Peeking into my classroom one day last week, our reading specialist remarked, "Wow, you have a lot of boys this year. How's that going?"
Amused by her question, I responded, "Teaching so many boys adds such energy to my classes. It's like driving a stagecoach down a mountainside. I am standing in the wagon seat, clutching the reins, with my foot on the brake as we careen down the road, gravel flying over the edge. No matter what I offer them, they are eager for it, and some days, I am just holding on. I can barely keep up with their enthusiasm."
She seemed surprised, "Don't you find it harder to get boys to read?"
Thinking for a moment, I told her, "No, I don't. Why should I?"
I am experiencing what teachers call a "boy year," classes that are dominated by a disproportionate number of boys, and I love it. There are 60 boys on my roster of 93 students this year. One class contains 21 boys and 9 girls. Several colleagues, noticing how many boys are in my classes, expressed their sympathy and wished me luck in getting my boys to enjoy reading, telling me,
"Boys are rowdy! They look for any excuse to derail the class."
"Boys play around during reading time."
"Boys hate reading and writing, and are not shy about telling you."
"I cannot get some of my boys to participate."
Looking at my boys, I don't see this level of apathy about reading. When I mentioned casually to one class that we would use goodreads to discuss and record our reading this year, two boys jumped on the site from home, set up their own accounts, and started a discussion board about The Hunger Games. I was surprised to see how many of their posts mentioned how much they cried during a certain scene (I won't spoil it for you, but if you have read the book, you know). Fifteen readers have now joined that group, a mix of boys and girls united in their shared love for Suzanne Collins' books.
In another class, four boys began their own book group to read the Alex Rider series--swapping books back and forth and begging me to locate titles that were missing. When I posted a sign-up sheet for our after school book club, 30 boys signed up the first week. What these readers clearly want is freedom to read the books that interest them and encouragement to do so. I don't see a boy literacy crisis, although I keep reading about it in journal articles and on the Internet. Am I naive about this?
Considering the data (and we all know it is about the DATA these days), boys score lower than girls on standardized reading tests and report less motivation and interest in reading. I often wonder how much of the disengagement many boys have for reading stems from classroom instruction designed by predominately female English teachers, though. When every class novel and reading activity filters solely through the predilections and worldview of a female teacher, boys can become demotivated and believe that their personal interests and opinions are not valued in English class. It is clear that when selecting books to read aloud, purchasing books for a library, or designing lessons, we must be mindful of the boys we teach and our latent prejudices about the reading material we offer to students.
Boys want the same thing that every reader wants--to open a book and find themselves in the pages. As teachers, invested in creating readers, we owe it to our boys to help them find such books.
Reflecting on my own experiences, it probably helps that I appreciate the same books many boys do. I love fantasy epics and authors like Roland Smith and Eoin Colfer. I am just as likely to pull Scott Westerfeld's new steampunk science fiction novel, Leviathan, out of my bag and recommend it as I am to suggest a title like Helen Frost's The Braid, a book geared toward girls. I don't have strong gender preferences in what I read myself, so providing a balance in the books I recommend to students and choose for us to read together in class seems natural to me.
We create a crisis when we define readers along gender lines, and I think boy readers get a bad rap. They will read fiction, they will read books that explore emotional issues, and they will read books that are longer than 100 pages. They will read. Instead of blaming our boys for their gender, or lowering our expectations for their literacy development, we should scrutinize any system where boys are hailed for their achievement in science and math class and allowed to define themselves as nonreaders.
I will not tell my boys that they aren't supposed to be readers. I hope no one else tells them. Meanwhile, I will chase them down the hall to the library as they run to check out books, tell John that he will have to patiently wait a few days for me to finish Leviathan, and dig in my cabinets for three more copies of Brian's Winter. And on those days when my sweet, crazy boys overwhelm me, I will sit with Summer and chat about how much we both love narrative poetry. I loaned her The Braid!
As we consider ways to support every reader in our classrooms, let's share ideas for motivating our boy readers. How do you encourage your boys to read? What books do your boys like? How do you balance your instruction to value both boys and girls? Do you see a boy literacy crisis with the boys you teach or not?
Here is a list of some titles my boys (and many girls) love to read this year:
The Hunger Games and Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
Found and Sent by Margaret Peterson Haddix
Alex Rider series by Anthony Horowitz
The Diary of a Wimpy Kid series by Jeff Kinney
Percy Jackson and the Olympians series by Rick Riordan
Bone graphic novels by Jeff Smith
Peak by Roland Smith (all of Smith's books are perennial favorites)
Killer Pizza by Greg Taylor
The Heir Chronicles by Cinda Williams Chima
**For more information on supporting boy readers, check out author and boy reading advocate, Jon Scieszka's retooled Guys Read website.
Having been a sixth grade ELA teacher for 10 years before having my son, now in 2nd grade, I say, yes, there is a boy reading crisis. I think that the motivation you are finding in your boys this year is thanks to the guidance and freedom you are giving them this year but also to those who taught them before you. My son, in his 1st grade year, almost fell into the pit of "boys don't read". His 1st grade teacher featured Biscuit as one of her go to books based on reading ability only. My son's interest level was no where near his reading level but I worked with him all year on selecting books that drew him in, thus, motivating him to keep learning how to read. Over the summer, I dove with him into the world of Harry Potter, much to his teacher's dismay, and his motivation shot through the roof (thankfully!). I'm grateful that I had the knowledge to wait and not push him into reading but to walk with him and help him prowl for those perfect books that I knew would grab him and pull him in. What about all those boys who don't get that from their parents or their teachers? There are MANY of them, in good districts and needy districts. I hear all the time from my son's friends how they hate to read and that frightens me. This topic is real and it is important to keep educating parents and teachers about how to guide children to become not just readers but book lovers!
I.Q.
Angel Experiment
Skeleton Creek
are popular titles in my class as well as the titles you named in your blog. Boys need to be able to select their own books.
My boys are asking for more independent reading time just as the girls. Happy Reading!
I teach 4th grade and my boys seem so easy to please. They just want a good book. A lot of my boys are into informational books. However, the other day a boy grabbed Dear Dumb Diary from our classroom library and asked to take it out during morning recess and then at lunch recess too. He finished it at the end of the day and really enjoyed it.
I am in my third year of teaching in an inner city school. I have taught both first and second grades and this is my first year in 6th. It is also my first year experimenting with independent reading (although last year in second grade I took a training on "The Daily Five" and incorporated aspects of it such as read to self in the second semester).
My 6th grade class arrived with little reading experience. Independent reading was not part of their pasts. Initially, it was hard to get some of the boys(and girls for that matter) into books.
Bone has been a huge success. It started with the boys but the enthusiasm has spread to the girls as well.
Diary of a Wimpy Kid is also regularly requested and off the shelves.
The Goosebumps series are popular.
For my total non-readers, "The Magic Finger" by Roald Dahl is always a hit. It's a great and short novel and allows me to place some of his other titles into their hands- "The Twits" and "George's Marvelous Medicine" (the longer titles including "The Witches", "Matilda", and "The BFG" have been abandoned).
I have placed "The Hunger Games" into several students' hands, but their reading stamina has not yet hit that level (hopefully will by the second semester).
"Captain Underpants", "Sideways Stories from Wayside School", and even the very low level "Ricky Ricotta's Mighty Robot" series have some guys turning pages.
I can only say that my goal is to turn them into readers slowly but surely and that their reading choices will be better shaped by the end of this year.
My boys love books by Gary Paulsen, Andrew Clements, and Roland Smith.
Some of the off-the-wall authors/books are:
Hidden Talents by David Lubar
True Talents by David Lubar
The Shadow Club by Neal Shusterman
The Shadow Club Rising by Neal Shusterman
Thin Wood Walls by David Patneaude
Black Duck by ___________
The Thief of Always by Clive Barker
and anything written by Matt Christopher!
Good luck, middle level teachers! Boys can get hooked, that's for sure!
I have to thank you for introducing me to Roland Smith. I've read almost all of his books since May and have enjoyed recommending them to the boys (or anyone) who comes into the library. As a librarian, I work very hard to keep up with authors and books, but I just can't know them all. It's wonderful to be able to get ideas from experts out in the field of teaching and librarianship at the touch of the keyboard. Thanks.
I teach 6th grade, and I find it more difficult to get girls into reading than boys! If a boy comes to me and he doesn't show any interest in reading, usually all it takes is an introduction to Wimpy Kid or Percy Jackson to get them on board the reading train! With girls it's another story. It seems like they are more at an "in-between" stage. Once they've read Twilight, they tend to want to read more young adult than middle level books. And many young adult books, while written with juicy plots and deep characters, are not appropriate for 6th graders and I'm uncomfortable recommending them. So I'm on the hunt for great girl books!
Thank you for this post! I'm a member of SCBWI and I started researching reading statistics for an academic research paper, but I'm finding that this topic has really lit a fire within me. I think we writers get so wrapped up into the publishing end of the business, that we ignore who we should be listening to...the children!
You know your boys are interested in what they are reading when they can't stop talking during a book discussion. I have found that boys are every bit as "chatty" during a book discussion as the girls are if, and only if, they are engaged.
In my past, before realizing the benefits of book choice during class time, before the wonderful Donalyn Miller showed me the light, I immersed the whole class in what I thought to be engaging literature. I was always especially aware of my boy audience, paying close attention to the characters and plot. I have found that boys, more so than girls, appreciate male characters in their stories - they need that connection. Boys also love a rich and lively plot, too much dialogue and not enough action tends to bore.
I teach 8th grade English. As has been said by someone else, my boys love the Alex Rider series by Anthony Horowitz. One of the books on our yearly reading list is there BECAUSE my boys have insisted that "everyone should read this book!" The book? Soldier Boys by Dean Hughes. It is what I call a see-saw book -- it alternates between the telling of the stories of two young men who desperately want to be part of World War II. I highly recommend the book! (Even to girls who love war books or historical fiction!)
I teach two classes of reading to 7th and 8th grade boys. I read Donolyn's book this summer, and realized I was getting back to what I always believed in- choice reading and lots of opportunity. My guys are have enjoyed the novels Red Kayak, Alabama Moon and any of Walter Dean Myers books. I am reading the Gregor the Overlander series and I like it. It is easy to sell what you read.
I love to read, and nothing excites me more than seeing my 7th graders learn to love reading, too. The book How to Teach a Love of Reading Without Getting Fired by Mary Leonhardt made a huge difference in the way that I teach. Choice is the key for every reader, regardless of gender. I've found that book talks, book trailers, and individual recommendations can help spark an interest in books that might otherwise be overlooked.
I am a sixteen year old girl and I am very involved in childhood literacy. I have a nonprofit that I created when I was fourteen that promotes childhood literacy. I agree that boys tend to stop reading, or never start, more frequently than girls, however, I don't think that it has to be that way. The best thing that parents and English teachers can do is to provide books that interest boys. If you were a tween or teen, would you rather read the Percy Jackson or Hunger Games series, or would you rather read Pride and Prejudice? I just wrote a five-book fantasy adventure series that targets 9-15 year-olds, especially boys, because kids love to read fantasy and because a lot of kids stop reading at this age. I love all the books mentioned above and I would also add:
Artemis Fowl series by Eoin Colfer
Keys to the Kingdom series by Garth Nix
Ranger's Apprentice series by John Flanagan
Leven Thumps series by Obert Skye
Pendragon series by D.J MacHale
The first book of my series was just released. It's called The Fire Stone: Book One of The Reign of the Elements by Riley Carney.
My non-profit website is: www.linkbylink.org
My author website is: www.rileycarney.com
My blog is: www.rileycarney.blogspot.com
I've been speaking at a lot of schools to kids in grades 4-8 and when I talk to them about reading and writing they all get really excited - especially the boys! I think they just need to be encouraged to chose the genre that they like and they will read.
Great ideas from everyone. But one I haven't seen yet is the genre of humor. I have several boys who read at 7-9th grade level in 6th grade and would prefer to read more books that are in the humor genre. Does anyone have any recommendations? Thanks
I teach 7th grade language arts and try to devote one of my block periods to silent reading. Not all of my students entered my class as willing readers, but by the end of the first grading period, they are all habitual, silent, classroom readers. They crave titles and authors. We do book talks instead of writing book summaries, and they share additional information about authors via a website, or other collections of books. The following is a boy-approved list of authors.(mostly boys, since my girls seem to find their books on their own.)
Walter Dean Meyers
Jorden Sonnenblick
Margaret Peterson Haddix
Gary Paulson
Mike Lupica
Gordan Korman
My son, a fifth-grader, has enjoyed these books so far this year.
Rules, by Cynthia Lord
A Dog's Life, by Ann M. Martin
Everything for a Dog, by Ann M. Martin
The Ghost's Grave, by Peg Kehret
The Sideways School books, by Louis Sachar
Wimpy Kid 4, by Jeff Kinney
Encyclopedia Horrifica, by Joshua Gee
Amulet 2, by Kazu Kibuishi
The Day-Glo Brothers, by Chris Barton
Road to Revolution! by Stan Mack and Susan Champlin
I agree that you just need to find the right "trigger" book for a boy and then they are off and running. My son was a good but reluctant reader until he hit on Suzanne Collins' Underland Chronicles in 3rd grade. He's been a non-stop series reader since then (currently in 5th grade). His favorites:
Percy Jackson series
Ranger's Apprentice series
Harry Potter series
Indian in the Cupboard
Blue Baillet's books
He's just starting the Septimus Heap series now by Angie Sage.
I am an elementary school librarian in a Title 1 school. We are struggling to bring up our reading scores across the board and there is a lot of pressure on the teachers to make every minute count. I work hard to provide the kind of books that boys enjoy, but I'm finding that there is some push and pull between reading-for-pleasure (which for some of my little guys is looking at the pictures in a really cool motorcycle book that's too hard for them to actually read,) and reading-to-get-better-at-reading. The teachers want the kids to use "just right" books during Independent Reading time--which severely limits choice. How do people deal with reading level vs. choice?
I am not a teacher, but a homeschooling mother to an 11-year-old boy. My son has always loved to be read to, but has struggled to learn to read, and only recently has begun to read on his own for pleasure. A couple things he's really enjoyed recently:
The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook: Extreme Junior Edition
The Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III series (the first is called How to Train Your Dragon)
This series may be aimed at elementary rather than middle schoolers, but all 3 of my boys (6th, 4th, and 1st grades) loved Shredderman! (by Wendelin van Draanen). I believe you really need to read beyond the first - the first might leave you with some concerns about cyber-bullying, but they get resolved. Since the series is only 4 books long, I was excited to see a "The Gecko and Sticky" now appear to have their own series. It will be bedtime reading for my 1st grader as soon as we finish up our current book.
Reading Donalyn's column and the comments of parents and teachers involved with reading issues--especially among boys--caught the attention of my partner, Susan Champlin, and me. It's exactly what we were thinking about in creating our new graphic novel, 'Road to Revolution.' We set out to write and illustrate a fast-paced historical adventure--laced with humor--with two young heroes, a boy and a girl, both of whom have independent adventures revolving around the early days of the American Revolution in Boston. I hope the readers of this column will excuse two writer/illustrators for stepping into this conversation to talk about our own work. But I also hope they will recognize our desire to engage young people in reading. We have a website: http://stanmack.com on which we've begun to run comments from readers and adults.
Cirque du Freak
Many volumes in the series. Reminds me of Goosebumps (for middle school schoolers).
I work as a Literacy Specialist in an elementary school and one of my passions is to get as many boys as possible hooked on reading. How so I help a boy who first has trouble choosing a book, and then abandons the book too quickly? He has chosen and abandoned three books in three days. I'd love some ideas!
Thanks for this post. I was particularly struck by this section:
"We create a crisis when we define readers along gender lines, and I think boy readers get a bad rap. They will read fiction, they will read books that explore emotional issues, and they will read books that are longer than 100 pages."
In fact, it got me thinking whether we do a disservice to our students when we think about questions like "Which books do boys (or girls, as the case may be) like?"
Is it naive of me to ask whether our efforts are better spent simply asking, "What books are great for the developmental levels and interests of the children we have in our classrooms?"
It strikes me that there's something rather limiting about approaching this issue from the viewpoint of which books a particular gender may or may not like. We might be surprised by what they like.