Boys don't read...except when they do

Such was the title of a recent blog post by Charles London in the Huffington Post. I have addressed this issue myself twice before, once in August and once in September, after reading one of Michael Sullivan's books on this subject. (The other book is on my current "need to read" list.)

The statement "boys don't read" could be half of a sentence, the other half being "boys don't read the same material that girls read" or "boys don't read what their teachers and librarians think that they should be reading." Maybe the issue here is not that boys don't want to read, but that pleasure reading should not be turned into an academic exercise. The place for challenging a child's reading level and promoting "good literature" is in the classroom, but pleasure reading should be just that...for pleasure. Multiple studies, including this one from the National Endowment for the Arts, show correlations between the amount of time spent reading for pleasure and increased student achievement. (The section on this correlation begins on page 68.)

London says, "Even when I hated to read, I was hungry for stories. I found them in places that weren't teacher-approved, but I found them just the same." He goes on to say that video games and TV are stories. My 6-year-old loves cartoons and computer games, but he also devours the Magic Tree House book series that he got for his birthday and has Beverly Cleary's Ralph S. Mouse series waiting in the wings.

Graphic novels are recommended for reluctant readers. They are getting more recognition now whereas when I was in school, comic book reading was not considered "real" reading. Children and Libraries, the journal of the Association of Library Services for Children, is putting a special focus on graphic novels in its spring issue. Included is an article on Benny and Penny in the Big No-No! by Geoffrey Hayes, a graphic novel which one the Theodor Seuss Geisel Award in 2010. The Geisel Award is given by the ALSC to the most distinguished book for beginning readers; the book must be published in the United States during the previous year. I read the book last summer; it is a cute, funny book about a brother and sister meeting their neighbor for the first time.

Graphic novels are a good way to draw in reluctant readers, male or female, and in the elementary school library where I interned, the graphic novels flew off the shelves. The Bone series by Jeff Smith was especially popular.

London also mentions reading Basketball Digest hidden so that the disapproving librarian would not know what he was reading. Magazines are a good way to bring in reluctant readers, because they are available in a wide variety of interests, and the articles are short enough to not be intimidating. Additionally, London mentions fact books. I remember being in upper elementary school, fourth grade or so, and enjoying the Guinness Book of World Records.

There are, of course, ways to introduce classic literature in ways that promote enjoyment. This example is more appropriate for readers in their teens, but when I taught French, I presented Moliere's plays to my students, who found Tartuffe and La Malade Imaginaire hilarious. (Nothing like an entire play about a character faking illness.) And as London mentioned, there are plenty of fart jokes in Shakespeare, as well as plenty of smart-alecks. ("What are you reading, Hamlet?" "Words.")

"The fact is that boys are reading. Just like girls, boys are hungry for stories that speak to them, that excite their imaginations and reflect their experiences. They are hungry for information to help them make sense of the world, or achieve a goal or just to geek-out on whatever is holding their attention at that moment."

"Whatever is holding their attention at the moment" is what we need to find out.