup artist already knows plenty about pleasing the ladies. So much, in fact, that Alec Greven's dating primer, "How to Talk to Girls" - which began as a handwritten, $3 pamphlet sold at his school book fair - hit the shelves nationwide last week. The fourth-grader from Castle Rock, Colo., advises Lothario wannabes to stop showing off, go easy on the compliments to avoid looking desperate - and be wary of "pretty girls." "It is easy to spot pretty girls because they have big earrings, fancy dresses and all the jewelry," he writes in Chapter Three. "Pretty girls are like cars that need a lot of oil." He advises, "The best choice for most boys is a regular girl. Remember, some pretty girls are coldhearted when it comes to boys. Don't let them get to you." Over a few Shirley Temples yesterday at Langan's on West 47 Street, Alec said that he culled his wisdom by peeking at his peers at play. "I saw a lot of boys that had trouble talking to girls," Alec said. As for his how-to, he concedes, "I never expected people to buy it like a regular book in a bookstore." But with classic plain-spoken advice - like "comb your hair and don't wear sweats" - it's no surprise his 46-page book was a hit with boys and girls of all ages. He believes the best way to approach a girl is to keep it to a simple "hi." "If I say hi and you say hi back, we're probably off to a good start," he said. As for his own love life, he said he is not dating anyone at the moment. "I'm a little too young," he confessed. In his book, published by HarperCollins, he suggests holding off on falling in love until at least middle school. Dating - which he defines as going out to dinner without your parents - is for "kind of old" people, who are 15 or 16. Officials at the Soaring Hawk Elementary School said he wrote the book - which was the runaway bestseller at its book fair - for kids, but believe anyone can find inspiration in it. Alec's mother, Erin Greven, credits her son's beyond-his-years insight to his avid reading. "He reads nonstop. At dinner, I say, 'Put your book down,' " she said. Alec - who just finished a children's book on the Watergate scandal - said he wants to be a full-time writer when he grows up, with a weekend job in archaeology or paleontology.
Trialbyfire Posted December 3, 2008 Posted December 3, 2008 "It is easy to spot pretty girls because they have big earrings, fancy dresses and all the jewelry," he writes in Chapter Three. He's adorable and the above comment, the best! He appears to have missed a pertinent detail about how to spot pretty girls.
kashmir Posted December 3, 2008 Posted December 3, 2008 Wow, when I was his age I thought girls were disgusting. Cartoons and playing with matches were on the top of my list then.
Cherry Blossom 35 Posted December 3, 2008 Posted December 3, 2008 OMG that is hilarious. "Comb your hair and don't wear sweats". Good advice, son. I love that he wants to be a full time writer and an archeologist/paleontologist on the weekend. I used to want to be a hairdresser during the week and a veterinarian on the weekends, LOL.
OpenBook Posted December 3, 2008 Posted December 3, 2008 I want to read his book about the Watergate scandal!!
katrik Posted December 3, 2008 Posted December 3, 2008 Wow!! I never thought about these when I was 9year old....but at the same time I am sure he is going to be a player in his teen..
Trialbyfire Posted December 3, 2008 Posted December 3, 2008 As for his own love life, he said he is not dating anyone at the moment. "I'm a little too young," he confessed. This is the other comment that cracked me up. You have to love the pragmatism of a 9 year-old boy.
fral945 Posted December 3, 2008 Posted December 3, 2008 "Pretty girls are like cars that need a lot of oil." My favorite part. I would have changed it to "expensive cars that are expensive to maintain". But he's on the right track.
Taramere Posted December 3, 2008 Posted December 3, 2008 My mind boggles to think what would have happened to my poor brother or any of his peers had they produced something like that at the age of 9. I'm assuming that in the US children don't get their heads flushed down the school toilets for behaving like adults in miniature, making use of well intended parental notions of "brilliant comebacks to use in the playground" etc etc. Or does he attend some kind of school for gifted geeks, like the one the Simpsons couldn't afford to send Lisa to?
movingonandon Posted December 3, 2008 Posted December 3, 2008 He'll forget all of that by the time he's 19, and will start self-sabotating himself just like the rest of us!
Lights Posted December 3, 2008 Posted December 3, 2008 I'm with Kashmir and with Taramere on this one. To Taramere: No, I don't believe that most US schools are any different from what you describe.
lovestruck818 Posted December 3, 2008 Posted December 3, 2008 That freakin' kid knows more about dating than I do!
Funkymonkey Posted December 4, 2008 Posted December 4, 2008 Wow imagine the girls he'll be picking up in 10-15 years.
xpaperxcutx Posted December 4, 2008 Posted December 4, 2008 I saw this article the other day, and I suppose I was a bit taken aback. Are 9 year olds even allowed to date?
Ocean-Blue Posted December 4, 2008 Posted December 4, 2008 I found it both intriguing and a little disturbing. Children are awesome at being very practical and to the point. However, what is a 9 year old doing shelling out dating advice? I found the picture in the article to be inappropriate. He's in a bar of some sort, trying to charm these beer-holding women? I dunno, I find it a little weird. Still, his observations are cute and amusing.
Nagini Posted December 4, 2008 Posted December 4, 2008 IDK I think he's around some bitter elders. Grow a player foh sure.
Isolde Posted December 4, 2008 Posted December 4, 2008 I found it both intriguing and a little disturbing. Children are awesome at being very practical and to the point. However, what is a 9 year old doing shelling out dating advice? I found the picture in the article to be inappropriate. He's in a bar of some sort, trying to charm these beer-holding women? I dunno, I find it a little weird. Still, his observations are cute and amusing. Nah, it didn't look like he was trying to charm them. He looks very sweet to me. I doubt he takes this stuff too seriously.
Taramere Posted December 5, 2008 Posted December 5, 2008 I'm with Kashmir and with Taramere on this one. Thank God I'm not the only one. I've seen comments about this on a couple of other boards, and it seems that the general consensus is "wow, this kid has really hit on something! He knows more about women than I do!" Has it really come to that? I mean yes - the child is cute as pretty much all 9 year olds are cute seen through the eyes of a non-child-hating adult. If he wants to potter about writing little pamphlets on how to speak to girls then fine. At 9, my bedroom was generally filled with details of various projects, schemes and How-to guides I'd devised either on my own or with the help of friends. What I just can't get my head around is the adult reaction. One would have thought this nice little kid had singlehandedly discovered a new planet, rather than writing down various well known bits and pieces that he's read/overheard/concluded on his own about social interactions. "Comb your hair before speaking to girls". Huh? That sounds like advice straight from the mouth of your Great Aunt Mildred. It reminds me of those pictures in comics where the boy hero is being taken round to visit relatives, and his mother combs his hair down flat and dresses him up in a little suit. I'm meditating....meditating....meditating until I regress into an 8 year old Taramere state. Who was a boy hero of mine? Let's see... William Brown Always unkempt looking, a face that was generally smeared with mud and an overall demeanour that said "I spend my 10 year old life climbing trees, getting into friendlyish fights and eating sweets. Who's Neil Strauss? Is he better than Spiderman?" Away from fiction - a real life boy I would have a secret crush on might pay me a compliment by showing me his terrapin collection or a stash of tadpoles he'd discovered in some murky little pond. We might bond over the discovery that we both disliked the cloudy "bits" at the bottom of a glass of Kia Ora. He'd politely decline an invitation to join my Swan Club, and tell me that the Red Hand Death Gang was much better, but that I had to undergo an initiation ceremony. We'd prod eachother's bits in a dark cupboard, smooch a bit - and then ignore eachother blushingly for the next month. What the hell has happened to kids?
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