Alec Greven advises, 'It's better to go for a regular girl, because pretty girls are a lot of work.' (HarperCollins)Alec Greven, the nine-year-old Colorado boy who became a media star with his book How to Talk to Girls, plans several follow-ups to his debut effort.

Greven says he plans to write a book called How to Talk to Moms that will come out for Mother's Day next year and How to Talk to Dads, which will come out ahead of Father's Day.

The fourth-grader from Castle Rock, Colo., won a book deal with Harper Collins with a pamphlet he originally wrote for a third-grade assignment.

"What happened — I saw a lot of boys around the playground having trouble getting girls and then getting ditched … so I wanted to write a book to try and help them," Greven told CBC's Q cultural affairs show on Monday.

Greven created his 46-page book of advice based on the kind of crazy things boys did in the playground when they wanted a girl's attention.

"They were saying wrong things, and they got caught doing crazy things," he said. "I watched the playground and saw how some boys had successes and others had failures, so I made the advice."

His third-grade teacher liked the pamphlet he wrote so much that she made copies and sold them at a school fair. That got the attention of a local TV station, whose report came to the ears of talk-show host Ellen DeGeneres.

DeGeneres not only had him on her talk show, she also flew him and his mother to New York to talk to HarperCollins.

Uncanny perception

How to Talk to Girls may be just the first book by Alec Greven. (HarperCollins)The result was Greven's book How to Talk to Girls, which this week was optioned for a film by 20th Century Fox.

Among Greven's tips: "Girls win most of the arguments and have most of the power. If you know that now, things might be easier," an uncanny perception from someone the other side of puberty.

"Usually if you get into an argument situation, you probably let the girl win," Greven told Q. "If it's something you don't want to lose, you can keep going — but most boys it's like 'oh, who cares?' because it's not that big."

He advises against going after the prettiest girls, because they only care about their looks.

"It's better to go for a regular girl, because pretty girls are a lot of work, and regular girls are not that much work," he said.

Other advice includes "don't wear sweats."

"You can wear sweats at your house and stuff, but if you want a girl, it's probably best not to wear sweats. And you probably want to comb your hair when you're around a girl, because they like you to be clean," Greven said.

For the lovelorn, he counsels: "Life is hard, move on … and that's really important, because you need to get over it, or it's just going to ruin you, or you're just going to go crazy, but you just need to get over it."

Greven doesn't have a girlfriend, saying he's too young. But he has big plans for future books.

In addition to How to Talk to Moms and How to Talk to Dads, he may write How to Talk to Santa in time for next Christmas. And he holds out hope for updating his advice on talking to girls with a guide for students in middle school and another for high school.