Encouraging boys to read

It is a mistake to believe that boys do not like fiction. It is often the type of fiction presented to them that is the source of their rejection. On the whole, boys enjoy books which place action ahead of emotion and where what the characters do is more important that what they think or feel.

We see an apparent preference for the action novel. Boys tend to like books which match their image of themselves. They want to be able to identify themselves and what they would like to be and do. This is why books about characters engaged in sport have always held at least an initial attraction for boys.

Two names pre-dominate here - Paul Jennings and Roald Dahl. Robert Westall is another author popular with boys, particularly The Machine Gunners. Another popular author is John Marsden with his War series for boys aged twelve and up. For newly independent readers, Dahl's books include Fantastic Mr Fox, George's Marvellous Medicine, The Twits, Esio Trot and The Vicar of Nibbleswick. For seven to eleven year olds, his titles include Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, James and the Giant Peach, Danny the Champion of the World, The Witches, The BFG and the autobiographies, Boy and Going Solo.

Paul Jennings has two fantastic illustrated books created in conjunction with Ted Greenwood and Terry Denton - Spooner or Later and Duck for Cover. After these, The Cabbage Patch Fib and The Paw Thing suit boys just coming out of the newly independent stage.  For key stage 2 boys, his classic "Un" series is perfect. These are collections of stories and titles include: Unreal, Uncovered, Unbelievable, Unmentionable, plus Quirky Tales and Round the Twist which is related to the TV series. Avoid introducing these collections too early as the humour and quirkiness may go over the heads of seven and eight year olds.

Michael Morpurgo has written numerous books, many of which appeal to boys – try Private Peaceful. The Harry Potter books are rapidly approaching the legendary status of Dahl and Jennings but they are more demanding of readers. Another popular series is the Alex Rider series by Patrick Horowitz – these appeal to teenage boys and are a great favourite with my sons. 

Non-fiction is popular with boys. Scholastic publish the enormously popular ‘Horrible history’, ‘Horrible science’ and ‘Horrible geography’ series. These present facts in an entertaining way, and appeal to many children. The series ‘Dead famous’ covers the lives of many people of interest to children, including Shakespeare and Spartacus. Similar series are also produced by other publishers, including ‘The lost diaries’ series by Steve Barlow and Steve Skidmore (published by HarperCollins). Biographies are a good way to get boys interested, especially biographies of their “heroes”.

Non fiction ideas

Usborne
The Roman Record
(also in the series – The Medieval Messenger, The Viking Recorder, The Egyptian Echo).

Gamebook series
A Search-and-solve Gamebook -The Great Escape
A Choose-your-way Gamebook -The Castle of Fear
A Round-the- World Adventure Gamebook -The Magic Globe

Usborne First Skills
Starting Soccer ISBN 0-7460-3117-3

A Magic Mouse Guide series
Internet
World Wide Web
Computers
E-mail

The Dr. Xargle series by Jeanne Willis & Tony Ross
Dr. Xargle's Book of Earth Mobiles
Dr. Xargle's Book of Earth Relations

Orchard graphic books
Voyage to Planet Voon
Nick Abadzis

Young Telegraph series
Super Heroes
Spine-Tingling Tales
Great Mysteries

Orchard Super Crunchies
Dirty Defending!
Cinderboy, Laurence Anholt & Arthur Robins

The Really Horrible Guides by Dorling Kindersley
The Really Fearsome Blood-Loving Vampire Bat
Maddocks, How to draw Cartoons
Michael Rosen, Hairy Tales and Nursery Crimes

More non-fiction ideas

Dads and sons ‘Bond’ over spy novels - New £5 million Government scheme to get primary boys reading more
14 June 2008
Espionage, ghosts and aliens all feature heavily in a new list of over 200 popular books being given to schools on loan as part of a new drive to get boys reading sooner and trying new books. ‘The Famous Five’, ‘Just William’ and even Roald Dahl books are not featured. While dads are getting stuck into the new Bond novel their sons are reading Charlie Higson’s best selling young James Bond books.

The £5 million scheme, Primary Boys into Books, expands the programme launched by Ministers last year for boys aged 11-14. Public libraries select free books from the list drawn up by the School Library Association, and deliver book boxes to schools in their local area. This is the first time DCSF has funded public libraries and school libraries to work together to improve services for children.

Statistics show that boys are ten percentage points behind girls in English at Key Stage 2. Ministers hope that better reading habits among boys will help close the gender gap. A recent evaluation of Every Child a Reader (ECaR), a programme of intensive literacy support for children who are struggling, shows that it is possible to close the reading gap between young boys and girls.

The Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) published earlier this year found that reading outside school has decreased and that 38% of ten year olds play computer games for 3 hours or more a day.

In a survey carried out for the National Year of Reading just half of parents (49 per cent) say their children are read to every day. Watching TV or a DVD has edged in front of a bedtime story as the more common pre-sleep habit amongst children. The findings come despite recent research that children as old as 12 wish they got read to much more often, and the evidence that children who get read to, learn to read more quickly, and more confidently, and get more pleasure from reading through life as a result .

Schools Minister, Jim Knight, said: “Our programme of free books for secondary schools has been a huge success with over 50,000 free books being sent to more than 2,500 secondary schools. That’s why we have decided to extend the offer to primary aged boys. It’s vital that we get children, especially boys, into reading and the earlier the better. Over a third of ten year olds are playing computer games for over 3 hours a day. I am in no doubt that this choice of gaming over reading has a knock-on effect on how well they do at school. To celebrate the National Year of Reading, dads should set themselves a summer challenge, to read at least one book from the list with their sons during the school holidays. Books from our book lists also make great ideas for presents for relatives not sure what to buy children for birthdays.

“There is clear evidence that early exposure to books has a crucial effect on early learning. The number of words a child hears by the age of four correlates closely with later attainment at school. Bright children from deprived homes start to fall behind less able children from more prosperous backgrounds at the age of just twenty two months. The gap in achievement opens up at a startlingly young age. A child from a deprived home has heard on average just 13 million words by the age of four, compared to 45 million in a more affluent home. What starts as a problem with vocabulary rapidly turns into a problem with reading, writing and comprehension, leading to poor exam results.”

Culture Minister, Margaret Hodge, said: "Libraries are brilliant at fostering a love of reading, and the ability to read is probably the most important tool that all of us can gain. But too often boys and young men see reading as 'not for them'. So this initiative is splendid. When teachers and librarians work together they can make all the difference in helping children discover the joy of reading - something that will support them throughout their lives."

Chris Brown, Author of Boys into Books, said: “The titles in the list have been chosen as books published within the last couple of years which are good reads and which have particular elements of appeal for boys in the 5 to 11 age range. Generally, boys tend to choose books with action that seldom flags, humour in large dollops and with characters slightly larger than life. Currently extremely popular are fantasy tales of every shade, fast paced stories of youngsters embroiled in spying scenarios and all sorts of buccaneering piracy. High profile TV and cinema features have a great influence but like all readers boys’ individual preferences can also be wide and varied and so the list offers a broad and balanced selection too, including information books, poetry, graphic styles and long and involving stories.”
Above is an extract from Boys into Books at the School Library Association.

More books boys enjoy reading

The following is a list of some recommended books for boys. There are a few suggestions to appeal across age groups, then the list is graduated with books for older boys appearing towards the end. Always be guided by what interests and appeals to your son.

Try following up on boys' general interests - here are some great ideas.
Many boys are Top Gear fans. Awesome Adventures: Vietnam and Awesome Adventures: South America really bring the TV series to life - you can almost hear the boys talking! The eye-catching covers and super illustrations will appeal to all boys and along the way they will be absorbing useful information about the countries. Beautifully presented books which break the text up into manageable chunks, interspersed with photos and speech bubbles.

Doctor Who is another perennial favourite. Try drawing boys into reading the stories through activity books such as The Intergalactic Survival Guide - the ideal companion for a holiday - and Battle Badges Activity book. These are full of activities to challenge and develop reasoning skills and observation. Weeping Angels contains two stories of an ideal length to give a sense of achievement, plus more fun activities.