Getting boys to read has been an issue on my mind since I became a librarian. The same wonderful instructors who increase our awareness to issues we faced also required that we understand how things work. Boys don’t necessarily read what girls read. They’re more likely to read magazines, newspapers and non-fiction. I like how Omar Tyree explained this in Twelve Brown Boys when the father told his son that girls may read more, but men read the important stuff: they read the newspapers, the sports statistics and the financial news. This young boy needed to know his father read and was amazed to see and hear him do so. Yes, boys need to see men read.
I just read a wonderful discussion over on gNeri’s blog. I’m taking this quote and putting it in my email quote line:
Getting boys to read is difficult in our society. In my view, there are forces at work that desire us to be uneducated, simply for the purpose of creating good little consumers. We need to free our youth from the grip commercial media has on them. When a child picks up a book, it is a direct confrontation to that system. That is a type of revolution on a social scale, and I am all about that—changing the direction of our society. When you go to a library and choose your own book, you take control of your life. Even if it is a very small step, it is one in the right direction. Readers become thinkers, and thinkers become leaders. Jesse Joshua Watson
So, what can be done? Kathy Hicks-Brooks and I have shared ideas, certainly being females doesn’t preclude us from conquering this! Kathy has had a lot of success with books groups. I’ve contacted Sgt. Knight from Indianapolis Police Departments’ OK Program to develop a book group for males at my school. A good first step, I think, but will boys sit and talk about books? And isn’t this going to reach those who already read? I do think boys need to see men reading. From reading Greg Neri’s blog entry, I’m getting excited about using the African American Read In Chain to facilitate a discussion among black men for an audience of black boys. The goal would be to have an honest discussion about the importance of reading and to get the group to identify 2-3 things that can be done to solve this problem.
Will this move us forward? Are there issues I’m missing? Is there a successful program out there already?
Cotton Quilts Edi 
Working at a bookstore I noticed one of the problems is many books are geared towards girls cheating many boys who may what to try reading out of more options. Bookbuyers are feeding into the stereotype that boys don’t read. Parents come in all the time in search of books for their sons. When I see a parent looking lost in the YA section they’re a usually shopping for boy, because its the same look teenage boys get.
Then when you factor in Black male characters it gets even slimmer. YA lit sections are not geared toward Black males. A book by a black author with a black male protagonist – that’s two strikes. (I can just imagine a bookbuyer laughing in their office if asked to buy such titles)
Many Black parents are unfamilar with a lot of the Black authors that are out there. 9/10 times when I help a someone in search of childrens books featuring black characters I will give them the name of authors we don’t carry. When I don’t do this it because there wasn’t enough time or they weren’t very nice.
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Excellent point. Publishers do market to female readers. It is difficult for Black males and even more difficult for Latino or Asian males to find books to which they can relate. It is my experience that as males become more confident readers, they will read a wider variety of literature than female readers. But, first we have to get them going!
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Thanks for blogging about this, Edi–I just read the entire interview on G. Neri’s site, and now plan to blog about it myself. I’m concerned about the definitive split that says “boys are like this and girls are like that”–I think we should be careful about such pronouncements b/c all kids come to books differently, as those interviewees prove. I absolutely agree that boys need to see more men reading, though–the influence of hip hop culture is a particular challenge, b/c it can seem to reject “book learning” in favor of “street smarts,” and it comes out of the black vernacular tradition which is based on oral communication. When I worked with urban students, I could ask boys to rhyme, and they’d do so without any hesitation–they had all kinds of lyrics memorized and ready to go. But reading and writing were much more challenging, and finding good material was difficult. I’m going to take on Jesse’s remarks about reading countering consumerism, b/c I’m not so sure that’s true…but thanks again for blogging about this important discussion.
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The most asked question at our NCTE booth was, “What do you have for boys?” We always make sure to have a selection of books that we think will appeal to boys. We don’t always get it right–but we try. I’d love to see a list of top choices for teenage boys with input from them. Do you know if one exists?
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From GregNeri’s article, I found Boys Blogging Books, which links to several other boy blogs. It’s the closest thing I know to a list of top choices for boys with their input. Hmmm…maybe I’ll have to have my students generate something!
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I was talking to a co-worker today about how I need more YA fiction for boys. Whats in stock sells and I need new titles to add to my repertoire. So if anyone has any suggestions.
Here are some YA titles for boys I love
Repossesessed by A.M. Jenkins
I am the Messenger by Markus Zusak
Deadline by Chris Crutcher
Rules of Survival by Nancy Werlin
Tyrell by Coe Booth
Shift by Jennifer Bradbury
Traitor by Andy McNab
Raiders Night by Lipsyte
The Brothers Torres by Coert Voorhees
Dark Dude
Hellbent
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Good discussion everyone. I am all about books for boys. If you go to my site, there is a pretty extensive list of MG?YA and graphic novels for boys. http://gregneri.com/g.neri_readinglist.html
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