Michael F. Shaughnessy
Senior Columnist EdNews.org
Eastern New Mexico University

Mark Jacobsen is the president and co-founder of Adventure Boys. Adventure Boys is a company committed to saving boyhood by encouraging fathers and sons to participate in heroic adventures and real life experiences together. The Adventure Boys experience begins with a series of original, pulp-style character-driven paperback books that allow fathers and sons to relate on everything from racecars and fighter planes to Wild West gunfights and science experiments.*

In this interview, Mark Jacobsen discusses some of the aspects of this " Adventure Boys" experiences, relates on his own childhood and relationship with his kids and discusses the need for educational experiences and reading for fun and camaraderie in the summer.

1) What got you interested in starting a company providing toys, games and activities for both boys and their fathers?

I was looking for a way to connect with my own sons.  I have five children: three girls and two boys.  And I realized I was struggling with how to relate to my sons -- was I supposed to strong or sensitive?  Mars or Venus?  And the more I looked into the subject, I quickly realized there's actually a boyhood crisis in our country, in fact according to one of the preeminent authors on the subject, they're falling behind in school and not going to college.  Thirty years ago, the spotlight was on girls, but now it's our sons that are falling behind (according to Michael Gurian's book entitled "The Minds of Boys:  Saving Our Sons From Falling Behind in School and Life" -- boys get the majority of D's and F's in most schools; boys make up 80% of discipline problems; of high school dropouts, 80% are young males; and young men now make up less than 44% of our college population!)

In fact, a number of Issues facing boys are making news:

-- Newsweek's January 30, 2006 cover story, "The Boy Crisis," reports America's boys are falling behind on every educational and developmental level while girls flourish. 

-- In a recent PBS series entitled "Raising Cain," (http://www.pbs.org/opb/raisingcain/), young American boys are said to be the most aggressive in the industrialized world

--The "Dangerous Book for Boys," a best-seller in the U.K., and recently released in the U.S., is making headlines for its unorthodox, yet retro-cool "how to" guide that instructs boys on everything from making paper airplanes and skipping stones to skinning a rabbit.

Adventure Boys is a company founded by a group of fathers looking for a way to better engage with their sons.  We started by reminiscing about what we enjoyed as kids.  And from there, we created the first-ever character-driven clubhouse community and marketplace for boys of all ages.  We have these fantastic series of pulp-style, dime-store novel mysteries and adventure books, online treasure hunts and contests, as well as a host of fun products like toys, models, and even mini-bike and tree house building kits.  It's all about father and son fun through sharing heroic adventures and real life experiences together. 

2) Bringing fathers and sons closer together is certainly an admirable endeavor. What do you have in your bag of tricks to do this?

For many of us who are fathers, the magic of boyhood – the secret missions, the intriguing mysteries, the riddles, tricks and pranks that defined coming of age– seem to be missing for our sons. That's why a group of dads got together and decided to create Adventure Boys – to bring back some of that magic and to pull dads back into the kind of fun they fondly recall from their own boyhood.

And the truth is...boys are different from girls. They like to go on missions and build things -- and we need to embrace their rambunctiousness, their inquisitiveness and their unbridled energy.  And just because dad is a grown-up doesn't mean he's not interested in playing, so we're giving fathers and sons the tools to tap into authentic boyhood experiences together, like building a mini-bike, assembling a model or even playing an awesome prank on your sister.

We have lots of adventures, games, mysteries and treasure hunts along with ways for boys to collect points redeemable for prizes and a clubhouse where they can interact with other kids they know. All of our adventures are based on the character-driven stories we've originally commissioned -- all packaged in a dime-store, back pocket book series -- and we offer airplane models like the one our Blue Squadron hero flies and roadsters that our SpyRacer masters.  We also encourage creativity and competition through our writing, illustration and movie-making contests.  We're hoping it becomes a boys YouTube.  So,we have lots of fun things to explore.

3) Tell us about these paperback books and their content.

-- WILD BOYS ADVENTURES, James Tyler and his band of comrades fight for justice in the 1860s Wild West.

-- DETECTIVE MYSTERIES, Sammy Wang and his friends solve dangerous mysteries in 1930s San Francisco.

-- BLUE SQUADRON, Ace Jackson and his fellow pilots fly the skies of North Africa as they fight for victory during WWII.

-- CRYPTIC SCIENCE, Ric Lopez and his band of young scientists battle the forces of evil at Area 51 in the 1950s.

-- SPY RACER, Dusty Johnson and his crew race for victory and battle Cold War spies in the 1960s. TREASURE RAIDERS, Johnny Hawk and his group of young archeologists encounter evil forces as they travel the world in the 1970s.

4) Your web site has everything from race cars to fighter planes to Wild West Gunfights and science experiments. Can you briefly tell us about all this great stuff?

Our stories are meant to create the context or environment for a great experience with your son. We have been able to do this by combining two key ingredients:

1) HISTORICAL FICTION: Our stories are based in unique periods of American history, which gives our adventures an authentic backdrop and foundation and

2) GREAT THEMES & SUBJECT MATTER FEATURING RICH CHARACTERS: We have created fantastic themes centered around subjects boys love like SpyRacer which is our series about a boy race car driver that also happens to be a spy.

We tried to create themes that would be as interesting to dad as it is to his son. We truly believe that dad is just a boy in a little bigger body.  

 5) I can recall building a tree house back when I was a kid (when dinosaurs still roamed the earth). How come kids don't engage in these kinds of things with their dads nowadays?

I can only speculate, but my guess is that it all boils down to time.  It might be my age too, but it seems the pace of life is so much faster today then when we were kids -- and dad is busier than ever.  In addition to that, boys are socialized on video games at younger and younger ages, so finding something to do is as easy as sitting on the couch with a joystick.  If we were bored as boys, we'd run around the block, hop fences, find discarded cardboard boxes and make forts.  Kids don't do that today, and maybe they don't know how!  And, I believe, that dads do want to connect with their sons, but if all their sons are only interested in video games -- and dad is knocked out of the competition in the first five seconds -- he's not able to do that.  But perhaps by introducing sons to a lot of the things their dad's enjoyed as kids will help open up more interaction between father and son.  And Adventure Boys is hoping to foster that connection -- by providing those activities and ideas so that dad has a way to engage, its fun for him and easy for him to make the time to do.

6) I see there are activities to enhance writing skills. Can you tell us about them?

Yes, one of our goals was to inspire creativity. With this in mind we have ongoing contest for young writers, illustrators, game designers & movie makers. These contests are advertised in the back of each book and are a big part of encouraging boys to participate in the Adventure Boys community. Ultimately we hope to have boys help us shape and or create future stories and storylines.

7)  How can your site help dad to become the "coolest dad on the block"?

I think dads are cool when they play with their sons.  Every son wants attention and every dad wants to feel needed.  If you've got fun things to do -- mysteries to solve, movies to make, prizes to win -- you're going to be the envy of every kid and dad on the block -- I'll guarantee it!

8) Okay, what is the name of your web site and what kinds of stuff will I find there? Along with other bored kids who have nothing to do this summer?

You can access the Adventure Boys clubhouse community at www.adventureboys.com

And all we feature are fun products – everything we offer is designed to engage the mind and imagination of fathers and sons alike.  Our pulp-style, dime-store novel series of character-driven books is the basis of our interactive clubhouse community.  And through these adventures, boys can discover, explore and experiment with all sorts of ideas and activities.  And, we hope Dad will join in too – and maybe they'll even learn a little bit more about each other and their shared interests in doing so.  We also hope that through the Adventure Boys experience, the standards, values and character traits that are demonstrated by our heroes – and good old dad – will teach kids valuable life lessons. And dads even have their own area on adventureboys.com, where they'll find all kinds of books, tips and tricks to help make them the coolest dad on the block.

9) So, in summary what is Adventure Boys all about?

Adventure Boys is an entertainment and lifestyle company committed to saving boyhood by encouraging fathers and sons to participate together in heroic adventures and share real life experiences.Founded in Seattle in 2006 by an eclectic group of entrepreneurial dads looking to better engage with their sons, Adventure Boys and Adventureboys.com is the only online retailer and virtual clubhouse community that publishes and sells original adventure stories, games, toys, clothing and old-fashioned boyhood fun.*

10) What question have I neglected to ask?

I think you've covered all the key points. Just stay tuned as many fun and mysterious things will be revealed in the future about the company. What you are seeing today is really just the tip of the iceberg…

* taken from an Adventure Boys Press Release !

Published June 20, 2007