One of the greatest challenges for many boys and parents is to develop their son’s enjoyment and proficiency in reading. Reading impacts all areas of school achievement and lays the foundations for much future success. Boys tend to trail girls in the area of reading achievement.

I came across an interesting article in The Reading Teacher by a researcher Frank Serafini (Arizona State University). In his article, he addressed some of the factors that led to boys’ chronic underachievement in reading compared to girls. Some of the reasons:

• On average, boys spend less time reading than girls.
• Boys may have few male readers in their lives to emulate.
• The things boys like to read are often not well catered in school.
• Boys are often more physically active than girls and less willing to read for extended periods of time.

“Our goal is to get boys to comprehend more difficult, complex material,” says Serafini, “but first we have to get them reading…”

Researchers have found that boys are drawn to books with these characteristics:

• Focused on plot, not drama and emotions (think Alex Rider, Percy Jackson, Rangers Apprentice, Specky MacGee, Famous Five, Secret Seven);
• Visually appealing, for example, magazines and graphic novels (think Tom Gates, Amulet series, Big Nate, TinTin, Asterix);
• Practical, with information boys can use (think about any How To Book) ;
• Main characters boys can easily relate to – (Wimpy Kid, Comic Heroes, Geronimo Stilton, Tashi );
• Funny, with elements of mischief and slapstick (think about Tree House books, Just… series).

Here at Lindfield, we have a great range of books in the library that caters to all the different interests of our boys. We also have a fantastic range of books in class libraries, donated by the P&F last year.

The article goes further to suggest ideas to try with your boys:

• Support browsing. Take your boys to the local library, going to a book talk, spending time in a bookshop. There are also a number of websites to steer boys toward just the right book, including www.guysread.com, www.readkiddoread.com, and www.gettingboystoread.com.
• Shorter texts. Reading newspaper articles, short novels, short stories and picture books are also good. Below is a list of picture books and novels for boy readers suggested by Sue Gough.
• Provide extended amounts of time to read. “You cannot get better at reading if you don’t spend time reading” says Serafini. We need to help our boys have time to read in their hectic schedules.
• View reading as a social activity. Many boys don’t enjoy reading on their own but they want to talk to their friends about what they’re reading. It is often a good idea for parents to read the same book and then they can discuss the book. Adult book clubs are an example of how reading is more enjoyable when you can discuss and enjoy a book together.
• Focus on visual and multimodal texts. Picture books, comics, graphic novels, and informational texts help boy readers make sense of complex material. This is why Tom Gates and Wimpy Kid and many other graphic novels are so popular with boys.
• Develop boys’ identities as readers. We need our boys to realise that reading is fun and exciting and a very cool thing to do. We need to work out what aspect of reading appeals to them and help them learn through their interests. When I first started teaching, I had a boy who was fascinated with trucks and not really by reading. We found magazines, books and anything we could about his interest and he became a keen reader, who thought reading was great because it helped him find out more about his passion.

Let’s take the time to help our boys really enjoy and want to read. It takes some thinking, planning and modelling as parents but the rewards will be very worthwhile.

“Supporting Boys As Readers” by Frank Serafini in The Reading Teacher, September 2013 (Vol. 67, #1, p. 40-42), extracted from Marshall Memo

Ben Barrington-Higgs – Head of Lindfield Campus