By jim d

February 20, 2008 9:26 AM | Link to this

AH ha!!

One that perhaps JM, Jeff & I will agree on.

It is not the school or the teachers job to attempt to please every student with reading assignments.

What the hecks wrong with parents of boys that they don’t instill reading for pleasure in these children at an early age.

Mine has a habit of reading multiple books at a time and can tell you what is happening, in each one as well as having a pretty good grasp at what the author is trying to convey. Yes he reads for pleasure as well as for knowledge and perhaps that may be a significant difference between him and some other children.

My opinon here? if a child is only reading what is assigned there is a much larger problem at home than in the school.

By Jeff

February 20, 2008 9:53 AM | Link to this

jim:

We have SLIGHT differences here, but on the overall question we do in fact agree.

Furthermore, I counldn’t agree more with this:

if a child is only reading what is assigned there is a much larger problem at home than in the school.

My difference is that I’m not a fan of everything the schools typically use. In fact, I’ve read other works of classic literature that I enjoyed FAR more than some I was forced to read, and see no problem with using some of them.

For example: The Three Musketeers by Dumas is something guys could get into, and yet still has much of the ideas and issues that ENGL types love to discuss. (In fact, if you know the history of the period in question, it reads almost like a Clancy or Dale Brown work today, yet it is ‘classic’ lit…)

Another example is ‘Frankenstein’ by Shelley. The actual imagery in that book would give the most ardent fan or harcore gory slasher flicks pause - PERFECT to get teenage boys interested.

The copious amounts of sex in The Decameron by Boccelli would have teen guys reading every word.

Yet those three are works that I had to read in COLLEGE. Why shouldn’t we move them down to the HS level??

By Ernest

February 20, 2008 9:55 AM | Link to this

Good point JimD! I got my start reading with Comic Books (I’m partial to DC Comics). My parents understood the importance of reading for enjoyment at an early age thus this made the transition easy for reading for knowledge.

In fairness, we didn’t have the ‘distractions’ kids today have with electronic games and gizmos. To engage my children, I would read comics with them and discuss the events that occurred.

What can schools do? I bet if there was a book on Nintendo or Playstation characters, many boys would read it.

By Hick from the Sticks

February 20, 2008 10:03 AM | Link to this

A Separate Peace.

Lord of the Flies.

Yes, even Hemingway’s Old Man and the Sea.

And, without question, The Crucible.

My males adored these works. My females adored (well, some) of those works.

Jim, I think we stand in concurrence. Unfortunately, in most of the instances I’ve came across, most of these kids haven’t ever read for fun.

If they do, it’s some random magazine which destroys half of the language.

I do what I can for God and country. :)

By HS Teacher Too

February 20, 2008 10:08 AM | Link to this

jim d, It is not the school or the teachers job to attempt to please every student with reading assignments.

That is true; and much like your son, the boy Laura mentions was reading outside of class. I think the larger problem isn’t that students don’t always like what their teachers select (for goodness’ sake, that’s been a problem since schools started assigning reading!)but rather that some teachers make consistently poor choices. By poor I don’t mean that someone doesn’t like the book, but that the teacher repeatedly “alienates” the same group.

I agree with you on all of your arguments, but I don’t pretend that some teachers are not irresponsible in their “literature” selections.

As to how to entice more boys to read, did I actually see that you blamed parents?!

:)

By msbssy

February 20, 2008 10:21 AM | Link to this

Perhaps one way to increase the reading of both girls & boys is to offer choice in the types of “english” classes offered. When I was in high school in MI, after the 10th grade, we could choose between classes such as Drama & Poetry, Contemporary Novels, World Literature, etc. While taking the an english class was mandatory, we were allowed to delve into what interested us most

By Jennifer

February 20, 2008 10:34 AM | Link to this

Thank you for this blog.

My son is seven and is at that age where it’s becoming difficult to find books on his reading level that interest him.

He reads very well and completes most books within a day to a week. He loves to read. I am struggling to find books for him. I purchased several junior novels based on the Spiderman movies. Those consisted of mini-chapters; however he’s done with them and I can’t find anything else.

Most of the books within a 1st-2nd grade reading level are geared towards girls i.e. Judy Blume, Ramona, Hanana Montana. I don’t want him to always read about Power Rangers, and Pokemon (which I can’t stand).

He has Shel Silverstein, childrens dictionaries, thesaurus, Bible( which he now reads like it’s a novel and I LOVE IT!!). But for random fun books it’s difficult for me to find anything. He has all the books about trains,dinosaurs, sports, but I want him to have fun fiction books on his level.

We can’t encourage our sons to read better and more if it’s a challenge to find books for them. So far it’s not overly difficult for me, but I can see it becoming harder the older he gets.

Any suggestions would be great.

By Jennifer

February 20, 2008 10:42 AM | Link to this

Oh and my son is also signed up for Nick Kids magazine; however I have to basically read the entire thing before I decide if I want him to read that issue. Nick Kids is even borderline too teen for young children. I have to make sure the pictures and cartoons aren’t too graphic or the girls aren’t too developed. It’s a mess now, but I’m up for the challenge.

Signing him up for Sports Illustrated Kids next. Highlights are okay but he didn’t really pick up on those too well.

By Jeff

February 20, 2008 10:42 AM | Link to this

Jennifer:

Back when I was that age, I LOVED the Judy Blume/ Ramona stuff.

Not much older than that, I discovered the Box Car Children series that I found pretty good, as well as the Hardy Boys series (not the wrestlers… it is a detective series where the detectives in question are somewhere in their teens/early 20s).

There was another mystery series involving an ES-aged kid that solved various mysteries around his house/neighborhood, but I can’t remember the name of it right now. (Hey, what can I say, I started reading Clancy at 11!) Maybe the ES teachers are familiar with what I’m talking about???

By msbssy

February 20, 2008 10:46 AM | Link to this

Jennifer,

Have you thought about the Hardy Boys mysteries? I grew up reading Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, Agatha Christie as a pre-teen. Or what about greek mythology, Jason & the Argonauts. While most girls my age were reading romance type things, I loved mysteries, spy novels, Stephen King, heck even Mario Puzo and the Godfather trilogies.

By Parent of three

February 20, 2008 10:54 AM | Link to this

As a parent of three - a 10th grade girl, 8th grade boy, and a 5th grade girl, I have to disagree that it is the parents fault. I think to some degree most boys are different than girls when it comes to reading. I read, my husband reads (although not as much), and both of my girls read. My oldest daughter probably reads two to three books a week, outside of required reading.

My son, on the other hand, will not read unless he is forced to do so. When he was in elementary school we would even allow him to stay awake later if he was reading. He chose to sleep. We also tried lots of other things to try to encourage him to read. Nothing has really worked. I am hoping that eventually it will pay off and he will find what pleasure you get from reading.

I guess my point is that we have three kids and each one of them is different. They are all raised in the same house, with the same parents.

As far as required books in school, they are probably more geared to girls, however, most of the girls also don’t want to read the required reading either. Let them pick what they want to read, as long as they read. If I have a child who does not like to read and he is required to read something he is really not interested in at school, how much more do you think I can get him to read at home??

By Jeff

February 20, 2008 11:01 AM | Link to this

parent of 3:

I’m male, and I read more than virtually anyone I know. To the tune of 10 books already this year, I’m working on number 11, and that doesn’t count the book that I had barely started prior to Jan 1 and finished before I started with the official count for this year.

By Hick from the Sticks

February 20, 2008 11:01 AM | Link to this

Jeff:

Was it Encyclopedia Brown?

Jennifer:

My poor mother never censored what I read—not saying that you are, but just something to keep in mind.

Reading for pleasure opens up the mind to be (well, slightly) more inclined to read the mandatory insomnia-stoppers.

And Shel Silverstein is absolutely wonderful. Not only has he been the star of many “banned” books, but anyone who wrote the song “A Boy Named Sue” is alright in my book. :)

By high school mom

February 20, 2008 11:02 AM | Link to this

I agree, the yearning for reading starts at home, in the early years. My son, 17, is an avid reader. It started when he was a toddler. He’d pick out the books in the library and we’d read to him. Like most students, he does not always like the school reading selections, but that’s life. He usually has other reading material on hand whenever he gets free time…more so in the summer months as he participates in three school sports. In his younger years, he enjoyed Encylopedia Brown books, etc. I cannot recall the author’s name, Matt Something or other, but the theme of his books were sports. There were many other authors whose work my son enjoyed, too. There was a series of books about teenage boys and mysteries…surfing dudes. Once he found a book he liked, he read every book by that particular author.

By Jeff

February 20, 2008 11:12 AM | Link to this

Hick:

Yep! I was thinking ‘Charlie Brown’, but I knew that wasn’t right!

Encyclopedia Brown was the BOMB back in the day!

Now I prefer Jack Reacher (essentially, a bigger, badder, ‘adult’ version of Brown), but my interest in the mystery genre was FIRMLY grounded in Encyclopedia!

By V for Vendetta

February 20, 2008 11:16 AM | Link to this

Jim D and Jeff, Yall are dead right. There ARE larger problems at home that contribute to kids’ narrow-mindedness towards the literature we study in school — especially high school. However, oddly enough, I’m going to take a side I don’t normally take (much to Jim’s amusement, I’m sure) …

It is also the teachers’ fault. You heard me! I get crazy when I teach many of these works, and I try to make them enjoyable to all the kids. Look, I don’t expect them to suddenly have a literary epiphany and all go out and purchase Moby Dick, but if you make it interesting and enjoyable, they will come. They might also come if you build a ballfield in the middle of a corn field, but that’s a different story. Still, if you want “guy-centric” literature that the males can enjoy, look no further:

The Call of the Wild Anthem The Odyssey To Kill a Mockingbird (once they get into it, same with Romeo and Juliet) Lord of the Flies The Crucible Frankenstein The Great Gatsby Beowulf

need I go on?

By Max Elliot Anderson

February 20, 2008 11:16 AM | Link to this

Hi,

I grew up as a reluctant reader. Now I write action-adventures & mysteries, especially for boys 8 and up, that kids hate to put down. My web site is at http://www.maxbooks.9k.com and my Books for Boys blog is at http://booksandboys.blogspot.com Ranked by Accelerated Reader

Thank you,

Max Elliot Anderson

By Ron

February 20, 2008 11:16 AM | Link to this

When I was a young boy I read Alex Ramsey stories,The Black Stallion,etc.They still make good books for youngsters.Harry Potter books are good for older kids.In High School it was John Steinbeck,Thomas Hardy,Shakespeare,Chaucer,Victor Hugo,to name a few.We were given large lists of books to choose from,and we were expected to be able to discuss these books after indicating we had read them.Perhaps our teacher was ahead of his time?

By Max Elliot Anderson

February 20, 2008 11:19 AM | Link to this

Hi,

I grew up as a reluctant reader. Now I write action-adventures & mysteries, especially for boys 8 and up, that kids hate to put down. My Books for Boys blog is ranked in the top 5 on Google under the search, Books for boys. Books are also ranked by Accelerated Reader

Thank you,

Max Elliot Anderson

By Jennifer

February 20, 2008 11:19 AM | Link to this

I completely forgot about the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew…I grew up on those books myself!!! But are those books for 7yrs old? I can’t recall at what age I started reading those types of books. I recall Box Car Children as well.

Christopher likes Ramona. I just want to make sure he’s not always reading girl based books if that makes sense????

By Jeff

February 20, 2008 11:25 AM | Link to this

Jennifer:

Makes perfect sense to me, but as you can tell from following me here, I didn’t exactly turn out very effiminate, even though I read most everything Blume/Cleary put out at the ES level.

Another book I just remembered is Indian in the Cupboard. The movie SUCKED, but I LOVED the book. Plus, if I remember correctly, it is a trilogy.

By jim d

February 20, 2008 11:35 AM | Link to this

Jenn,

Here’s a couple of tricks we used.

We would take him to the library or book store and let him browse until something captured his eye and imagination.

We also were bad about not answering questions. When he’d seen or heard something on the tv (discovery channel and History channels) and wanted to know more about it we sent him to his encyclopedia’s to look it up. This approach got him to open them and once opened he quite often kept reading other material. I can attest that he’s read the entire set!

Perhaps we were just fortunate that he was reading at an 11th grade level in the 3rd grade, although I’d like to claim a bit of credit for providing him with the opportunity to read.

Christmas was and still is a prime time for buying new books and generally cover a larger area under the tree than most other gifts at our house.

I think the real key is to encourage him to explore reading he finds of interest thus promoting a willingness and even exuberance for reading other materials he might find less to his taste.

Here’s one you can buy that he’ll continue to go back and re-read for years.

By CiCi4

February 20, 2008 11:35 AM | Link to this

As a fourth grade teacher in a “reading” school, I can jump in on this discussion!

Most of my boys come to me reading basically series chapter books, i.e., A to Z Mysteries, TreeHouse Club, Berenstain Bears, Junie B. Jones. These books are fine, if you are younger. I make it my job to help them get hooked on books and that means moving into literature that challenges the way they think about themselves and life.

Depending on their interests, I direct my boys to outdoor adventures like Gentle Ben and Hatchet. Many of the boys like sports so they seem to enjoy Matt Christopher books. Dan Gutman has written a series of books about sports heroes that involve time changing. My son loved James Howe books. He is a fantasy reader, so I direct many of my boys to his books. For my most reluctant boys, Captain Underpants works brilliantly. As they prove to themselves that they can read longer books, I encourage books like Holes. After that we jump to Lemony Snickett, Charlie Bones, and Harry Potter. It’s just a matter of coaching them and helping them get the right book in their hands.

I teach in a county that has been a major topic on this blog for the past couple of days, so many of my students are African-American. I see a great need for books about boys that have heros who are like them. I always ask them just how long they intend to read about a naughty little white girl (Junie B.)! The Watsons Go to Birmingham and Bud Not Buddy are great, as are Virginia Hamilton books. I would just like a greater variety of books that really speak to those boys.

By Old School

February 20, 2008 11:45 AM | Link to this

I have my high school drafting students read for the first 15 minutes of the block. I offer Reader’s Digest, Time, Newsweek, and Consumer Reports magazines as well as my collection of Pat McManus books. My goal is to let them discover reading for pleasure and so far they’ve come to enjoy the time. On a few occasions, several have begged for additional time which I grant if feasible for the day. I don’t hunt or fish but I LOVE Pat’s books! The short stories are hilarious and my students love them too.

By Joy in Teaching

February 20, 2008 11:53 AM | Link to this

My boys used to LOVE Romeo and Juliet. I used to teach it as a “soap opera” and barely mentioned the whole “love” aspects of the story. (They kinda got that on their on.)

There is an interesting book out called The Mind of Boys by Michael Gurian that discusses not only the way that boys learn, think, and acquire knowledge at different ages, but addresses ways in which parents and teachers can maximize their learning capacity.

By jim d

February 20, 2008 11:54 AM | Link to this

Sorry folks,

Didn’t mean to cause any shock. But yes it falls on the parents. Parents that read, quite simply, have children that read. It starts at home long before they start to school.

Unfortunately many parents will attempt to influence the materials their child has access to. In my opinon that may stiffle a childs curiousity. So be prepared to let them attack whatever books peak their interest and be prepared to explain or direct the child to further informational sources. Those little minds are like a sponge, once dampened they can absorb a lot!

By Matt

February 20, 2008 11:55 AM | Link to this

Jennifer: I started reading Hardy Boys about your son’s age, and I had an advanced reading level also. In fact, they’ve recently done a reprinting of the books, so you should find them stocked either in the library or any bookstore.

In regards to today’s topic, I like the idea of the kids either: A) Being given a list of approved books to read, and they have to turn in a report to the teacher or B) Asking the teacher to approve a book they want to read for the class grade.

That just seems a better idea than the teacher assigning a book only half the class will read, and most of them only because it’s required for a grade.

By V for Vendetta

February 20, 2008 11:57 AM | Link to this

LOL JEFF,

The Indian in the Cupboard was a great book! But you’re right, it was a terrible movie. :-)

By Erin

February 20, 2008 11:57 AM | Link to this

Ahhhh, books assigned in school!

I was one of those kids who was ALWAYS reading something for fun, outside of what I had to read for school.

Reading was important in my family, clearly. But even so, some of the stuff teachers assigned us to read were books I found I didn’t much enjoy reading. Charles Dickens, while fine literature, nearly put me to sleep every time.

But then there were other books we read. A Separate Peace. To Kill a Mockingbird. Romeo and Juliet. Julius Caesar. Hamlet. The Scarlett Letter. The Odyssey. Alas Babylon. Silas Marner. East of Eden. Fried Green Tomatoes. Wuthering Heights. Last of the Mohicans (and then the movie came out … love the movie!).

I enjoyed all of those … some were harder to understand than others, but the story itself, not necessarily the way it was written, certainly held my attention.

So I guess I’m saying, give someone (of either gender or any age) something they find interesting, and they WILL read it and enjoy it.

For some, that may be a magazine about a hobby they’re into. Or fine literature. Or just a book about someone they like.

But the point is, you have to hold their attention. As long as they’re reading SOMETHING for fun (and let’s face it, too many kids just rely solely on the Cliff’s Notes version and don’t read the actual books they’re assigned in class … that could be another blog topic someday all in itself) besides what they’re assigned in class, then at least they’re reading, right?

By Jennifer

February 20, 2008 11:58 AM | Link to this

Jim d-

We do that now. He has his own dictionary and thesaurus. When he’s doing school work or has a question in general we make him look it up. If he asks how to spell a word we point him to the dictionary and have him look it up himself.

We also give him random work to do at home outside of homework. We’ll give him a sentence to write 20-25 times to work on his handwriting skills. These are in addition to appx 10-15 vocab words that we’ll give him to look up on his own. He is seven and has already mastered looking through a college dictonary which many in his class can’t do. On those fronts we are very proud of him/us, lol.

My concern is not his interest in reading as he would rather read than go outside….My concern is the easiness in finding books for his age group that aren’t too over the top or geared mainly towards girls.

We go to the books store now and he has his own library card (two actually; one per county he spends his time in).

I assume we are on the right track with him. I at times simply get concerned that I’m doing what’s best for him.

By jim d

February 20, 2008 11:59 AM | Link to this

Jenn,

One other small help might be to show an interest in what he’s reading. I constantly asked my young reader what was going on in the book he was reading. Then just sat back and let him talk.

By Erin

February 20, 2008 12:01 PM | Link to this

Oh yeah, and we also read Heart of Darkness, Lord of the Flies and The Stranger.

I also forgot to add before that I still actually have many of the books I was assigned to read in high school. Some are really battered now, because I have actually re-read them, in some cases multiple times, but I DO stil have them.

By jim d

February 20, 2008 12:04 PM | Link to this

Ah yes Old school,

The cold seat library materials.

Humor in uniform was always a favorite at our house.

By Lisa B.

February 20, 2008 12:11 PM | Link to this

Jennifer,

For your 7-year-old, try the “Magic Tree House” books, reading levels 2.0-3.0 (mostly), Hank the Cowdog RL 2.5-3.5, Captain Underpants RL 4.0- 4.5 (even my students who HATED to read loved these!)Goosebumps books (my son read all of them) and eventually I recommend the Harry Potter series.

By Erin

February 20, 2008 12:12 PM | Link to this

One more thing and I swear this is it:

As a child, I had the ENTIRE series of: Little House on the Prairie Anne of Green Gables Chronicles of Narnia

As I said, reading was a VERY important thing in my home. I could actually read and write by the time I got to kindergarten and all those neverending worksheets we had to do, tracing the letters, bored me silly at the time.

By just a teacher

February 20, 2008 12:17 PM | Link to this

I think it’s interesting that the question of reading or the lack of it often falls along gender lines. We seem to expect girls to be able to read and enjoy books with a male protagonist but scoff when boys are “forced” to read “chick lit.” Just sayin’.

Anyway, in fine pass the buck fashion, I do feel that the whole “love of reading” business is best fostered when they’re young, by parents ideally and ES teachers as reinforcement. By the time they show up in my AP Lit class, they need to be able to read and engage with a text even if they wouldn’t pick it out themselves.

A huge part of that is my job. A teacher’s enthusiasm and promotion of a text can make all the difference, regardless of the author or protagonist. Toward that end, my colleagues and I strive to have balance the readings and incorporate student choice whenever possible. If I can get each student, male and female, to appreciate everything we read and truly love at least one title, I can live with that.

(As for titles, these are some I have consistent success with: Slaughterhouse Five, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, On the Road, 100 Years of Solitude, Poisonwood Bible, Brave New World, A Streetcar Named Desire, Song of Solomon, Othello, Macbeth, Much Ado About Nothing)

By jim d

February 20, 2008 12:38 PM | Link to this

Jenn,

Not to worry about what he’s reading. “Girls books”(I hate that phrase) often contain materials that boy’s become consumed with.

Someone mentioned Little House. The real appeal of Little House for many boys probably isn’t the narrative, but rather the precise and detailed descriptions of how to tap a maple tree for syrup or load a musket.

Betsy-Tacy and All-of-a-Kind Family, too, are full of information about their worlds.

But if you have concerns here’s a few he might enjoy.

The Boys From Brooklyn: The Great Robbery. Salvatore Tomasi.

Cirque du Freak, A Living Nightmare. Darren Shan, (first in a series of 11 books)

Hatchet, by Gary Paulsen

How to Eat Fried Worms, Thomas Rockwell.

The important thing is to just keep him reading.

By Jennifer

February 20, 2008 1:22 PM | Link to this

I appreciate everyones help! I wrote down the titles to a few books I forgot about that I read myself.

Have a great one!!!

By jim d

February 20, 2008 1:58 PM | Link to this

V,

Funny that you mention Frankenstein, The kids doing it now. Hasn’t been assigned yet but it will be so he went out and picked up a copy to get a jump on the assignment. A rather slow read, this one, due to much very old terminology, no longer used, that he must go look up.

Anyway, He came home the other day LHAO, I asked for the source of the humor and was told his LA teacher had confused Mary Shelley, the author of Frankenstein with her mother, Mary Wollstonecraft, thinking they were one in the same. (now thats funny stuff) Not just once but on two different days and no one in class attempted to correct her cause teachers are never wrong! :-) Thank god he knows the difference!

By Dana Huff

February 20, 2008 2:53 PM | Link to this

I recommend this site: Guys Read. It’s geared toward boys of all ages and designed to help them find books that tend to appeal to boys.

That said, I’ve taught Romeo and Juliet for years, and my male students always liked it.

By jim d

February 20, 2008 3:10 PM | Link to this

off topic

Excellent read at great schools.net on stressing our kids.

By Aureliano Buendia

February 20, 2008 3:31 PM | Link to this

I love One Hundred Years of Solitude. I have read it twice in English and once in Spanish. If my English teacher had not put that on my reading list I never would have read it or La Siesta del Martes, and Los Funerales de La Mama Grande also by. Gabriel Garcia Marquez. These short stories are set in Macondo, too.

I also loved Walden, and never would have read it either. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance another favorite.

There are some good books to get boys interested. I am glad that my teacher saw that.

By SET

February 20, 2008 8:20 PM | Link to this

Gee I think that Boy’s Adventure Stories are over 100 years old. If anybody wants to get boys of any race to read they can always use Robert Heinlien’s juvenile science-fiction series. I think the formula is something like Boy is sick of parental controls, boy evades parental controls, boy sees unattainable girl, unattainable girl either kicks boy’s butt or otherwise rejects him, boy works like hell to impress unattainable girl (and her father), boy and unattainable girl fly/drive into the sunset with the lost treasure.

You know the drill. Major appearances by red automobiles, rocketships, or whatever.

Never fails to get the boys reading. Problem is, those books and NOT politically correct at all. So the schools essentially ban them. These books have violence, racial issues (Try Tom Sawyer, Tom Swift in Africa), and boys leaving their Mommies before they start shaving. Often the adventure books have teen and early teen sex (Right Of Passage, Alongside Night, Heinlein’s Tunnel In The Sky, etc). All of these books promote self reliance, distrust of authority, and making your own luck. Not things that the feminist school systems want to promote. That’s a big reason why you no longer find any of them at schools, and no longer find boys reading.

By JustMe

February 20, 2008 9:30 PM | Link to this

I wasn’t going to post on this one, but just couldn’t resist….

When was it that education had to morph to appeal to students? When did this happen? Why is it that teachers must be entertainers? Why is it that we have to change classics (Romeo and Juliet, etc) to appeal to students? Why do we have to make math ‘fun’?

When all of this bunk started is exactly when education in the US began its decline.

For education to conform to students is like requiring doctors to conform to patients (and not address the illness). IMHO, we must go back to the basics and let the students conform, not education.

By catlady

February 20, 2008 10:19 PM | Link to this

I encouraged my son to read about whatever he was interested in. When he was 5 he loved to read the Garfield books. Spent a whole summer plowing through them. At 6 he asked me to get Shakespear—wanted to read something called “Helmet”. By 7 he was up to date on marine disasters, aviation disasters, and harsh climates of the world (Death Valley!) See a pattern?Third grade he got caught up in the Civil War. And of course, he read (and memorized) all kinds of stuff about cars and their engines.

By Love my 4 kids

February 21, 2008 2:10 AM | Link to this

Currently, Dad is reading Heinlein’s CITIZEN OF THE GALAXY to our seven, ten, and eleven year old sons. They love it! He’s also read THE ROLLING STONES, THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA, THE HOBBIT, THE LORD OF THE RINGS, various Rick Brant and Hardy Boy’s books. Reading aloud to our boys in the evening has been a family tradition and I would highly recommend it for building family unity and a love of literature. It’s a great replacement for cable TV.

Our boy’s have also been listening to and memorizing poetry and Bible verses since they were in kindergarten. A knowledge of chronological history from Ancient to Post Modern is critical to understanding higher levels of prose and poetry. As we study an historical period, we read a selection of literature and study the art from that time period. My ten year old is currently enjoying reading various Greek myths and THE CHILDREN’S HOMER by Padraic Colum. The book is not too difficult for him because he has already studied the history behind the story. I remember reading A TALE OF TWO CITIES in ninth grade and hating it because I had never studied the French Revolution, nor the concurrent history of England. My boy’s also enjoy reading biographies of famous men from the past and present. Biographies of George Patton, Albert Einstein, Neil Armstrong and Walt Disney have been especially fascinating to us. Boys can examine the character and experiences of these men and draw inspiration from their successes.

And of course, to round out a boy’s reading list there is always Garfield, Calvin and Hobbes, and Foxtrot. We share many a giggle over lunch as my 10 year old reads his favorite cartoon for the day. I must say that it is a great incentive to learn new vocabulary words. The Wall Street Journal is our top choice for learning about current events and economics, although the news has been quite depressing lately!

By Been There

February 21, 2008 10:15 AM | Link to this

“*The copious amounts of sex in The Decameron by Boccelli would have teen guys reading every word.

Yet those three are works that I had to read in COLLEGE. Why shouldn’t we move them down to the HS level??*”

Ummm … I think you answered your own question, Jeff!

By dwl

February 21, 2008 10:21 AM | Link to this

Any book by Jonathan Bellairs is a good choice. The House With a Clock in Its Walls is my favorite! Nice illustrations by Edward Gorey too. Matthew Looney books are out of print but you can still find them on Amazon. Millicent Selsam is another good out of print author. She wrote MANY EXCELLENT science books for elementary age kids - very accessible! (Try Benny’s Animals or Greg’s Microscope.) The Redwall series by Brian Jacques was big a few years ago but I haven’t heard much about it since. The same crew who was into Lord of the Rings seemed to like those. There are enough Star Wars novels that go beyond the movie to keep a teen busy for a decade. For teens Kurt Vonnegut and read Catcher in the Rye are impossible to put down. Theodore Sturgeon for sci-fi. For the reader who posted Watsons Go to Birmingham, 1963 and Virginia Hamilton book I completely agree. Wow, so many good books I cannot imagine how anyone has trouble finding things to read.

By catlady

February 21, 2008 9:11 PM | Link to this

I did the whole take ‘em to the bookstore/library and let them follow their noses for all three. Of course, they saw me reading a lot for information and pleasure. I also (gasp) gave up the TV (no cable and turned the set to the wall) for a little more than three important years. It was either read or die! I highly recommend being unplugged (altho it was hard on ME—no sports, no weather channel). My children would literally stop in front of the display TVs at Walmart when we were shopping. We all thought Home Improvement was about fixing your house!

One thing that helps (at school or home) is to “forbid” your kids to read a certain book. Or let it slip that there might be a bad word in the book somewhere.

We also read books together (separately) as they got older, and then talked about the books. Good for the reading and good for the relationship as well. My kids (22, 27, 31) even now will read something and then insist I read it so we can talk about it. What a joy!

By j

February 22, 2008 1:00 PM | Link to this

Get the TV’s out of their bedrooms. I remember my daughter griping at me when I walked past her room once that she thought she should be able to have her own TV. Guess what she was doing while griping? READING. It works for boys too.

By Lee

February 23, 2008 10:35 AM | Link to this

Interesting topic. Here are a few books you might want your young man to read:

• The Maxims of Robert E. Lee for Young Gentlemen. Words of wisdom from one of America’s truly great men. If I could choose only one man for my son to emulate, R E Lee would be a wise choice.

• Lindberg by Scott Berg. We all know about the trans-Atlantic flight for which Lindberg is famous. This delves into the character of the man. Good read.

• North Against South. Unlike the politically correct propaganda that passes for History in today’s schools, there were a whole lot more issues than just slavery.

• When in the Course of Human Events. Good follow-up to North Against South.

• The Real Lincoln by Thomas DiLorenzo. Ahhhh, now that you understand more of the history behind the War Between the States, you might actually be ready to look behind the politically correct facade that has been erected around Lincoln. It is said that Washington and Jefferson et al gave America the gift of a Constitutional Republic and that Lincoln destroyed it.

• The Origins of the Second World War. More info on the folly of man. Yes, my son, there was a little more to WWII than Hitler and Pearl Harbor.

• The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire. The parallels to modern America are frightening. Imperialism, countless wars on foreign soil, burdensom taxation, increasing apathetic citizenry demanding more from their government, unchecked immigration. Sound familiar?

• The Color of Crime. Yes, there are differences between the races and it is very evident in their propensity to commit crime against their fellow man. A compilation from the Department of Justice Uniform Crime Statistics.

By John Martin

February 24, 2008 10:56 AM | Link to this

I enjoyed reading your article about boy’s literacy. I’m the founder of a new, innovative program called Boys Read. Boys Read’s mission is to transform boys into lifelong readers. We’re an organization of parents, educators, librarians, mentors, authors, and booksellers. A core objective of Boys Read is to establish Reading Tribes. Tribes are informal reading circles for pleasure and non-deterministic learning. They’re very similar to book clubs. Tribes are a great opportunity to bond with boys. A Tribe Leader acts as a mentor and facilitator for the Tribe. Parents, teachers, librarians, booksellers, coaches, and other community outreach programs and services organize Tribes. Our website features many extraordinary authors who have published numerous compelling and gripping novels that boys love. For more information about Boys Read, visit our website at boysread.org.

By BP

February 28, 2008 11:13 AM | Link to this

It is true that there are more books out there that cater to girls. There are not enough books for boys, this is something that my son and I have been faced with for years.

Granted my son does not like to read for pleasure, but mainly because it’s difficult for him to find books that interest him beyond the first chapter or two. He finally found a series that he enjoys reading, but the author can’t keep up with my son’s demand!

The books that he reads in school, so far haven’t really been gender specific, they have been about events in history or literary gems. Now, my son won’t start high school until next school year, so as far as what they are reading at that level, I obviously don’t have an opinion on, but it does seem to me that you are not going to peek a boys interest in reading with Jane Austin novels or the like. Switch it up and choose books that will engage both genders.

I have an enormous love of books, I would have a room filled top to bottom with them if I could. I wish my son shared my love, but he isn’t there yet, mainly because he can’t find many books aimed for his age level. I am hoping that as he grows, his book options will grow and therefore his love of books will grow! Until then, I will continue to encourage him on his quest for “books for boys”.

By Max Elliot Anderson

March 26, 2008 5:40 PM | Link to this

Hi,

I grew up as a reluctant reader. Now I write action-adventures & mysteries, especially for boys 8 and up, that kids hate to put down. My web site is at http://www.maxbooks.9k.com and my Books for Boys blog is at http://booksandboys.blogspot.com Ranked by Accelerated Reader

Thank you,

Max Elliot Anderson