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When boys won’t read
How low will you stoop to get your boys to read?
New York Times family blogger Lisa Belkin and mommy blogger Jen Singer, who recently guest-posted on Belkin’s blog about boys falling behind in school, agree:
“If fidgeting and foul humor are going to help our boys in school, then bring them on.”
This is in response to what many are saying is the way to get boys to read: Give them adventures, explosions, graphic (as in comic), and potty-humor books.
I’m all for fidgeting, adventure, and explosions. I can accept the occasional comic. But for the same reason I eschew Disney, the Babysitter Club, and Junie B. Jones books, I downright refuse the barf/poop/belch genre: They’re all junk-food books; trans-fat-laden, corn syrup-saturated Hostess cherry pies on the literary highway.
I, being a literary purist/snob, prefer to promote meat-and-potato books like ones by Homer, the Greek myths, hard cover Rosemary Sutcliffe renditions of The Iliad and The Odyssey, Geraldine McCaughrean’s wonderful Gilgamesh, and the Narnia series. Because they aren’t filled to the gills with junk, my kids consume these pretty hungrily.
Except for one of my kids. This boy owns stacks of “boy-centered” books like Brian Jacques’ Redwall series, the Hardy Boys, and G.A. Henty’s historical fiction, all of which sit untouched on his dresser. Don’t get me wrong: He can read. He’s actually a good reader. He just loathes every single moment he’s doing it.
For such a boy, are gross-out books really the solution? Is the sheer deciphering of words divorced from the quality of the story a real accomplishment? Should I be jumping up and down, thrilled to pieces that he finally read Captain Underpants and the Big, Bad Battle of the Bionic Booger Boy?
Me thinks not.
I hate what feels like the dumbing down of my expectations but have to admit that for some children there might be some truth in what experts are saying. My reluctant reader read the whole Bible in comic form—three times. He loves The Guinness Book of World Records. He just checked out a computer animation book on C++ programming from the library and is devouring it. The other day I found him taking notes on the movie-making books we bought him for Christmas. He can’t get enough of Tintin.
All this to say, while I never, ever plan on buying, owning, borrowing, or even casually rifling through a Captain Underpants book, I can see how certain kids may need an alternate to Homer or L’Engle or even (sigh!) Lewis. If you have boys, you may want to check out Guys Read for recommendations in boyish categories like Action/Adventure, Realistic Kids in Realistic Situations, Mysterious Occurrences, Boxers, Wrestlers, Ultimate Fighters, At Least One Explosion, Classics That Actually Hold Up, Funny, and People Being Transformed Into Animals. (Of course, neither I nor my WORLD editors can read and vouch for each and every title suggested on this site.)
Oh, and if anyone is in the market for some Henty books in pristine condition, have I got a deal for you. . . .
back to top34 Comments to “When boys won’t read”
I share your passion for excellent books for our kids, and I also share your abhorrence for Junie B. and Captain Underpants. My kids and I read everything we can get our hands on, but I maintain high standards. Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Amy.
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Henty books do not belong on a boy’s shelf. They belong in the hands of a mother or father. Sitting on a couch with a boy, reading it aloud to him. While other kids go about their business, slowly inching their way closer. Until finally, the kids are sitting all over the couch. We have the boy draped over the back, girls on either side, one girl sitting at our feet, the two little ones playing close at hand, listening.
This applies to most other books as well. We have introduced reading to our reluctant readers by reading good books to them for hours. Soon, the Henty books return to the boy’s shelf but rarely stay there long. It is a style of reading that is not common and needs to be developed.
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My son learned to read using the Golden Guide books because he was fascinated by things out in the yard and at the parks.
I also bought the Tintin books for him because I had read somewhere that comics books helped with picking up speed in reading.
After that I used the book, Honey for a Child’s Heart, by Gladys Hunt, to have a list of good books for consumption. All along we were reading aloud graduated versions of the Bible.
Reading good books aloud was a step which eventually led him to the highest possible score in reading on the ACT exam.
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I’m a homeschooling mom, and I love good, classic books. On our shelves is a wide range of classic children’s literature, and I agree that reading aloud is extremely important.
But I guess I’m also willing to stoop a little. Oh, not too much, but I have one child in particular that isn’t as eager to gobble down those great books that we have, and he’s been fed the same literary diet as his older brother. I’m careful about what they read, but I don’t think every book needs to have classic or even Newberry standards.
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I love the Tintin books. My son hasn’t shown an interest in reading the ones on his shelf, but I’d be happy if he did.
He introduced me to Junie B. Jones. I wouldn’t sit down and read one myself just for the fun of it, but I had no problem reading them to him. (Even after he started reading on his own, he liked having me read him a chapter at bedtime. Then he’d read three chapters on his own before the next night, and I’d be wondering what happened in those chapters I missed.)
This fall he read the first six Harry Potter books. The rest of us had read them when they came out, so now he understands the story behind the movies better.
A couple weeks ago I was surprised to find him reading The Fellowship of the Ring. I suppose I could have read it when I was in 4th grade, but I didn’t. And when I did read it, a few years later, it wasn’t hard but it wasn’t exactly a fast read either.
I tried to get him to read the Prydain Chronicles last summer. He started the first book but didn’t get very far. A couple months ago I got the first book on CD for a family roadtrip, and afterward he was happy to start reading the second book. Unfortunately he stopped about halfway through. But if he stopped so he could spend more time reading Tolkien, I can’t complain.
Our older son was also given the freedom to choose his own books (except that we read the HP books before letting him read them). At 18, he’s reading mostly books on politics, plus a lot of my husband’s sci-fi novels.
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Most children like to read and be read to. The secret is whether the material is interesting to them.
Sure, we’d all like to be steeped in the classics, but a balance of light and heavy reading is probably a more realistic goal.
Find out what interests your child and read and have them read books in that genre.
Our 3 children are all avid readers and their taste in books is similar to their taste in food. We provided them a rich smorgasbord of both. They all have a discriminating palette.
The hardest part was for their parents not to try to live out our goals for their lives. Children, as they grow, want to chart a different path. It’s remarkable how much it looks like their parents path as they get older.
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“Homer, the Greek myths, hard cover Rosemary Sutcliffe renditions of The Iliad and The Odyssey, Geraldine McCaughrean’s wonderful Gilgamesh, and the Narnia series. Because they aren’t filled to the gills with junk” — Really? This stuff isn’t filled with junk?
Let ‘em read stuff on how to build things, fix things, and all sorts of practical stuff if they want to.
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We had one who read cowboy/adventure (and everything else, one of the two competing for early reading of War and Peace), one who read science books and encyclopedias and almanacs (and Isaac Asimov) and one who read history, Henty, ( the other half of the competition) and all the Star Wars he could get. First turned into a computer science guy, second is an electrical engineer/ F15 navigator, and third is a well, I don’t think I am allowed to tell. And they all read. None needed any of the stuff mentioned, but read a lot of things of interest to them.
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Parents have to model reading themselves. And I tend to think that tv and computers can often be the enemies of reading.
I agree that Honey for a Child’s Heart is a great resource. Another is The Read-Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease.
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And don’t forget the library!
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Another trick is to not finish the chapter . . . then they have to read it if they want to find out what happened.
Here’s another vote for that racist Tintin and his dog Snowy. They liked Paulson’s books, Boxcar children, any Star Trek book and the Hardy boys.
(We had quite a scene one night when the older boy came crying because son #2 had stolen his Hardy boy book, “the one I just got from the library today.” I felt pretty foolish dragging #2 out of bed and asking him to turn over the book. We had to search the room, with #2 protesting, “But he reads too slow!”)
Boys also tend to really like non-fiction and my kids grew up in a golden time of lots of non-fiction children books on the shelves at the library. They also love Greek myths and legends, anything about weapons and probably would enjoy the Percy JacKson novels I just picked up myself this week.
We spent hours in the library every week.
Now they–a physicist, an astro-physicist and an historian– mostly read non-fiction and fantasy.
Son #2 and I discussed boys and reading recently, and he said boys need adventure, quest, fulfillment and a sense of heroic redemption. I also think if a classic is too dull for me, it’s foolish to ask my son to read it.
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Both my son and my nephew (the one with Asperger Syndrome) love reading science books. My nephew refused to read anything, or even learn to read, until he found out that there were books about science. He promptly learned to read, and soon was complaining that the science books written for kids were too basic. So he started reading science books written for adults.
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What have you got against Junie B? My son loves them and they read them in his class at school.
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It’s so important to draw attention to reading, and attract reluctant readers to it, especially boys. In fact, I’ve recently completed a feature magazine article on this subject that came out in October, “Help for Struggling, Reluctant Readers.”
I grew up as a reluctant reader, in spite of the fact that my father published over 70 books. Now I write action-adventures & mysteries, especially for tween boys, that avid boy readers and girls enjoy just as much.
My blog, Books for Boys http://booksandboys.blogspot.com is dedicated to drawing attention to the importance of reading. And my new book, Lost Island Smugglers – first in the Sam Cooper Adventure Series – is coming out in July-August. Contracts are also signed for Captain Jack’s Treasure and River Rampage.
Keep up your good work.
Max Elliot Anderson
PS. My first 7 books are going to be republished by Comfort Publishing later in 2010
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I’m in the middle (well, almost finished) reading Alcatraz versus the Knights of Crystallia by Brandon Sanderson. It’s the third book in the series, and it (not just this book but the series) is the most fun to read of anything I’ve read in quite a while. I’m guessing the series is aimed at kids around 8 to 12, but I’m the one who started reading them, and then introduced my son to them. I look forward eagerly to the next book in the series when it comes out.
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As a kid I read classics voluntarily. I still have trouble getting through the second chapter of most living writers but we all have different taste. My brilliant hubby loves those horrible techno novels. The ones where the main character always has a two syllable name; Bart Buff, Buff Loff Ruff tide. That sort of thing. .
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“TREASURE ISLAND” !!!”aRRRRR and thems that die’ll be the lucky ones!”
And anything by Dr Seuss
http://d.yimg.com/a/p/umedia/20100411/largeimage.4b99b9f0ed2b6eb20f13fecfa90b6e9a.gif
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When I was a young reader I was drawn to sci-fi and fantasy. Also those silly “choose your own adventure” books. Maybe that would interest your son, if you don’t object to the content?
I’m trying to remember what I actually read in those genres. The Narnia books for one. Lloyd Alexander’s books that form the basis for Disney’s “The Black Cauldron” movie. The Tolkien books, though I think that was in junior high.
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Isn’t Calvin of Calvin & Hobbes fame the original Captain Underpants?
Now there’s a Capt. Underpants I can get behind.
All of our kids are avid readers, and the ones that were “reluctant” (which is not a definition I would give, but I’ve seen it out there) would happily attempt Calvin & Hobbes because they wanted to get it. They wanted to laugh like their brothers and sisters. Quality literature? A living book? Well, no, but decently funny and interesting for the kids. Certainly I prefer “the classics” but there’s also room for some fun, silly reading too. In my opinion of course.
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books do not belong on a boy’s shelf. They belong in the hands of a mother or father. Sitting on a couch with a boy, reading it aloud to him.
I absolutely agree with you, Mumsee.
And one never knows but that memory of being read to. of being cared about may stick for a long time.
When I read to a child I love to have fun. I ask the child questions. I use other voices. I take another piece of paper and draw a character or two. Or perhaps ask how it could be written differently.
The bed time stories that were made up at night started with “A long time ago in a galaxy far far away.” And they would take off into wonderous tales that we made up.
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I love reading to my kids, too, MFW, but there’s also value in curling up with a book on your own, too, isn’t there? Perhaps you’re not saying there isn’t but I know my kids have fond memories of both — being read to (the latest have been Eight Cousins, The Scarlet Pimpernel, and a book about teen inventors) and reading for hours on end on their own (the Narnia and LOTR books which they know I’ll never read out loud due to lack of interest on my part, Little House on the Prairie, the Little Britches books, Madeline L’Engle, etc.).
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The Henty books are considered yawners here — anyone else feel this way? I wanted the kids to like them but they just don’t.
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My 3rd child, a boy, hates to read – it’s pure torture. In addition to reading aloud to him & the others, I now find audio books and put them on his iPod so he can listen while keeping his hands busy (i.e. playing Legos.) His favorite books to listen to are the Henty books. He’ll be in his room for hours listening to Henty while building away. I hope to find the actual Henty books to have him try reading along with the audio versions… so if any of you are serious about getting rid of your Henty’s, I’m interested!
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It’s also a good idea to take advantage of odd hours to read. I laugh to see good old Henry Huggins in the photo. I read that book out loud while standing in lines at Disneyland one time. We finished the whole book before the day was done!
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This should be good for a chuckle:
How about Harry Potter? I enjoyed those even as an adult.
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Henty books seemed boring to me, but several of my kids have very much enjoyed them, girls as well as boys. And they learn a lot from them, so we use them and enjoy them.
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We often read several books at a time, alternating chapters of one book or another – things taken from the school library (mostly Star Wars or Barbie, the latter of which I despise but grudgingly admit have some positive messages). Also picks Magic School Bus, and books about puppies. We’re also working our way through The Hobbit, and the second book of Harry Potter currently.
At seven, she’s a reluctant reader just starting to blossom.
The series that put us past the hump of wanting to read, the first ones where she asked to take a turn reading the bedtime story, though, was The Magic Treehouse series.
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Or, how about Edward Eager’s Magic books? Old, but terrific.
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Amy,
I think you have it right. A lot of education types think that reading trumps everything, instead of being part of a bigger picture. As Christians, character is much more important, and since the trashy books have a negative effect on character, they should be avoided – even if that means the boy doesn’t read at all. Character is really that important.
Some mentioned the Harry Potter series. Soon after they first came out, a friend loaned one to one of my kids to read. Having heard a lot about them I thought I should check them out before I let the kids read them. I found them poorly written and promoting juvenile and occultist behavior. Not something I thought kids should be reading. There is so much better stuff out there.
Some have asked what was the difference between the wizards in Lord of the Rings and the spells in Harry Potter. In Harry Potter, you were learning spells to put on others for juvenile reasons. In LOTR it was much more like an extranordinary ability that Gandalf had, not something to strive for. And that ability came with responsibility.
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#29 “And that ability came with responsibility.”
FuzzyFace,
If you read through the Harry Potter series to the end, you’ll see that the idea of the responsibility that comes with the extraordinary abilities that wizards have (as opposed to Muggles, who do not), is made quite clear – and that Harry learns it well.
I’m not saying they’re so great everyone should read them. But all of us in my family enjoyed reading them very much. And the behavior they promote, ultimately, is self-sacrifice for others, and using one’s gifts responsibly and to the best of one’s ability. There are certainly examples of juvenile behavior (it is a book about preteens and teenagers), but as you go through the series you see Harry learning the negative consequences of that type of behavior – even when it was his own father who did it.
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All of our children are excellent readers. And their reading level is several grades ahead. We used the Captain Underpants with one, probably because someone suggested it and it was trendy. However, we didn’t have to. he was already a good reader. We’d never do it again! He’s the only one that still gets a kick out of potty humor.
Our mistake.
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For a long time when he was younger, my husband wasn’t allowed to read any sci-fi or fantasy (outside of Tolkien & Lewis). His dad was a minister. Once his dad found out he was reading them anyway (from the school library), he looked them over and began encouraging my husband to learn the art of discernment in book selection instead. My father-in-law finally recognized that not everyone has the same taste in reading and became part of the learning process.
Today, my husband reviews sci-fi and fantasy books (on the side) for Publisher’s Weekly and some other outlets, and we save TONS of money because he never has to buy any books (by getting review copies for free).
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Fuzzy-Face,
In regards to Harry Potter, the later books also more clearly
indicate that the ability to do magic is intrinsic to the
individual, and does not involve drawing upon outside spiritual forces. In fact, I think one could adequately compare Harry & Co. to Gandalf, and Voldemort to Sauruman: they all have the innate ability, but some use it more appropriately than others.
As I work as an English instructor, I recognize of course that they are not well-written, but I do enjoy her imagination – Platform 9 3/4, for instance, and the game of Quidditch are delightful inventions. I also recognize that they are dark, enough that I don’t think most children at the age of 11 are ready for them, but for those who are prepared, I think they’re fine – an enjoyable read.
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I have homeschooled for 22 years with three homeschool graduates, and three more to go. We were not as extreme as the “unschoolers” on Good Morning America this week (although, I would defend their right to do this, and do believe their kids will be just fine). I share this because I had a son who didn’t read until maybe age 12 years old (Gulp! I am stepping out to encourage a mom who isn’t part of the status quo, or caving into all the hysteria this type of admission will surely cause as knees jerk).
This same son is now my best reader and reads classics like Hemingway, Lewis, etc. He loves reading. I guess I tend to think that just because the schools say all our children should be doing something at a certain age some kids just aren’t programmed to do so at the predictable age on the chart (not all children are magically potty trained, or speak in full sentences, or smile at the same time). It’s simply how God made them…….and I compare it to a beautiful rose garden……some of the roses bloom early, yet some bloom late (and they are often the most beautiful and most appreciated in the garden). This same son was just featured in the Chicago Tribune as a talented, young songwriter, and yet I was sick and pregnant during most of his teenage years and I have no memory of doing writing lessons with him. I guess some kids turn out well despite their parents!
I am a literary nut who teaches literature classes, but I don’t like Homer, and really can’t get into Hemingway (yeah…….that makes me a lesser being! ), but I am lustful about reading the Classics realizing that if we teach the students to fully understand literature, their ultimate outcome will be the ability to think……..and that will mean they can say they don’t like a certain author, or time period, or writing style.
Thinking is of more importance to me than what they read. I had an aberration against Harry Potter, and my one son didn’t read it until college, and my other daughter read it age 16 years. They liked it! It doesn’t mean they are trash readers just because I won’t waste my time on them. I have never read a Stephen King novel, but recently read his memoir, On Writing, and it was excellent. Probably, the best book on writing I have ever read. He is a humorist who uses crude language, so if that’s offensive do not read it (it made me uncomfortable), but it didn’t escape me that after his accident the language changed and his writing was inspirational. The power of the pen is so evident, the book so inspirational………I found myself liking this kooky, funny, deeply talented man (who started out as an English teacher who says the schools are textbook looney bins).
Sometimes I read the book lists of required reading and come upon a title the author, obviously, thought was stupendous……yet I think, “Yuck!” Realizing it could be my own immaturity, or just my style, or lack of ingenuity? Not sure, but I enjoy the freedom to think it through and the strength to say I just didn’t like it! That’s a literary device in itself!
God bless, Alice
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