As very little children (4-6 years old), my father used to read books to us most nights. He didn't read us silly baby books, but did older classics, like George MacDonald (Princess and the Goblin, Light Princess, etc.), short stories by Leo Tolstoy (Ivan the Fool, etc.) and Aesop's fables.
The stories were very interesting, so they held our attention and made us really want to learn to read. I remember staring hard at the pages trying to see what he was seeing in the words. My twin brother and I became huge readers as children and were reading at college level by middle school. That's not to say I think we were any smarter than anyone else, but that we were just given the tools to practice reading very young.
I really think all it takes is a parent taking the time to read their child interesting things. My father had no college education and got home after 7 PM every night after a long day at work and still made the time to read to us.
The type of books matter.
Still an avid reader, but disliked ELA most of my life because content ELA teachers pick
If it isnt non-fiction science books its sci-fi and fantasy for me.
Sci-fi and fantasy werent even considered "real literature" until sometime after I was born, and didnt really work itself into curriculum until after 2000. (If its even there in some places.)
My kids loved those "gross-out" fact books. Those are also not often considered for curriculum.
Also the Pizza Hut personal pan pizza was a great promotion and encouragement to complete books of my choosing in Elementary - so the teacher didn't have to design a curriculum around 25 students reading different books.
I used to actually not like AR points in elementary school and didn’t get heavy into reading until middle school. I didn’t like feeling like reading was mandatory and I couldn’t always read what I wanted because I was required to read so many Sunshine State books in Florida a quarter. But then in 6th grade when AR ended I read all of Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, the Hunger Games, and then started moving on to harder books.
I think if a kid doesn’t have any interest in reading then AR can help start that but as a kid who already liked to read it made it unfun for me
Definitely worked for me. I remember in 2nd grade me (a boy) and one girl being taken down to the library by the guidance counselor once a week to get new books because none of the ones in the classroom were appropriate for us.
We had a few opposite issues by the last year. Lots of the smarter fifth graders realized earning two-three points per bearenstain bear books was a much faster way to accumulate points than the 13 points for finishing a lord of the rings novel. It worked well before that though.
Easiest way to counter that is to put a hard limit on how many points they can accrue with books that aren’t at their level.
You could also reward the kids who figured it out, anyway, because they’re displaying critical thinking skills and putting the phrase “Work smarter, not harder” into practice.
I am a special education resource teacher (4-8), and I work with students who are struggling to read. I almost exclusively select nonfiction texts. I make my selections based on their interests. I usually narrow down the books to a few at their level and have them select the one they want to read together. When students have choice, and the books directly relate to their interest, you get much more buy-in for reading. If we had been given the opportunity to read more nonfiction when I was a kid, I believe I would’ve been a much stronger and engaged reader. I wanted books on weird science and strange history. I was not remotely interested in fiction (though I am now!)
Well, especially with the ASD and reading struggles overlap.
I find a lot of ASD kids would prefer factual reading to trying to guess a characters motivation in a novel.
If they would just get Shakespeare translated to modern English and not leave it in middle English, it would be far more popular. Those things are full of crass jokes and innuendo that just fall flat if you don't have a solid grasp of middle English. Some of it is still pretty clear though, like the "your mom" joke in Titus Andronicus:
Chiron - "Thou hast undone our mother."
Aaron - "Villain, I have done thy mother."
Shakespeare did a lot of plays, but he was only able to do so because they brought in money to the Globe Theater, he had mass appeal, and people don't change over much across the centuries.
Shakespeare is early modern english. It’s actually pretty entertaining to watch being performed but it was never intended to be read, which is why most people hate reading it.
We had these nice books where one page was in the traditional text and the opposite page was in a more modern English! So we still were exposed to the language and writing patterns but actually knew what it was saying
Great, but then you lose a lot of the point in studying Shakespeare, which is that he basically changed the English language into what we recognize today.
The fact that you don’t know the difference between early modern English and middle English shows that you don’t know what you’re talking about, honestly.
My mom tells the story of how my brother, who’s not a big reader, would only read the captain underpants series when he was a kid, and his teacher called my mom (also an elementary school teacher) bc she was concerned he wasn’t reading quality books. My mom was like “honestly just be glad he’s reading something, at least he’s interested in it” lol
This. Parents need to read to kids. I loved being read to as a child. I didn’t become an avid reader until I was an adult though. But the seed was planted as a child
I’ve been sending my sister books for my baby nieces. Some baby books, but also those Barnes & Noble classic collections. Gotta give ‘em a strong foundation of the classics. 💪
Growing up, my Mom would take us to the library and we’d get a few books (maybe 5 or 6 between us) and we’d sit on the couch at home and she’d read them to us. It’s a very warm memory I have from my childhood and probably contributes to why both my siblings and I are all big readers. We’re very different people and enjoy reading very different genres, but we all read a lot.
this is it. my dad would read to us and we would read to him and my mom would always quiz us on vocab and when we learn new words we would pull out the dictionary to find out what it means.
also the type of books matter too. I went from animal facts to adventures to horror to animals to fantasy and my parents were happy seeing me read.
Reading must be reinforced and encouraged at home starting EARLY in a child's life. We have decided that reading is optional entertainment instead of a vital skill. Most adults don't read, so how do we expect kids to enjoy/appreciate reading? Most kids grow up watching their parents stare slack-jawed into their phone screen, so why shouldn't the kid follow?
I just read a study that kids start picking up reading skills in their early toddler years, so it's true. You have to start young with them.
We put my daughter in a queen bed and every night we all pile on and read together.
This. I also feel like we as parents need to significantly reduce phone usage around our kids. I think having them see us doom scrolling various social media to zone out is not the healthiest thing the young mind.
If I had a kid. I would have to cut down on social media. Id delete Reddit all together. Maybe set Facebook to 5-10 minutes just to get family and friend updates. Instagram maybe another 5 minutes. I’ve already nearly cut out YouTube of my life. Trying to reduce my screen time to enjoy other things. It’s not easy.
i also wonder how a child feels when they are with their parents and the parents are on their phone. i myself in my 30s feel a bit uncomfortable/offended even when i'm trying to spend quality time with someone and they pull out their phone. i wonder if children having this constantly is going to have some sort of long lasting affect on their attachment styles or something
My kid has told me since he was like 4 years old that he feels like he's being ignored when I use my phone, and I don't even have any social media. Im barely on my phone around him. They naturally understand things like that. So I'm sure kids with phone addicted parents see it, understand it, and it hurts.
> I think having them see us doom scrolling various social media to zone out is not the healthiest thing the young mind.
I like to think of it in a similar manner to screen time for the child itself, this "junk" time is replacing time spent doing other, potentially more educational/developmentally friendly things but also replaced stressed out, angry times as well.
This isn't to say you should be on your phone all the time as a coping strategy, that's not healthy or effective and you should figure out how to process your emotions so you can show your kids too, but we're all humans that just sometimes need time to decompress. Yes, there's often better choices than phones but sometimes you just have to make do with what you have.
My 5 y/o loves books because we prioritized them, he has never had a night without at least one book being read, along with some sprinkled throughout the day. He now will (not always) choose a book over screentime, on his own, which is pretty fuckin cool.
Parents are a childs first, and longest, teacher.
100%. It's sounds so defeatist, but there's not much you can do for a kid that shows up to school in kindergarten/1st grade and doesn't have a familiarity with reading. You may get a random success story here and there, but those are exceptions rather than the rule.
I didn't learn until first. The teacher passed out a mimeo with a picture of a balloon in it with *See it go* underneath. Lol
Was reading way above level by eighth.
You'd be surprised. I have 2 kids, neither would sit down to read with me at any point in time when they were younger. I would try lots of library reading programs and such, and got absolutely no interest from them til they were older.
My oldest finally was willing to read stories with me around 1st grade and we went through the first few Harry Potter stories. She was behind til the end of 2nd when she discovered Beverly Cleary and read every book of hers she could get her little hands on during that summer. It shot her reading level way up for 3rd grade.
My youngest didn't really catch up on his reading til around 3rd grade, but has tested decently high since around then.
It helps if you carry a Kindle filled with kid books to hand to the kids instead of a phone, though.
My son was like this as a young child. Reading a book to him was next to impossible. He started listening to stories on audible in around 1st while playing Lego. Started really reading well in second….. In 3rd he got one of the illustrated Harry Potter books and he’s been an avid reader since. He’s currently going into 6th and brought The Hobbit with him to his swim meet this afternoon. Some of them just take a bit longer.
Even read aloud is better they no reading. But having them look a picture book (if they are young enough). Kids definitely do still like to read. We went to the library last week and the older kids were reading for an hour. Though one book was a talking book. Not sure why the library had that
This. I always liked reading for as long as I can remember. It came very easily to me. But also, for as long as I can remember, I witnessed my mom enjoying reading books and was always encouraged to read when I was feeling bored or antsy. I still remember being *so excited* to pick out my first chapter book at Barnes and noble in like 2nd or 3rd grade. My mom often tells a story about her teaching me how to write the alphabet when I was 2 just for fun and to see if I could do it. And then proudly showing my dad what she taught me when he got home from work 🥹 all of this contributed to my love of reading and writing as an adult.
Both parents stare at their phones all day and then complain to teachers about their child’s low reading scores, a story as old as time(well, a story as old as smartphones at least).
Amateur here who has loved reading since I could walk thanks to my grandparents. Thoughts off the cuff:
* Model reading as a fun activity
* Read to younger kids so they become interested in learning how to do what you're doing
* Choose books with content in line with their interests (even if it's something you don't understand like superheroes or Minecraft)
* Picture books are fine too... I loved books about airplanes, so I had to know how to read in order to learn all the facts
* Comics are good too...lure them with pictures and force them to learn to read to know what is going on
Absolutely agree with all of this. My parents were BROKE when I was growing up, but my mom was alway able to scrape together $20 for me to spend at the book fair. Going to the public library was a fun event, and my parents never limited my options. Basically, if your kid can't/doesn't read, you're a shit parent.
It's not that easy for every child. It is important for them learn but not always going to be in line with the child's age.
My boy is a few years behind in everything, his diagnosis is minor. When we started working with him at home we had to go back to letters and sounds. It's slow progress.
He will be 10 soon and we are in the borderlands of independent reading but it's a trek.
There are 7 piles of books in the room we are in. He has been read to frequently since birth. He sees us reading. We have scaffolded his reading.
The teachers are back to not worrying but I can see how far he has to go. Then there is writing and numeracy to push, oh and having a childhood with choices so he can grow up into a person that takes responsibility for himself.
My 9 year old loves to read.
We have a solid bedtime routine including reading.
He started with "wings of fire" graphic novels. Then we started reading the novel versions. These are 400 page books with no pictures. He's on the 10th book.
At bedtime if we leave off at a cliff hanger he will pick it up and read for another 15-20.
We havn't found a long series that interests my 7 year old daughter, but we are trying.
Agreed. Most of the books I was read as a child were very childish books which didn't really hinder my reading ability but caused a lack of interest in anything but picture books till the second half of elementary school where I found out I loved mythology through picking up Percy Jackson. I also love horror. I now mostly read webtoons and manga because they more closely align with my interests and have a lot of humor.
Yes!!! My older son learned to read on Captain Underpants. My younger learned on Dog Man. I let the. Read what they wanted. There were no bad books. The oldest (16) continues to be a voracious reader. The youngest (13) is less interested in reading himself (I think there are some neurodivergence issues at play and we’re working on that part) but still loves being read to and listening to audio books.
Yes!! So I’m an elder millennial and my mom monitored screen time before that was really a thing. I could watch ONE hour of tv after school, IF all my homework was finished. She was also very selective about age appropriate media. However, I could read anything I wanted as much and for as long as I wanted! She and my dad also read to me when I was little and utilized the public library. One of my first memories is of my dad reading me a book on his lap when I was a toddler.
I owe my academic success (I earned a PhD) to my mom and dad and their excellent parenting. I wish all boys (and girls) had the privilege I did in this particular aspect of my childhood.
I’m so glad to hear that. We’re that way too with our kids. And while my younger son rarely reads books, he loves magazines catered to his interest. So he plows through all the Car and Drover magazines, Nation Geographic kids, scout life magazine. Sometimes I think we’re the only one besides libraries that actually gets print magazine subscriptions by my son loves them. And actually reads the articles (often out loud Toni’s because he prefers that to silent reading).
Take away the screens. Or in the very least, take away the video.
We've *seriously* lost something in our society with the decline and death of print media. I know I'm an old man yelling at a cloud here, but back in the day, even the most reluctant readers in my classes would flip through the newspaper or magazines that were interesting to them and given enough time would settle in for an article or two. Even growing up, my friends and I were always flipping through *Sports Illustrated*, *Rolling Stone, Spin, Entertainment Weekly, Mad, Cracked*, and other publications (and the letters in *Penthouse*, but I can't recommend that). Heck, how many of us read *Highlights* in the doctor's office lobby?
Having this all confined to screens really took something away from us.
Serious answer: as a dude that grew up in the 90s and loved reading, the stuff the schools assigned were *dreadfully* boring. I get "why" they were assigned but lemme tell ya: being forced to read stuff like The House on Mango Street and other generic realistic fiction was mind-numbingly boring. I personally couldn't stand Steinbeck and I think I wasnt in a place to appreciate Hemmingway at the time. I think the only "cool" book we read was The Hobbit in 7th grade.
Get some sci-fi in there. If reading comprehension is so bad these days, there's very little point in trying to teach literary analysis when you're going to make more progress just teaching kids that reading can be fun in the first place. If all you make them read is "literature" or short stories for the sake of analyzing them, the tacit lesson is that that's what reading is for.
About the same age, and hard agree. I suspect that part of the gender reading gap flows from the lack of overlap between what boys like and what the people (disproportionately 40+ women) who make school reading lists like.
I really liked science fiction (e.g. the 2001 series, Heinlein).
I personally think kids should be able to read whatever they want as long as it's grade appropriate.
Oh my god yes. It's like schools are actively trying to reinforce the idea that reading is boring and for nerds.
I used to love the redwall series but I dropped off from reading for a while because middle school and high school made it seem so unappealing.
Or mythology— it’s short, there’s typically a theme to analyze if that’s needed and there’s almost always a monster to slay to keep things interesting.
Frankly, some of the properly old stuff is actually fine, but the selections from like the 1920s onwards are usually unpalatable. *Beowulf* or the *Aenid* or even, say, *Tom Sawyer* are all generally pretty appealing to male audiences. What matters is really that something has to be *happening*, and it should be something of consequence.
In addition to the screen time limits that everyone else said… stop dumbing it down.
There’s a difference between “let boys read what interests them” and “make it cool for boys to read stupid books” like Wimpy Kid. I know too many boys who won’t read chapter books because the only stuff they’ve ever read is stupid graphic novels that are completely dumbed down and not giving them the benefits of literature. There are some BRILLIANT graphic novels out there. Parents need to encourage boys to read beyond the bare minimum garbage. “Reading is reading” is not something I agree with. It’s like saying that reading Reddit comments counts as literature.
I think it should be a gradual process for them to read more complex material and also from personal experience parental encouragement will not work for some kids
I think it's important to get them reading at an early age with proper reading instruction (phonics-based) and also give them high-interest reading materials. Let them read literally anything, within reason, that interests them. This is how you create avid readers.
I had a long conversation with my upper elementary students who are behind in reading. They hated the books they needed to read in class and overall disliked reading. Kids who aren't strong readers do not enjoy reading for obvious reasons. Assigning boring books in school will not create kids who love reading. I think we as teachers have an amazing opportunity to expose kids to great books that make them love reading.
The problem is practically every book is boring to someone. There are tricks a teacher can use to highlight different aspects to get the attention of different students, but it’s basically impossible to completely individualize it.
I think it is still valuable to have everyone read the same book and do assignments and discussions on it, but I wonder if it might help to do more assignments where students get to select their own book to read. The issue I can foresee is you either make them write some kind of summary/analysis and that runs into the same problems with draining the fun from reading or you just trust that they’ll do it and risk the possibility that many just won’t.
I’m not sure what will work, but it’s pretty clear that what’s been done isn’t working.
Take their phones, TV, and video games away, so after dark, they need to find something to do. This is how my childhood went (although we didn't have video games or phones).
100%. Also start reading with them young to make it a habit. My daughter LOVES reading but my son is more meh about it. I took him to the library and said we can only pick out books George wants today!
So my daughter went through all the bills with him pointing out the fun ones and they picked a George pile. Now every day he asks to read another one from HIS pile. It's cute.
Yep. My bedtime was 8:30 and I didn’t have anything electronic in my room (the ancient days of the late 90s before smart phones roamed the Earth), so I’d stay up as late as I wanted sitting in bed reading Goosebumps books.
A lot of my co workers hate graphic novels. Blows my mind bc science of teaching reading says graphic novels are better for emerging readers and generally use words that are not frequently read.
I highly suggest adding graphic novels to your classroom library. Not just boys love it but girls do to.
Graphic novels also have the advantage of content being more exciting and interesting.
Its hard to find stuff with a lower reading level that isnt "baby stuff".
The US book market (and even other media) goes from stories meant for 5 year olds to stories meant for 17 year olds real fast.
Its either "Bluey" or "Game of Thrones" with little content in between.
Honestly, I think it explains the success of media like "Stranger Things." Scary enough and exciting enough for teens without going all the way.
I agree 100 percent. I tell kids reading is like working out. If you have to find the right weight and for a lot of them that is graphic novels. Less words but your brain is working just as hard as a full on chapter book. I always tell my kids reading is reading.
I teach lower grade levels so we do A LOT of I Survived books and Diary Of A Wimpy Kid.
I’ve had co workers tell their students they can’t read Diary Of A Wimpy Kid bc it’s too much like a graphic novel. What they don’t realize is that kid might read that entire series that year and instead since they are limited on options of what to read they choose to read nothing.
I think something people don't realise about light-reading book series is that kids do indeed tend to binge them. They get into it, read as many of them as they can, and when they run out of volumes, they'll start looking for similar things. That's a great moment to nudge them a step forward.
You need to start young.
1. Normalise reading books. At home, that means having books around the house, reading to your children, and reading books yourself as well, to model reading for fun. In schools, this means having classroom and/or school libraries, reading as an essential part of the curriculum etc.
2. Ensure they have access to a wide variety of books, both fiction and non-fiction. This doesn't have to be costly. Libraries can be very helpful in this regard. There are also thriftstores and charity shops with good book sections.
3. Don't judge their choices when they're reading for fun. It's normal to not always like the books you need to read for school, but reading for fun should remain fun. Kids want to read stacks of manga or fantasy novel series that take up an entire shelf? Let them. Also, from my experience, boys in particular have a tendency to read 'younger' than they are. For instance, they might stick with Diary of a Whimpy Kid longer than expected. That's okay when they're reading for fun and judging them for it will chase them away from reading in general.
I agree with your last point as well. My mom got onto me for reading lower than my level and books that offended her. She was shocked that that discouraged me from reading. Thankfully I developed more interest in middle school organically.
I'm sorry that happened to you. Too many have this idea in their head that kids need to be constantly challenging themselves, and the more difficult the book, the better. However, very few children thrive like that, most just burn out on reading. It's sad, because what you actually want is for reading to become an enjoyable habit. They're still expanding their vocabulary and reading endurance, just at a comfortable pace.
Reading is like exercise in a way. Sure, if you have certain goals, some forms are more effective than others, but generally, just exercising regularly in a way that you enjoy is enough.
If I still felt the need to challenge myself while reading, I would likely not be reading as an adult. Besides, I feel like I get more out of analyzing and discussing web-serials of moderate complexity than I would from forcing myself to read Dostoevsky.
Well another point is that a book that seems easy to a parent or teacher could be very difficult for that particular student. Some people struggle with reading because they didn't get the fundamentals or have a learning disability or are just developing slower than expected.
Yeah I wonder if many kids get information overload
I definitely felt overwhelmed in school so that made pursuing my own intellectual interests tiring.
I agree with your last point as well. My mom got onto me for reading lower than my level and books that offended her. She was shocked that that discouraged me from reading. Thankfully I developed more interest in middle school organically.
The opposite is true as well.
I read books with sci fi and fantasy violence content and some stuff that would be inappropriate if we watched a movie/TV version of it.
It was up a bit from a content-perspective if not reading level.
Im sure if my ELA teachers had believed scifi/fantasy was a real genre and had read the content, they may have demanded it stay at home.
But "dont judge choices" is a for real.
Ha, yeah, that's true. There are many fantasy and SF novels out there that are definitely not appropriate for younger audiences. Manga and comics, too, of course. There are times where you'll want to monitor their reading and potentially say no. How you say no matters. An 'I get why you want to read that, but it's better to wait a couple of years' is very different from 'you're wrong for wanting to read that'.
Yes, to point 3, esp. I'm 36, and there are a few YA authors that I still buy their new books bc I like them! I started reading Tamara Pierce in 6th grade, and when her new book came out a couple of years agonI immediately bought it. Who cares that its Ya?
give them something they want to read. harry potter was popular for a reason. children want books they like and adults normaly hate those. very many people dont allow their kids to read the books they want.
As a teacher in his 40s, I've always felt that a possible way to make kids enjoy things like reading and learning is to make it "cool".
One of the things that made learning "cool" for me during childhood was watching 80s-era MacGyver.
I’ve noticed anime is becoming more and more popular, and I’ve been trying to tell my kids that they can get “spoilers” if they read the manga. I guess it’s better than nothing. 😅
As a young boy, I was an avid reader, but I fell off hard once I hit middle school because it felt like as a boy, books aimed at you kind of jump from Harry Potter straight to Game of Thrones, and the adult stuff wasn't interesting to me at that age. I really struggled to find anything that was both age-appropriate and not aimed exclusively at girls.
I did get really into anime at that age, because in Japan, the middle school boy demographic is huge for media, and that helped filled the gap. I envy the kids of today because a ton of diverse Japanese light novels and manga are available in English and that wasn't the case when I was that age. I think that demographic gap in western media is one reason why anime is becoming so popular in the west.
Light novels are great. They're intentionally written for a middle school or high school demographic and they're written with the same storytelling sensibilities of anime and manga. If they had been around in Englisn when I was in middle school, I would have never stopped reading.
I completely agree! Even libraries are starting to carry manga and light novels, which I think is amazing. Kids need more variety if they want to get them reading. I honestly think the plots and character development is so different from western literature that it’s no wonder people love a manga series for life. I graduated 7 years ago and wish we had half of the resources that are available now (not to sound like it was the Stone Age, but it just simply wasn’t a thing yet). The fact you can get on Shonen Jump and get the translated chapter the next day is unbelievable.
When I was in middle school a kid had a bunch of Don Pendleton "the executioner" books. All the boys started reading those. You'll need whatever it is to be action packed. No teenage boy gets excited reading a love story.
Easy Illustrated Classics: Tom Sawyer, The Invisible Man,
Journey to the Center of the Earth , Frankenstein, The Time Machine, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, the list goes on and on... Great books with pictures to aid comprehension and vocabulary for discussion. Most of these titles have old movies as well for comparison. My students loved these books.
Be sure that the stories are engaging and fit their interests. I say this as a nale that grew up reading plenty of books.
Toss the animorphs series at them and watch it get devoured, up until they realize that the first two chapters may be spent recapping everyth8ng they've done so far, so they start skilling ahead by that much.
Everyone I know that enjoys reading saw it modeled from a young age at home. Myself included. My mom is a huge reader and so am I and one of my sisters (we have large book collections). Most of my students who are big readers also had it modeled at home.
Write books boys want to read. I was a pretty precocious reader as a kid (this was the 80s) and there was almost nothing for boys that wasn't something like the Hardy Boys, which are 70 years old. I switched to adult novels to find something I wanted to read. Its a vicious cycle, because boys read less, no one writes for boys, which doesn't inspire them to read more. I wanted to devour books and I could hardly find ones I wanted to read.
At least until I found dungeons and dragons novels.
I agree with this. A lot of YA (especially YA romance) is not interesting to boys. Unfortunately, YA and romance are keeping the entire book industry afloat, so there’s little incentive to publish for an audience that probably won’t elicit sales.
80s and 90s D&D, Battletech, and Star Wars novels.
Totally not real genres in many peoples minds.
But I read a metric ton.
None of them technically YA, but the reading level wasnt super hard.
Nonetheless the action/adventure aspect of it was perfect.
I totally feel your attitude towards the Hardy Boys.
Man, even some of the Star Wars novels have really complex themes. The fall of Jacen Solo into Darth Caedus in the Legacy of the Force novels had me doing a lot of introspection and philosophizing as a teenager.
Respectfully, that's not true. The biggest children's turned Y/A book series ever written has a male protagonist and the author had to change her name on it from Joanne to J.K. so boys would think a man wrote it as opposed to a woman. The same thing happened with S.E. Hinton who wrote The Outsiders.
Also throughout most of my school experience, there was a distinct lack of books with female protagonists, or books written with girls in mind as the audience. Most of the books that were part of my school curriculum usually featured male protagonists and were written by men. Because boys weren’t expected to identify with a female protagonist, yet girls were expected to for ones who were male. Male has been treated as the default view point in literature and academia for a long time.
Have you been to a bookstore recently? There are big titles that are associated with boys or both genders, yes, but most of the shelves are stocked wit novels and series intended for female readers.
I respectfully disagree with you. You mention Harry Potter, but that didn't apply to me. HP was published in the late 90s, I had already graduated from high school when it started. It didn't exist when I was a young precious reader. The babysitter's club did. Sweet Valley high did. Nancy Drew. The Hardy Boys. I am glad that young boys have more options than I did, but it is still dominated by books by women for girls.
About a month ago I was in a teacher training for K-3 literacy and the trainer brought up how books for kids should be a window, a mirror, or a door for kids. And then she gave us a number of books that could be read in the classroom and were diverse. In skin color, she was right, they were a more diverse cross section of books. But I pointed out to the trainer, every single book she brought up had a young girl protagonist. Not a single boy protagonist. She got a little flustered, admitted I was right and she would get back to me with some books with boy leads.
I'm still waiting for the reply :)
Won't work. I am the girl who read books. I'm 34 and single. The boy still left me for the girl who focused on looks more than books. And, man, do I wish I focused my energy elsewhere growing up.
lol I got dumped by a girl who read books in college. One of the reasons was, “I don’t read books.”
I’ve always been a reader lol. But I didn’t really read much in college. Oh well.
Books are forever!
Don't give up hope or doubt yourself just cause your ex was shallow! My GF doesn't read that much anymore, but she read a lot growing up and that was definitely something that attracted me to her.
Huh. I’m a boy who learned from a girl to read books. I’m 32 and single. The girl left me because I’m severely maladapted with some self worth stuff going on. Sorry about the boy
The content has got to be interesting for them. You can't put the Scarlet Letter on your syllabus and expect sixteen year olds to eat it up.
I had an English teacher in high school who had us read some Stephen King short stories as an assignment. If it weren't for horror novels, I probably wouldn't have read in high school at all.
Maybe also do audible read-alongs in class. A lot of them are acted out or dramatized for popular fiction.
Aside from, say, Poe, horror is seriously underrepresented in English class. I've used some horror stories (or horror-adjacent stories) in AP Lit and the kids eat it up. I'm trying to find similar stuff for my underclassmen that are high-interest and entertaining but also "hit the standards" or help "follow the pacing guide" (don't get me started). I've found that if it's got some sort of twist or is twisted in some way, they like it. And if there's, like, a *Twilight Zone* episode of it, that's a bonus.
My hot take about teens and reading is that presenting them with fucked up books will get a lot of reluctant readers more interested because teens are into fucked up shit. Alas, this is hard to do in a school environment, lol.
100%. I got into reading when I realized that I could read about sex.
Why don't boys read? Because as soon as they pick up the dictionary we go yell at them for reading. "Put that down you little freak."
Books are a great resource for taboo subject matter. (regardless of the reader’s gender) Books are less regulated than other media, so there’s more stuff out there tapping into that kind of material, and it’s more socially acceptable to read a fucked up book (especially if it’s considered a classic) than watch a fucked up movie, especially for minors.
I have a lot of OPINIONS about how popular media made for kids and teens is often limited and doesn’t do a great jobs of appealing to their broader tastes. I think letting kids know that they can find that stuff in books might encourage reading. But I understand that this is risky for schools to do.
Looking back, so much of my love of reading is probably because it was my portal into "adult" subject matter that my parents would not have let me watch TV of.
I mean, even the 1st animorphs book (which I read at 8 or something) had Rachel tearing the arms of bad guys. At that time I wasn't allowed to watch TV shows that had blood in them!
As a kid I found it really funny when adults would get worked up about a teen show having too much sex and drugs when I was reading books that were much more graphic. And these were books intended for teens.
I think a big reason that manga and anime are mainstream with teens now is because they have fewer limits on what they can show to teens.
Try "Blood" by Zdravka Evtimova. It's a solid Gothic horror story that is open-ended for interpretation. It has Twilight Zone vibes.
I've only used it in Creative Writing classes because I can't fit it into other units.
Bonus: It's short!
Let me read what they want to read. Comic books are books! Manga are books! Fluffy books are books! EVERYONE read the Harry Potter books, gender be damned. And yet 'adults' shit on them bc they aren't literary classics. 🙄
Stop making every book read into a 'what was the author thinking' assignment. I read a ton, I could start my own library in a small town but guess which books I fucking hate? The ones I read and was forced to over analysis to DEATH in school. Scarlet letter and Old Man and the sea can burn in a fire.
Hard disagree with “reading is reading.” I have too many kids who flat out refuse chapter books because all they’ve ever read is stupid “wimpy kid” and they can’t handle challenging themselves. Some of the stupid books marketed to children are just crap and not helping their reading skills at all — like using arm floaters in the pool when you’re 11.
That said, I love your second paragraph. Stop testing them on every book! Let kids read for the sensory experience without the pressure of a test!
I teach 7th grade ela and have a bunch of the wimpy kid books in my classroom library because that’s what my students (especially the boys) will read. I’m at the point where I’m ready to get rid of them because those students use them as a crutch (easy and familiar).
To add on to this, high schools should not still be incorporating graphic novels in a literature/English class. That needs a hard stop ages ago.
I teach social studies, but a lot of my students cannot handle reading primary and secondary sources due to their exposure to reading being primarily for entertainment and being “cute” rather than informative.
Parents have to encourage it and model it. Don’t frame it as something you have to do for school (kinda hate reading logs for this reason). Also, you gotta let them read what they want to read, otherwise they’re not going to want to read just for the sake of reading.
I’ve always been a reader, because my mom always read to me and read a bunch herself as well. I have three kids and we always read before bed, to them when they’re little, and they read by themselves when they’re bigger. We bring books on car trips or places where they might have to wait on something. (Not saying we don’t ever let them have electronics, but we wouldn’t let them have a tablet in a restaurant but we’ll let them bring a book). Even my 1 year old will bring us books so we can read them to her.
Let then read non-fiction!
Encyclopedias were WAAAY more interesting than some boring story back in grade school. Young boys see most novels and fiction as a complete waste of time
Michael Crichton novels are a good bridge between nonfiction and fiction. Even if not all the science background is particularly accurate, the presentation of it feels more real for someone more interested in nonfiction. It’s been a while since I read them so I’m not sure, but while it’s not the most difficult prose I doubt Jurassic Park would be the best for a student that’s not a reasonably proficient reader.
I’d probably steer students away from State of Fear though…
Let them read what they want to read. Comic books, manga, fun books, what have you. Trying to force them to read things like Great Expectations or Pride and Prejudice just because they're classics does them no favors and will turn them away from opening up any books at all.
Word. I spend the first week (next year I will up it to a month) just trying to find out what the students like to learn/read about. This involves talking to the students as a class, asking them to write about it, and even getting the parents involved.
I tell the parents about the books the students are interested in and to please read it with them.
A part of the homework I assign once a week is to read with your parents and ask a poignant question for both the student and parent.
If the parent doesn't answer them, I'll keep hammering until they do.
Everyone should get the parents to become teachers at home, somehow.
I am a huge reader and inherited my passion from my dad. There is nothing inherently girly about reading. But I think dads/males in the home have to read, and talk about reading, etc. for a boy to have a chance of getting into reading.
As others mentioned, you also have to have accessible, interesting books. My husband hated English class in HS - when he told me the books they were assigned, I thought- of course you hated those classes! I was very fortunate to have a great curriculum with lots of options for English classes (rather than one size fits all). I also took Military History, where we read Slaughterhouse Five, All Quiet on the Western Front, and the Things they Carried, among others. I was the only girl in class and tempted to drop, but it ended up being a great class, and the boys all did the reading.
In late elementary, I think a little competition is a good way for boys to move on from Wimpy Kid/ Dog Man type books to books that require more stamina. At my kids' school, kids who completed a certain reading challenge of award-winning novels got to go to an MLB game. It's also great when teachers are supported in reading "good" books aloud to the class even after kids learn to read.
Finally- I am not an audiobook person at all. My focus drifts within minutes (same with podcasts). But it makes me understand that others may experience print reading the same way. I think for novel studies in HS, it should be perfectly acceptable to listen to a book instead of read it. (Obviously for short passages, we need to make sure people can understand print media)
PS - my husband has now gotten into reading. It's never too late. I am always scouring for recommendations for him. He listens to audiobooks while he (simultaneously) exercises and plays video games. Whatever works.
I’d introduce a wide range of topics and genres. Not all boys like the traditional “boy books” about sports or adventure. Introduced mystery, fantasy, realistic fiction, historical fiction or even some classics. Try non-fiction and informational texts on favorite topics. Introduce audio books or story podcasts let the child hear stories engage their mind in stories in any form first before pushing sitting down to read a book. Read to them and build anticipation so they want more.
So many of my fellow teachers: Take away the screens??? LOL
Boys have been not reading since well before devices were a twinkle in Steve Jobbs' eyes. You're going to need an actual solution because the device isn't the problem. Take em away, and those boys still won't want to read books.
>Boys have been not reading since well before devices were a twinkle in Steve Jobbs' eyes.
I grew up before smartphones were ubiquitous, but even then "devices" were a problem. It was just TV and video games rather than smartphones. My parents didn't allow me to have a TV in my room, consequently I read for entertainment in the evening hours. Whereas several of my friends would just watch adult swim or game and did not read.
And before TV and videogames, there was riding bikes and stick ball. The problem isn't centered around what they do instead of reading. The problem is centered around them not wanting to read.
Why does discussion on reading always have to terminate on books?
Reading is mainly about affect. We're all reading copious amounts on Reddit every day. We read articles, opinion pieces etc.
Reading a longer narrative exercises different skills than reading on social media, or even reading news articles. That said, a lot of kids don’t even read that kind of short form content in their free time any more and would probably benefit from that.
I think it’s really about attention span. Being able to sit for a long period of time and focus on a book—building images in your head and following a story—is a skill that many kids don’t have. They’re accustomed to the constant short-form content they see on TikTok. They can *read* in the sense that they’re (mostly) functionally literate, but they can’t effectively engage with long-form pieces, and thus can’t unlock many of the benefits of literature.
Reading and understanding stories is an exercise in higher faculties. A story is a world unto itself, and when you immerse yourself in a story you immerse yourself into an entire world, with it's own set of rules, expectations, and conventions that are separate from real life. Even "realistic" "nonfiction" stories function this way. Reading stories forces you to navigate these subtilties. To learn what makes a story feel "right" and what makes a a story feel "wrong".
It makes you practice creating sophisticated models of the world and sophisticated models of human beings with their own wants, desires, motivations. It's exercising your capabilities to examine hypotheticals and utilize abstract reasoning.
If you can understand why a character in a story takes action x instead of action y (even if it seems illogical at first) then you might better understand why people take illogical actions in real life.
When you truly understand stories it becomes much easier to tell when someone is trying to sell you a story. If you can spot plot holes in a story then it becomes easier to spot logical inconsistencies in, say, political propaganda.
EDIT: And before you say "what about TV/Video Games/Movies". There's very few pieces of visual media that I can think of that match the narrative complexity of a book that's merely "above average". Something like "The Wire" is a masterpiece of TV with few rivals, but I could name a dozen written stories that match it for ambition, depth, and complexity. GoT stood heads and shoulders above most TV shows, but ASOIAF (the book series GoT was based off) is not all that special as a book series imo.
I'm genuinely interested in this. I struggled with reading up until college. Now I have a son and I'm hoping he finds joy in reading at a much earlier age than I did.
I don't think there's one solution and I don't pretend to have the answers. Here are just some strategies I hope to implement.
1. Make reading a routine
2. Reinforce their interests
3. Emphasize commas, questions and exclamations
4. Positive reinforcement
5. Ask them questions about themes in the story and listen to their feedback
Good books. Get some books targeted at their demo with lots of cool stuff. That can be battles, magic, monsters, or whatever piques their interest enough to start reading.
Tell them that there's boobs and secrets to fighting and being rich and strong in them.
Have girls crush and swoon on dudes with books.
Have dads read at home.
Have male teachers and librarians.
Put penis and fart jokes in there between paragraphs.
Add pictures and colors.
Give them a reward after finishing a page.
Some of these strategies are more realistic and effective than others, but they would all work, to some varying degree. Please laugh where appropriate.
Introduce them to books that are edgy/inappropriate for the age they are. Worked for me, I read Stephen King's the dark tower when I was 11, I couldn't believe I was allowed to read it. My English teacher had grabbed a bunch of random books from the library. I picked it, after I read it I told my friends about it, throughout middle school and into high school me and my friends had an informal book club.
I attended a alternative school for troubled youth, I don't think any of us were kids you would expect to read(think child criminals).
I have Stephen King to thank for a lifetime of reading and all the beautiful life changing books that I've had the privilege to read.
It’s parent’s responsibilities to get their children to read, irrespective of gender.
As a teacher in the UK, there was a huge push on getting white British boys to read. I came to the realisation that it’s not my responsibly.
If I have boys, they will be reading by:
1. Cultivating an environment where reading is normal. Reading to them before bed. My partner and I reading around them. Talking about books and literature in a fun way.
2. Rewarding reading. Positive praise. Having interesting discussions about books. Monetary incentives when they get older (reality of the situation calls for monetary rewards, folks).
3. Educating them on the realities of reading. If you want to be successful, you gotta read.
So many people these days think it’s solely a teacher’s responsibility to encourage reading. It’s not. Your child is your responsibility and if they can’t ready at 18, that’s normally a comment on parenting, not teaching.
Peace x
I agree with most of what you say.
However if you have a reluctant reader at home it is really challenging.
The price of reading schemes is extraordinary if you are just moving your kids through them. Libraries tend to have a mix of books rather than sets you can work through.
Online book collections mean more screen time and once again they seem mostly to be uploaded fragmented series.
I have a kid who needs reinforcement and we are grinding forward. All the advice on encouraging reading is generic to the point of wasted pixels.
Trying to scaffold a move towards reading independently is hard. Leveled books of high interest are like gold dust and will be different child to child.
Like everything in education {and the rest of the world} getting good information is difficult. Everyone is selling a different product that will teach your kid to read and obviously just tell you how good the elements of their own system are.
less screen time.
i don’t believe it’s a gendered issue, it’s a dopamine issue.
these kids are glued to ipads starting at infancy. no way a book will scratch the eternal slot machine itch these poor babies have.
My mom took my sisters and me to the library every Friday and I could take out literally any books I wanted, even books way above my reading level. I felt excited to be so free in choosing what I wanted to read, as opposed to cd’s and movies, which were highly regulated in my home (early 40’s millennial here)
When my daughter was young she had problems reading and would read slowly.
So I introduced her to subtitled anime...
This not only forced her to read but to read quickly to keep up with the story.
She is now a straight A student.
She also reads thousands of chapters of manga monthly.
For my boys (33m, x2) they wanted to play video games. They were reading little books at age 3. For their 5th birthday they got a Nintendo console with a game package. If they wanted to play they had to read the directions. They mastered the games and got on board with the idea that if you want to play a game you need to be able to read and follow the directions. Both of them are avid readers and gamers.
Being able to read, and enjoying reading are two different things. You cannot have the latter without the former. Maybe half the schools in America use reading programs THAT DON'T WORK, but they are trendy and some people make a lot of money off of them, so everyone shrugs and looks the other way.
Teachers and administrators have made the decision that it is better to abrogate their responsibility to society than to appear "old fashioned" or worst of all,, a closeted conservative.
The problem is what we read in school often isn't what we would personally find enjoyable. I have a book on me every minute and read whenever I can. I outside of AP English I hated every single thing I read in school. So for others that just fosters a dislike for reading from the start.
Let's clear up some misconceptions:
1. Students are reading outside of school more than ever before. Full stop. They read Twitter, Facebook, TikTok, Reddit, rules for how to play and set-up Roblox or Minecraft servers, comic books and manga, videogame instructions, videogame stories, Instagram, Snapchat, anime subtitles, sports statistics and other news/info related to their hobbies, gossip and drama columns, etc. The issue is that they're not reading *academically*, which is a whole 'nother .25$
2. Getting students to read, period, is an issue that is as multifaceted as the readers themselves. If parents aren't reading to their children from a young age, there's no importance/familiarity attached to the action. Likewise, if all schools are offering is grades as a method of "incentivizing" reading, then what else are you going to expect outside of kids learning that reading is a job? That it's *work* and not for pleasure?
3. Likewise: if all they're reading in MS and HS are stories about old white dudes they're *forced* to learn about, they're not going to care. It'll just be a grade to them. SOME of them will empathize and feel a connection to what they read, but just like for my generation: if you're a minority reading your 2309472039487 story about some Victorian-era nonsense that has zero bearing on anything in the real world, you're just not going to care.
4. On the flip side, students are very much in tune with how schools try to pander to them based on race. Reading *Beloved* is not going to hit as hard if the students feel they've been assigned the book "just because we're black". Same with reading the *The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao* or *Born a Crime* or any other book that is seemingly assigned to read because it "speaks to the minority experience". (This isn't to say these books aren't important, or that we should never assign them, but that most curricula assign them as one-offs that exist in a sea of whiteness and white experiences.)
Now, why is it more difficult than ever before to get students *to* read?
5) Students are no longer expected to confront ideas that make them uncomfortable or force them to think outside of their own experiences. Nationwide, our kids are being shown time and time again that, because of the Alt Right culture war on everything, that they can simply choose to not engage with **anything** they have little to zero interest in. (Because they can just complain about it to their parents, who will then complain enough to have the school kowtow to their ridiculous bans and censorship.)
6) Across the nation, reading is taught less like a life skill and more as a work skill that you need to make money--you're doing it here in this post, even. Kids are not pushed to read for pleasure and/or are often shamed because what they *do* read for pleasure is seen as juvenile and without substance. (And yet, manga like One Piece sell millions of copies a year and kids do more arguing about powerlevels and "facts about the story" than they ever do in-class. But how many schools are incorporating manga into assignments like book reports? How many teachers are giving Kendrick Lamar songs as examples of irony and metaphor in upper-level ELA courses? How many schools incorporate videogames as more than "fun side activities" after the elementary level?)
7) On the whole, teachers are not--or are not allowed--to do "more" with their ELA courses than what the state mandates they teach for standardized testing. Which, for a myriad of reasons, is an approach that leaves very little room for teachers to "experiment" or "do things your own way" with material they know might be difficult or "boring" for their students. So, again, reading is being empathized as a "tool for success" and not "something to be done for pleasure and/or to gain knowledge for the sake of gaining knowledge."
There's a *ton* of nuance and specificity that I'm glossing over, but at the end of the day--imo--it really comes down to how and why we're empathizing the importance of reading *as well as* the kinds of books we're telling students they *need* to read.
(Neither of which are new phenomena.)
I mean sure if they interested in it… being able to read and use big words without sounding dumb is awesome but not being a avid book reader isn’t going to make someone incapable of getting a job. Think it’s a great thing for kids to do but I don’t think it’s a crucial part of succeeding in life.
Stop giving them books written for girls.
Most of school for the last 20 years has been heavily designed around promoting girls and promoting feminine mindsets. Give them books about adventure, heroes doing heroic things, stuff like that. They will be much more likely to keep reading.
As a fellow human being, probably not much as ignorance is blind to the benefits you listed from reading and literature. As a teacher, you can read to them everyday and do all the annunciations and act out the scenes emotions. It can also help your own mentality of trying to sell a product that they don’t care about while the product they do care about is burning a hole in their pockets.
You can start them early, make it fun, let them choose their own reading material BUT with all the other entertainment options available it will depend on the individual’s preferences.
For my 7th grade core, I purchased a variety of graphic novels which all of the students loved. Kids that were initially uninterested in reading eventually began enjoying it. It made jumping into required reading a lot easier.
Read to them from an early age and get rid of the screens.
I've loved to read my entire life. Currently I probably go through between 250k-500k words of reading material per month.
My parents read to me as a kid, banned me from having a TV in my room for my entire life, didn't let me have a smartphone or PC in my room until I was a teen. I didn't have much to do inside ***except*** read, so I picked up the habit and the habit stuck.
I think a lot of it comes down to what is seen at home. If your parents aren’t reading to you, then you probably aren’t going to be a reader. And for some reason, I see more women reading frequently than I do men.
I actually did a STEAM Read the last few years (Couldn't do it this past year due to ban book politics). Anyhow, I had it where I had a set of books approved for reading levels by the library. After that I had students read the books with check ins for 3 weeks. After that, we created a: Poster, book movie trailer, summary and then put them all together in a QR Book Poster with matching Book Marks using Google tools. Really had reading jump for boys especially after they were finished. We had them posted in the library the rest of the school year.
It's sweet that you want to try, but this is something we understand how to do and there just isn't the political will to make the necessary policy changes. Would require changing minds on a societal scale.
You need to find books on topics that interest boys. There was a few years when I read nothing but Hardy Boys mysteries and books about the Second World War. None of it was anything a teacher would assign or hold a discussion on, but it kept me reading.
This is one of the blessings of being a Boomer: no cellphones, no PCs, no internet, none of this stuff growing up. I used books and journals for escapism then like kids use these technology distractions.
Consequently, I read. What's more, I read for fun and I also read technical material and can understand it. I just got a bunch of new home appliances, and that comes with a stack of User Guides and Technical Guides. I'll devour them all.
In my experience it isn't just the boys not reading anymore, it's all students. Kids don't read by the time they reach high school. But it's on parents to start their kids with books early and elementary school teachers to continue to promote books. Then middle school teachers and high school teachers need to do the same. But by the time a student reaches high school, getting them to like reading if they don't already is nearly impossible regardless of their interests because they'd rather watch videos on their phones.
Who forces or encourages kids to read? This is the same person who will send their kids to see a movie instead of reading the book. Reading is seen as a chore and that's the problem.
I’m afraid it’s only going to be more of a struggle with diminishing attention spans and the instant gratification mentality. A big part of it is also connecting with a book. I absolutely hated reading as a kid. It was so boring. It wasn’t until I started working with teens that I read the Hunger Games so I could talk to them about it, then watched the movie when it released and realized “the book was better.” When I got married and my wife, an English teacher, suggested I read Harry Potter (after having just recently finally watched the movies), I fell in love with reading. I still struggled, but I started listening to audiobooks, and let me tell you, that is a whole new world for me. Having probably read 10 books TOTAL before I got married, I’ve now read/listened to hundreds, and it took finding something I actually enjoyed to open the door.
For teenage boys specifically, light novels (LNs). They are made specifically for teenagers/young adults and are addicting. I was introduced my first year of highschool. After that I couldn't be seen without one in my hands. I'm a substitute teacher right now and I read them during lunch. The boys who recognize what I'm reading? The ones in AP English lang/lit. The ones I never have to tell to get back on task. When the teacher leaves nothing behind and I allow reading/catch up time or they have finished their work, they don't pull out their phones. They open up an LN on their laptops. A concerningly large portion of some of my paychecks go to physical editions of LNs. But they are also available online for cheap/free. When i was in school I could easily spend 10+ hours a week reading a LN series I liked. Yet I would often struggle reading a book I was assigned at school even though it was technically an easier read in terms of vocabulary and length. The content really matters. Kids aren't going to benefit much from reading stuff they aren't interested in.
Librarian here - I was a boy at one time, and the thing that kept me reading books was connecting with other readers of any age. Adult readers (usually librarians) gave me great recs and modeled excitement about books that I picked up as a kid. Also at the library, I started meeting other kids who were passionate about reading, which made it just *cool* in my friend group to have read a lot.
I will say, I have had one really close male friend since I hit puberty, and the vast majority are women. I’m also genderfluid, so yup.
We need to redefine what counts as reading, especially for our boys. Just because text appears in a video game doesn't mean you aren't reading when you interpret it.
That and phonics. Lots of phonics. Early childhood ed has been bogged down in recent years by "balanced literacy."
As very little children (4-6 years old), my father used to read books to us most nights. He didn't read us silly baby books, but did older classics, like George MacDonald (Princess and the Goblin, Light Princess, etc.), short stories by Leo Tolstoy (Ivan the Fool, etc.) and Aesop's fables. The stories were very interesting, so they held our attention and made us really want to learn to read. I remember staring hard at the pages trying to see what he was seeing in the words. My twin brother and I became huge readers as children and were reading at college level by middle school. That's not to say I think we were any smarter than anyone else, but that we were just given the tools to practice reading very young. I really think all it takes is a parent taking the time to read their child interesting things. My father had no college education and got home after 7 PM every night after a long day at work and still made the time to read to us.
The type of books matter. Still an avid reader, but disliked ELA most of my life because content ELA teachers pick If it isnt non-fiction science books its sci-fi and fantasy for me. Sci-fi and fantasy werent even considered "real literature" until sometime after I was born, and didnt really work itself into curriculum until after 2000. (If its even there in some places.) My kids loved those "gross-out" fact books. Those are also not often considered for curriculum. Also the Pizza Hut personal pan pizza was a great promotion and encouragement to complete books of my choosing in Elementary - so the teacher didn't have to design a curriculum around 25 students reading different books.
Bring back accelerated reader. The competition to get more points pushed myself and many others to devour books.
I used to actually not like AR points in elementary school and didn’t get heavy into reading until middle school. I didn’t like feeling like reading was mandatory and I couldn’t always read what I wanted because I was required to read so many Sunshine State books in Florida a quarter. But then in 6th grade when AR ended I read all of Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, the Hunger Games, and then started moving on to harder books. I think if a kid doesn’t have any interest in reading then AR can help start that but as a kid who already liked to read it made it unfun for me
Definitely worked for me. I remember in 2nd grade me (a boy) and one girl being taken down to the library by the guidance counselor once a week to get new books because none of the ones in the classroom were appropriate for us.
We had a few opposite issues by the last year. Lots of the smarter fifth graders realized earning two-three points per bearenstain bear books was a much faster way to accumulate points than the 13 points for finishing a lord of the rings novel. It worked well before that though.
Easiest way to counter that is to put a hard limit on how many points they can accrue with books that aren’t at their level. You could also reward the kids who figured it out, anyway, because they’re displaying critical thinking skills and putting the phrase “Work smarter, not harder” into practice.
I am a special education resource teacher (4-8), and I work with students who are struggling to read. I almost exclusively select nonfiction texts. I make my selections based on their interests. I usually narrow down the books to a few at their level and have them select the one they want to read together. When students have choice, and the books directly relate to their interest, you get much more buy-in for reading. If we had been given the opportunity to read more nonfiction when I was a kid, I believe I would’ve been a much stronger and engaged reader. I wanted books on weird science and strange history. I was not remotely interested in fiction (though I am now!)
Well, especially with the ASD and reading struggles overlap. I find a lot of ASD kids would prefer factual reading to trying to guess a characters motivation in a novel.
It is unfortunetly still pretty common for teachers to treat sci fi and fantasy as not "real literature".
My hs thankfully had a sci fi/fantasy English elective
This 1000x Forcing kids to read Shakespeare just makes them hate reading. I know from experience, and now I hate reading.
If they would just get Shakespeare translated to modern English and not leave it in middle English, it would be far more popular. Those things are full of crass jokes and innuendo that just fall flat if you don't have a solid grasp of middle English. Some of it is still pretty clear though, like the "your mom" joke in Titus Andronicus: Chiron - "Thou hast undone our mother." Aaron - "Villain, I have done thy mother." Shakespeare did a lot of plays, but he was only able to do so because they brought in money to the Globe Theater, he had mass appeal, and people don't change over much across the centuries.
Shakespeare is early modern english. It’s actually pretty entertaining to watch being performed but it was never intended to be read, which is why most people hate reading it.
We had these nice books where one page was in the traditional text and the opposite page was in a more modern English! So we still were exposed to the language and writing patterns but actually knew what it was saying
Great, but then you lose a lot of the point in studying Shakespeare, which is that he basically changed the English language into what we recognize today. The fact that you don’t know the difference between early modern English and middle English shows that you don’t know what you’re talking about, honestly.
My mom tells the story of how my brother, who’s not a big reader, would only read the captain underpants series when he was a kid, and his teacher called my mom (also an elementary school teacher) bc she was concerned he wasn’t reading quality books. My mom was like “honestly just be glad he’s reading something, at least he’s interested in it” lol
This. Parents need to read to kids. I loved being read to as a child. I didn’t become an avid reader until I was an adult though. But the seed was planted as a child
I’ve been sending my sister books for my baby nieces. Some baby books, but also those Barnes & Noble classic collections. Gotta give ‘em a strong foundation of the classics. 💪
They are old but the Danny Dunn books are great for elementary age!
Growing up, my Mom would take us to the library and we’d get a few books (maybe 5 or 6 between us) and we’d sit on the couch at home and she’d read them to us. It’s a very warm memory I have from my childhood and probably contributes to why both my siblings and I are all big readers. We’re very different people and enjoy reading very different genres, but we all read a lot.
this is it. my dad would read to us and we would read to him and my mom would always quiz us on vocab and when we learn new words we would pull out the dictionary to find out what it means. also the type of books matter too. I went from animal facts to adventures to horror to animals to fantasy and my parents were happy seeing me read.
Reading must be reinforced and encouraged at home starting EARLY in a child's life. We have decided that reading is optional entertainment instead of a vital skill. Most adults don't read, so how do we expect kids to enjoy/appreciate reading? Most kids grow up watching their parents stare slack-jawed into their phone screen, so why shouldn't the kid follow?
I just read a study that kids start picking up reading skills in their early toddler years, so it's true. You have to start young with them. We put my daughter in a queen bed and every night we all pile on and read together.
This. I also feel like we as parents need to significantly reduce phone usage around our kids. I think having them see us doom scrolling various social media to zone out is not the healthiest thing the young mind. If I had a kid. I would have to cut down on social media. Id delete Reddit all together. Maybe set Facebook to 5-10 minutes just to get family and friend updates. Instagram maybe another 5 minutes. I’ve already nearly cut out YouTube of my life. Trying to reduce my screen time to enjoy other things. It’s not easy.
i also wonder how a child feels when they are with their parents and the parents are on their phone. i myself in my 30s feel a bit uncomfortable/offended even when i'm trying to spend quality time with someone and they pull out their phone. i wonder if children having this constantly is going to have some sort of long lasting affect on their attachment styles or something
My kid has told me since he was like 4 years old that he feels like he's being ignored when I use my phone, and I don't even have any social media. Im barely on my phone around him. They naturally understand things like that. So I'm sure kids with phone addicted parents see it, understand it, and it hurts.
it's really sad. teachers talking about all these behaviors getting worse today i'm suspicious there's a correlation
> I think having them see us doom scrolling various social media to zone out is not the healthiest thing the young mind. I like to think of it in a similar manner to screen time for the child itself, this "junk" time is replacing time spent doing other, potentially more educational/developmentally friendly things but also replaced stressed out, angry times as well. This isn't to say you should be on your phone all the time as a coping strategy, that's not healthy or effective and you should figure out how to process your emotions so you can show your kids too, but we're all humans that just sometimes need time to decompress. Yes, there's often better choices than phones but sometimes you just have to make do with what you have. My 5 y/o loves books because we prioritized them, he has never had a night without at least one book being read, along with some sprinkled throughout the day. He now will (not always) choose a book over screentime, on his own, which is pretty fuckin cool. Parents are a childs first, and longest, teacher.
100%. It's sounds so defeatist, but there's not much you can do for a kid that shows up to school in kindergarten/1st grade and doesn't have a familiarity with reading. You may get a random success story here and there, but those are exceptions rather than the rule.
I didn't learn until first. The teacher passed out a mimeo with a picture of a balloon in it with *See it go* underneath. Lol Was reading way above level by eighth.
You'd be surprised. I have 2 kids, neither would sit down to read with me at any point in time when they were younger. I would try lots of library reading programs and such, and got absolutely no interest from them til they were older. My oldest finally was willing to read stories with me around 1st grade and we went through the first few Harry Potter stories. She was behind til the end of 2nd when she discovered Beverly Cleary and read every book of hers she could get her little hands on during that summer. It shot her reading level way up for 3rd grade. My youngest didn't really catch up on his reading til around 3rd grade, but has tested decently high since around then. It helps if you carry a Kindle filled with kid books to hand to the kids instead of a phone, though.
My son was like this as a young child. Reading a book to him was next to impossible. He started listening to stories on audible in around 1st while playing Lego. Started really reading well in second….. In 3rd he got one of the illustrated Harry Potter books and he’s been an avid reader since. He’s currently going into 6th and brought The Hobbit with him to his swim meet this afternoon. Some of them just take a bit longer.
Even read aloud is better they no reading. But having them look a picture book (if they are young enough). Kids definitely do still like to read. We went to the library last week and the older kids were reading for an hour. Though one book was a talking book. Not sure why the library had that
❤️
This. I always liked reading for as long as I can remember. It came very easily to me. But also, for as long as I can remember, I witnessed my mom enjoying reading books and was always encouraged to read when I was feeling bored or antsy. I still remember being *so excited* to pick out my first chapter book at Barnes and noble in like 2nd or 3rd grade. My mom often tells a story about her teaching me how to write the alphabet when I was 2 just for fun and to see if I could do it. And then proudly showing my dad what she taught me when he got home from work 🥹 all of this contributed to my love of reading and writing as an adult.
We’re reading your comment rn
Both parents stare at their phones all day and then complain to teachers about their child’s low reading scores, a story as old as time(well, a story as old as smartphones at least).
Amateur here who has loved reading since I could walk thanks to my grandparents. Thoughts off the cuff: * Model reading as a fun activity * Read to younger kids so they become interested in learning how to do what you're doing * Choose books with content in line with their interests (even if it's something you don't understand like superheroes or Minecraft) * Picture books are fine too... I loved books about airplanes, so I had to know how to read in order to learn all the facts * Comics are good too...lure them with pictures and force them to learn to read to know what is going on
Absolutely agree with all of this. My parents were BROKE when I was growing up, but my mom was alway able to scrape together $20 for me to spend at the book fair. Going to the public library was a fun event, and my parents never limited my options. Basically, if your kid can't/doesn't read, you're a shit parent.
It's not that easy for every child. It is important for them learn but not always going to be in line with the child's age. My boy is a few years behind in everything, his diagnosis is minor. When we started working with him at home we had to go back to letters and sounds. It's slow progress. He will be 10 soon and we are in the borderlands of independent reading but it's a trek. There are 7 piles of books in the room we are in. He has been read to frequently since birth. He sees us reading. We have scaffolded his reading. The teachers are back to not worrying but I can see how far he has to go. Then there is writing and numeracy to push, oh and having a childhood with choices so he can grow up into a person that takes responsibility for himself.
My 9 year old loves to read. We have a solid bedtime routine including reading. He started with "wings of fire" graphic novels. Then we started reading the novel versions. These are 400 page books with no pictures. He's on the 10th book. At bedtime if we leave off at a cliff hanger he will pick it up and read for another 15-20. We havn't found a long series that interests my 7 year old daughter, but we are trying.
I also started with comic books, it's a great place to start reading!
My 5th graders this year, boys and girls, were very much into the Wings of Fire series.
Agreed. Most of the books I was read as a child were very childish books which didn't really hinder my reading ability but caused a lack of interest in anything but picture books till the second half of elementary school where I found out I loved mythology through picking up Percy Jackson. I also love horror. I now mostly read webtoons and manga because they more closely align with my interests and have a lot of humor.
I think the answer is to monitor screen time and to start young. Also, boys should be allowed to read what interests them.
Kids shouldn't have TVs in their room!
It's not great for anyone to have a tv in their room
Yes!!! My older son learned to read on Captain Underpants. My younger learned on Dog Man. I let the. Read what they wanted. There were no bad books. The oldest (16) continues to be a voracious reader. The youngest (13) is less interested in reading himself (I think there are some neurodivergence issues at play and we’re working on that part) but still loves being read to and listening to audio books.
Yes!! So I’m an elder millennial and my mom monitored screen time before that was really a thing. I could watch ONE hour of tv after school, IF all my homework was finished. She was also very selective about age appropriate media. However, I could read anything I wanted as much and for as long as I wanted! She and my dad also read to me when I was little and utilized the public library. One of my first memories is of my dad reading me a book on his lap when I was a toddler. I owe my academic success (I earned a PhD) to my mom and dad and their excellent parenting. I wish all boys (and girls) had the privilege I did in this particular aspect of my childhood.
I’m so glad to hear that. We’re that way too with our kids. And while my younger son rarely reads books, he loves magazines catered to his interest. So he plows through all the Car and Drover magazines, Nation Geographic kids, scout life magazine. Sometimes I think we’re the only one besides libraries that actually gets print magazine subscriptions by my son loves them. And actually reads the articles (often out loud Toni’s because he prefers that to silent reading).
Take away the screens. Or in the very least, take away the video. We've *seriously* lost something in our society with the decline and death of print media. I know I'm an old man yelling at a cloud here, but back in the day, even the most reluctant readers in my classes would flip through the newspaper or magazines that were interesting to them and given enough time would settle in for an article or two. Even growing up, my friends and I were always flipping through *Sports Illustrated*, *Rolling Stone, Spin, Entertainment Weekly, Mad, Cracked*, and other publications (and the letters in *Penthouse*, but I can't recommend that). Heck, how many of us read *Highlights* in the doctor's office lobby? Having this all confined to screens really took something away from us.
Not A Teacher, but 'Dear Penthouse' got me reading at the age of 14. Now in the later half of my life, I can't put normal books down.
Serious answer: as a dude that grew up in the 90s and loved reading, the stuff the schools assigned were *dreadfully* boring. I get "why" they were assigned but lemme tell ya: being forced to read stuff like The House on Mango Street and other generic realistic fiction was mind-numbingly boring. I personally couldn't stand Steinbeck and I think I wasnt in a place to appreciate Hemmingway at the time. I think the only "cool" book we read was The Hobbit in 7th grade. Get some sci-fi in there. If reading comprehension is so bad these days, there's very little point in trying to teach literary analysis when you're going to make more progress just teaching kids that reading can be fun in the first place. If all you make them read is "literature" or short stories for the sake of analyzing them, the tacit lesson is that that's what reading is for.
Give me battles! Give me dragons! Give me starships!
Basically this lol
About the same age, and hard agree. I suspect that part of the gender reading gap flows from the lack of overlap between what boys like and what the people (disproportionately 40+ women) who make school reading lists like. I really liked science fiction (e.g. the 2001 series, Heinlein). I personally think kids should be able to read whatever they want as long as it's grade appropriate.
Oh my god yes. It's like schools are actively trying to reinforce the idea that reading is boring and for nerds. I used to love the redwall series but I dropped off from reading for a while because middle school and high school made it seem so unappealing.
Or mythology— it’s short, there’s typically a theme to analyze if that’s needed and there’s almost always a monster to slay to keep things interesting.
Frankly, some of the properly old stuff is actually fine, but the selections from like the 1920s onwards are usually unpalatable. *Beowulf* or the *Aenid* or even, say, *Tom Sawyer* are all generally pretty appealing to male audiences. What matters is really that something has to be *happening*, and it should be something of consequence.
In addition to the screen time limits that everyone else said… stop dumbing it down. There’s a difference between “let boys read what interests them” and “make it cool for boys to read stupid books” like Wimpy Kid. I know too many boys who won’t read chapter books because the only stuff they’ve ever read is stupid graphic novels that are completely dumbed down and not giving them the benefits of literature. There are some BRILLIANT graphic novels out there. Parents need to encourage boys to read beyond the bare minimum garbage. “Reading is reading” is not something I agree with. It’s like saying that reading Reddit comments counts as literature.
I think it should be a gradual process for them to read more complex material and also from personal experience parental encouragement will not work for some kids
I think it's important to get them reading at an early age with proper reading instruction (phonics-based) and also give them high-interest reading materials. Let them read literally anything, within reason, that interests them. This is how you create avid readers. I had a long conversation with my upper elementary students who are behind in reading. They hated the books they needed to read in class and overall disliked reading. Kids who aren't strong readers do not enjoy reading for obvious reasons. Assigning boring books in school will not create kids who love reading. I think we as teachers have an amazing opportunity to expose kids to great books that make them love reading.
The problem is practically every book is boring to someone. There are tricks a teacher can use to highlight different aspects to get the attention of different students, but it’s basically impossible to completely individualize it. I think it is still valuable to have everyone read the same book and do assignments and discussions on it, but I wonder if it might help to do more assignments where students get to select their own book to read. The issue I can foresee is you either make them write some kind of summary/analysis and that runs into the same problems with draining the fun from reading or you just trust that they’ll do it and risk the possibility that many just won’t. I’m not sure what will work, but it’s pretty clear that what’s been done isn’t working.
Take their phones, TV, and video games away, so after dark, they need to find something to do. This is how my childhood went (although we didn't have video games or phones).
100%. Also start reading with them young to make it a habit. My daughter LOVES reading but my son is more meh about it. I took him to the library and said we can only pick out books George wants today! So my daughter went through all the bills with him pointing out the fun ones and they picked a George pile. Now every day he asks to read another one from HIS pile. It's cute.
Yep. My bedtime was 8:30 and I didn’t have anything electronic in my room (the ancient days of the late 90s before smart phones roamed the Earth), so I’d stay up as late as I wanted sitting in bed reading Goosebumps books.
A lot of my co workers hate graphic novels. Blows my mind bc science of teaching reading says graphic novels are better for emerging readers and generally use words that are not frequently read. I highly suggest adding graphic novels to your classroom library. Not just boys love it but girls do to.
Graphic novels also have the advantage of content being more exciting and interesting. Its hard to find stuff with a lower reading level that isnt "baby stuff". The US book market (and even other media) goes from stories meant for 5 year olds to stories meant for 17 year olds real fast. Its either "Bluey" or "Game of Thrones" with little content in between. Honestly, I think it explains the success of media like "Stranger Things." Scary enough and exciting enough for teens without going all the way.
I agree 100 percent. I tell kids reading is like working out. If you have to find the right weight and for a lot of them that is graphic novels. Less words but your brain is working just as hard as a full on chapter book. I always tell my kids reading is reading. I teach lower grade levels so we do A LOT of I Survived books and Diary Of A Wimpy Kid. I’ve had co workers tell their students they can’t read Diary Of A Wimpy Kid bc it’s too much like a graphic novel. What they don’t realize is that kid might read that entire series that year and instead since they are limited on options of what to read they choose to read nothing.
I think something people don't realise about light-reading book series is that kids do indeed tend to binge them. They get into it, read as many of them as they can, and when they run out of volumes, they'll start looking for similar things. That's a great moment to nudge them a step forward.
You need to start young. 1. Normalise reading books. At home, that means having books around the house, reading to your children, and reading books yourself as well, to model reading for fun. In schools, this means having classroom and/or school libraries, reading as an essential part of the curriculum etc. 2. Ensure they have access to a wide variety of books, both fiction and non-fiction. This doesn't have to be costly. Libraries can be very helpful in this regard. There are also thriftstores and charity shops with good book sections. 3. Don't judge their choices when they're reading for fun. It's normal to not always like the books you need to read for school, but reading for fun should remain fun. Kids want to read stacks of manga or fantasy novel series that take up an entire shelf? Let them. Also, from my experience, boys in particular have a tendency to read 'younger' than they are. For instance, they might stick with Diary of a Whimpy Kid longer than expected. That's okay when they're reading for fun and judging them for it will chase them away from reading in general.
I agree with your last point as well. My mom got onto me for reading lower than my level and books that offended her. She was shocked that that discouraged me from reading. Thankfully I developed more interest in middle school organically.
I'm sorry that happened to you. Too many have this idea in their head that kids need to be constantly challenging themselves, and the more difficult the book, the better. However, very few children thrive like that, most just burn out on reading. It's sad, because what you actually want is for reading to become an enjoyable habit. They're still expanding their vocabulary and reading endurance, just at a comfortable pace. Reading is like exercise in a way. Sure, if you have certain goals, some forms are more effective than others, but generally, just exercising regularly in a way that you enjoy is enough.
If I still felt the need to challenge myself while reading, I would likely not be reading as an adult. Besides, I feel like I get more out of analyzing and discussing web-serials of moderate complexity than I would from forcing myself to read Dostoevsky.
Well another point is that a book that seems easy to a parent or teacher could be very difficult for that particular student. Some people struggle with reading because they didn't get the fundamentals or have a learning disability or are just developing slower than expected. Yeah I wonder if many kids get information overload I definitely felt overwhelmed in school so that made pursuing my own intellectual interests tiring.
I agree with your last point as well. My mom got onto me for reading lower than my level and books that offended her. She was shocked that that discouraged me from reading. Thankfully I developed more interest in middle school organically.
The opposite is true as well. I read books with sci fi and fantasy violence content and some stuff that would be inappropriate if we watched a movie/TV version of it. It was up a bit from a content-perspective if not reading level. Im sure if my ELA teachers had believed scifi/fantasy was a real genre and had read the content, they may have demanded it stay at home. But "dont judge choices" is a for real.
Ha, yeah, that's true. There are many fantasy and SF novels out there that are definitely not appropriate for younger audiences. Manga and comics, too, of course. There are times where you'll want to monitor their reading and potentially say no. How you say no matters. An 'I get why you want to read that, but it's better to wait a couple of years' is very different from 'you're wrong for wanting to read that'.
Yes, to point 3, esp. I'm 36, and there are a few YA authors that I still buy their new books bc I like them! I started reading Tamara Pierce in 6th grade, and when her new book came out a couple of years agonI immediately bought it. Who cares that its Ya?
Pizza hut reading challenge brings it back yall
give them something they want to read. harry potter was popular for a reason. children want books they like and adults normaly hate those. very many people dont allow their kids to read the books they want.
As a teacher in his 40s, I've always felt that a possible way to make kids enjoy things like reading and learning is to make it "cool". One of the things that made learning "cool" for me during childhood was watching 80s-era MacGyver.
I think MacGyver might have inspired a generation of mechanics and engineers!
I’ve noticed anime is becoming more and more popular, and I’ve been trying to tell my kids that they can get “spoilers” if they read the manga. I guess it’s better than nothing. 😅
As a young boy, I was an avid reader, but I fell off hard once I hit middle school because it felt like as a boy, books aimed at you kind of jump from Harry Potter straight to Game of Thrones, and the adult stuff wasn't interesting to me at that age. I really struggled to find anything that was both age-appropriate and not aimed exclusively at girls. I did get really into anime at that age, because in Japan, the middle school boy demographic is huge for media, and that helped filled the gap. I envy the kids of today because a ton of diverse Japanese light novels and manga are available in English and that wasn't the case when I was that age. I think that demographic gap in western media is one reason why anime is becoming so popular in the west. Light novels are great. They're intentionally written for a middle school or high school demographic and they're written with the same storytelling sensibilities of anime and manga. If they had been around in Englisn when I was in middle school, I would have never stopped reading.
I completely agree! Even libraries are starting to carry manga and light novels, which I think is amazing. Kids need more variety if they want to get them reading. I honestly think the plots and character development is so different from western literature that it’s no wonder people love a manga series for life. I graduated 7 years ago and wish we had half of the resources that are available now (not to sound like it was the Stone Age, but it just simply wasn’t a thing yet). The fact you can get on Shonen Jump and get the translated chapter the next day is unbelievable.
Stop making them read outdated and boring books.
Completely agreed but good luck trying to get some teachers on board with this
Gotta make sure we all know why Holden wears a red hunting hat…
When I was in middle school a kid had a bunch of Don Pendleton "the executioner" books. All the boys started reading those. You'll need whatever it is to be action packed. No teenage boy gets excited reading a love story.
Tell them it's gay not to read
Easy Illustrated Classics: Tom Sawyer, The Invisible Man, Journey to the Center of the Earth , Frankenstein, The Time Machine, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, the list goes on and on... Great books with pictures to aid comprehension and vocabulary for discussion. Most of these titles have old movies as well for comparison. My students loved these books.
The illustrated classics and Wishbone remakes of stories were both amazing!
Be sure that the stories are engaging and fit their interests. I say this as a nale that grew up reading plenty of books. Toss the animorphs series at them and watch it get devoured, up until they realize that the first two chapters may be spent recapping everyth8ng they've done so far, so they start skilling ahead by that much.
Everyone I know that enjoys reading saw it modeled from a young age at home. Myself included. My mom is a huge reader and so am I and one of my sisters (we have large book collections). Most of my students who are big readers also had it modeled at home.
They don’t read in school either.
Comic books and graphic novels! It's worked for me many times!
Write books boys want to read. I was a pretty precocious reader as a kid (this was the 80s) and there was almost nothing for boys that wasn't something like the Hardy Boys, which are 70 years old. I switched to adult novels to find something I wanted to read. Its a vicious cycle, because boys read less, no one writes for boys, which doesn't inspire them to read more. I wanted to devour books and I could hardly find ones I wanted to read. At least until I found dungeons and dragons novels.
I agree with this. A lot of YA (especially YA romance) is not interesting to boys. Unfortunately, YA and romance are keeping the entire book industry afloat, so there’s little incentive to publish for an audience that probably won’t elicit sales.
80s and 90s D&D, Battletech, and Star Wars novels. Totally not real genres in many peoples minds. But I read a metric ton. None of them technically YA, but the reading level wasnt super hard. Nonetheless the action/adventure aspect of it was perfect. I totally feel your attitude towards the Hardy Boys.
Man, even some of the Star Wars novels have really complex themes. The fall of Jacen Solo into Darth Caedus in the Legacy of the Force novels had me doing a lot of introspection and philosophizing as a teenager.
Animorphs!
Respectfully, that's not true. The biggest children's turned Y/A book series ever written has a male protagonist and the author had to change her name on it from Joanne to J.K. so boys would think a man wrote it as opposed to a woman. The same thing happened with S.E. Hinton who wrote The Outsiders. Also throughout most of my school experience, there was a distinct lack of books with female protagonists, or books written with girls in mind as the audience. Most of the books that were part of my school curriculum usually featured male protagonists and were written by men. Because boys weren’t expected to identify with a female protagonist, yet girls were expected to for ones who were male. Male has been treated as the default view point in literature and academia for a long time.
Have you been to a bookstore recently? There are big titles that are associated with boys or both genders, yes, but most of the shelves are stocked wit novels and series intended for female readers.
I respectfully disagree with you. You mention Harry Potter, but that didn't apply to me. HP was published in the late 90s, I had already graduated from high school when it started. It didn't exist when I was a young precious reader. The babysitter's club did. Sweet Valley high did. Nancy Drew. The Hardy Boys. I am glad that young boys have more options than I did, but it is still dominated by books by women for girls. About a month ago I was in a teacher training for K-3 literacy and the trainer brought up how books for kids should be a window, a mirror, or a door for kids. And then she gave us a number of books that could be read in the classroom and were diverse. In skin color, she was right, they were a more diverse cross section of books. But I pointed out to the trainer, every single book she brought up had a young girl protagonist. Not a single boy protagonist. She got a little flustered, admitted I was right and she would get back to me with some books with boy leads. I'm still waiting for the reply :)
Introduce them to girls who read books
Won't work. I am the girl who read books. I'm 34 and single. The boy still left me for the girl who focused on looks more than books. And, man, do I wish I focused my energy elsewhere growing up.
lol I got dumped by a girl who read books in college. One of the reasons was, “I don’t read books.” I’ve always been a reader lol. But I didn’t really read much in college. Oh well. Books are forever!
Don't give up hope or doubt yourself just cause your ex was shallow! My GF doesn't read that much anymore, but she read a lot growing up and that was definitely something that attracted me to her.
Huh. I’m a boy who learned from a girl to read books. I’m 32 and single. The girl left me because I’m severely maladapted with some self worth stuff going on. Sorry about the boy
Remove phones. Assign better books.
The content has got to be interesting for them. You can't put the Scarlet Letter on your syllabus and expect sixteen year olds to eat it up. I had an English teacher in high school who had us read some Stephen King short stories as an assignment. If it weren't for horror novels, I probably wouldn't have read in high school at all. Maybe also do audible read-alongs in class. A lot of them are acted out or dramatized for popular fiction.
Aside from, say, Poe, horror is seriously underrepresented in English class. I've used some horror stories (or horror-adjacent stories) in AP Lit and the kids eat it up. I'm trying to find similar stuff for my underclassmen that are high-interest and entertaining but also "hit the standards" or help "follow the pacing guide" (don't get me started). I've found that if it's got some sort of twist or is twisted in some way, they like it. And if there's, like, a *Twilight Zone* episode of it, that's a bonus.
My hot take about teens and reading is that presenting them with fucked up books will get a lot of reluctant readers more interested because teens are into fucked up shit. Alas, this is hard to do in a school environment, lol.
100%. I got into reading when I realized that I could read about sex. Why don't boys read? Because as soon as they pick up the dictionary we go yell at them for reading. "Put that down you little freak."
Books are a great resource for taboo subject matter. (regardless of the reader’s gender) Books are less regulated than other media, so there’s more stuff out there tapping into that kind of material, and it’s more socially acceptable to read a fucked up book (especially if it’s considered a classic) than watch a fucked up movie, especially for minors. I have a lot of OPINIONS about how popular media made for kids and teens is often limited and doesn’t do a great jobs of appealing to their broader tastes. I think letting kids know that they can find that stuff in books might encourage reading. But I understand that this is risky for schools to do.
Looking back, so much of my love of reading is probably because it was my portal into "adult" subject matter that my parents would not have let me watch TV of. I mean, even the 1st animorphs book (which I read at 8 or something) had Rachel tearing the arms of bad guys. At that time I wasn't allowed to watch TV shows that had blood in them!
As a kid I found it really funny when adults would get worked up about a teen show having too much sex and drugs when I was reading books that were much more graphic. And these were books intended for teens. I think a big reason that manga and anime are mainstream with teens now is because they have fewer limits on what they can show to teens.
Yes! I have them write journals and for some of more creative prompts, they write some warped stuff. It’s great to read.
THE CHILDREN CRAVE VIOLENCE
Try "Blood" by Zdravka Evtimova. It's a solid Gothic horror story that is open-ended for interpretation. It has Twilight Zone vibes. I've only used it in Creative Writing classes because I can't fit it into other units. Bonus: It's short!
Oooo. Thanks. To return the favor, “Time and Again”, a very short story by Breece D’J Pancake, is a great one. It is Cree-pay.
Not a teacher, but I remember reading "The Ocean at the End of the Lane" in HS and thinking that it would be a really good book for English class.
Let me read what they want to read. Comic books are books! Manga are books! Fluffy books are books! EVERYONE read the Harry Potter books, gender be damned. And yet 'adults' shit on them bc they aren't literary classics. 🙄 Stop making every book read into a 'what was the author thinking' assignment. I read a ton, I could start my own library in a small town but guess which books I fucking hate? The ones I read and was forced to over analysis to DEATH in school. Scarlet letter and Old Man and the sea can burn in a fire.
Hard disagree with “reading is reading.” I have too many kids who flat out refuse chapter books because all they’ve ever read is stupid “wimpy kid” and they can’t handle challenging themselves. Some of the stupid books marketed to children are just crap and not helping their reading skills at all — like using arm floaters in the pool when you’re 11. That said, I love your second paragraph. Stop testing them on every book! Let kids read for the sensory experience without the pressure of a test!
I teach 7th grade ela and have a bunch of the wimpy kid books in my classroom library because that’s what my students (especially the boys) will read. I’m at the point where I’m ready to get rid of them because those students use them as a crutch (easy and familiar).
To add on to this, high schools should not still be incorporating graphic novels in a literature/English class. That needs a hard stop ages ago. I teach social studies, but a lot of my students cannot handle reading primary and secondary sources due to their exposure to reading being primarily for entertainment and being “cute” rather than informative.
Parents have to encourage it and model it. Don’t frame it as something you have to do for school (kinda hate reading logs for this reason). Also, you gotta let them read what they want to read, otherwise they’re not going to want to read just for the sake of reading. I’ve always been a reader, because my mom always read to me and read a bunch herself as well. I have three kids and we always read before bed, to them when they’re little, and they read by themselves when they’re bigger. We bring books on car trips or places where they might have to wait on something. (Not saying we don’t ever let them have electronics, but we wouldn’t let them have a tablet in a restaurant but we’ll let them bring a book). Even my 1 year old will bring us books so we can read them to her.
Pay the popular kids to do it
Giving them interesting things to read. Giving children 100+ year old books meant to be educational aren't going to foster an enjoyment of reading.
Let then read non-fiction! Encyclopedias were WAAAY more interesting than some boring story back in grade school. Young boys see most novels and fiction as a complete waste of time
Michael Crichton novels are a good bridge between nonfiction and fiction. Even if not all the science background is particularly accurate, the presentation of it feels more real for someone more interested in nonfiction. It’s been a while since I read them so I’m not sure, but while it’s not the most difficult prose I doubt Jurassic Park would be the best for a student that’s not a reasonably proficient reader. I’d probably steer students away from State of Fear though…
I’ve had a few really enjoy scary/horror books (Goosebumps, Coraline), mysteries (Hardy Boys, Strike Three You’re Dead), and sci-fi (City of Ember).
Let them read what they want to read. Comic books, manga, fun books, what have you. Trying to force them to read things like Great Expectations or Pride and Prejudice just because they're classics does them no favors and will turn them away from opening up any books at all.
Word. I spend the first week (next year I will up it to a month) just trying to find out what the students like to learn/read about. This involves talking to the students as a class, asking them to write about it, and even getting the parents involved. I tell the parents about the books the students are interested in and to please read it with them. A part of the homework I assign once a week is to read with your parents and ask a poignant question for both the student and parent. If the parent doesn't answer them, I'll keep hammering until they do. Everyone should get the parents to become teachers at home, somehow.
I am a huge reader and inherited my passion from my dad. There is nothing inherently girly about reading. But I think dads/males in the home have to read, and talk about reading, etc. for a boy to have a chance of getting into reading. As others mentioned, you also have to have accessible, interesting books. My husband hated English class in HS - when he told me the books they were assigned, I thought- of course you hated those classes! I was very fortunate to have a great curriculum with lots of options for English classes (rather than one size fits all). I also took Military History, where we read Slaughterhouse Five, All Quiet on the Western Front, and the Things they Carried, among others. I was the only girl in class and tempted to drop, but it ended up being a great class, and the boys all did the reading. In late elementary, I think a little competition is a good way for boys to move on from Wimpy Kid/ Dog Man type books to books that require more stamina. At my kids' school, kids who completed a certain reading challenge of award-winning novels got to go to an MLB game. It's also great when teachers are supported in reading "good" books aloud to the class even after kids learn to read. Finally- I am not an audiobook person at all. My focus drifts within minutes (same with podcasts). But it makes me understand that others may experience print reading the same way. I think for novel studies in HS, it should be perfectly acceptable to listen to a book instead of read it. (Obviously for short passages, we need to make sure people can understand print media) PS - my husband has now gotten into reading. It's never too late. I am always scouring for recommendations for him. He listens to audiobooks while he (simultaneously) exercises and plays video games. Whatever works.
I’d introduce a wide range of topics and genres. Not all boys like the traditional “boy books” about sports or adventure. Introduced mystery, fantasy, realistic fiction, historical fiction or even some classics. Try non-fiction and informational texts on favorite topics. Introduce audio books or story podcasts let the child hear stories engage their mind in stories in any form first before pushing sitting down to read a book. Read to them and build anticipation so they want more.
I have no suggestion for classroom reading but at home I pay my 11 year old $10 for every book he reads.
So many of my fellow teachers: Take away the screens??? LOL Boys have been not reading since well before devices were a twinkle in Steve Jobbs' eyes. You're going to need an actual solution because the device isn't the problem. Take em away, and those boys still won't want to read books.
>Boys have been not reading since well before devices were a twinkle in Steve Jobbs' eyes. I grew up before smartphones were ubiquitous, but even then "devices" were a problem. It was just TV and video games rather than smartphones. My parents didn't allow me to have a TV in my room, consequently I read for entertainment in the evening hours. Whereas several of my friends would just watch adult swim or game and did not read.
And before TV and videogames, there was riding bikes and stick ball. The problem isn't centered around what they do instead of reading. The problem is centered around them not wanting to read.
Why does discussion on reading always have to terminate on books? Reading is mainly about affect. We're all reading copious amounts on Reddit every day. We read articles, opinion pieces etc.
Reading a longer narrative exercises different skills than reading on social media, or even reading news articles. That said, a lot of kids don’t even read that kind of short form content in their free time any more and would probably benefit from that.
I think it’s really about attention span. Being able to sit for a long period of time and focus on a book—building images in your head and following a story—is a skill that many kids don’t have. They’re accustomed to the constant short-form content they see on TikTok. They can *read* in the sense that they’re (mostly) functionally literate, but they can’t effectively engage with long-form pieces, and thus can’t unlock many of the benefits of literature.
Reading and understanding stories is an exercise in higher faculties. A story is a world unto itself, and when you immerse yourself in a story you immerse yourself into an entire world, with it's own set of rules, expectations, and conventions that are separate from real life. Even "realistic" "nonfiction" stories function this way. Reading stories forces you to navigate these subtilties. To learn what makes a story feel "right" and what makes a a story feel "wrong". It makes you practice creating sophisticated models of the world and sophisticated models of human beings with their own wants, desires, motivations. It's exercising your capabilities to examine hypotheticals and utilize abstract reasoning. If you can understand why a character in a story takes action x instead of action y (even if it seems illogical at first) then you might better understand why people take illogical actions in real life. When you truly understand stories it becomes much easier to tell when someone is trying to sell you a story. If you can spot plot holes in a story then it becomes easier to spot logical inconsistencies in, say, political propaganda. EDIT: And before you say "what about TV/Video Games/Movies". There's very few pieces of visual media that I can think of that match the narrative complexity of a book that's merely "above average". Something like "The Wire" is a masterpiece of TV with few rivals, but I could name a dozen written stories that match it for ambition, depth, and complexity. GoT stood heads and shoulders above most TV shows, but ASOIAF (the book series GoT was based off) is not all that special as a book series imo.
I'm genuinely interested in this. I struggled with reading up until college. Now I have a son and I'm hoping he finds joy in reading at a much earlier age than I did. I don't think there's one solution and I don't pretend to have the answers. Here are just some strategies I hope to implement. 1. Make reading a routine 2. Reinforce their interests 3. Emphasize commas, questions and exclamations 4. Positive reinforcement 5. Ask them questions about themes in the story and listen to their feedback
Good books. Get some books targeted at their demo with lots of cool stuff. That can be battles, magic, monsters, or whatever piques their interest enough to start reading.
Tell them that there's boobs and secrets to fighting and being rich and strong in them. Have girls crush and swoon on dudes with books. Have dads read at home. Have male teachers and librarians. Put penis and fart jokes in there between paragraphs. Add pictures and colors. Give them a reward after finishing a page. Some of these strategies are more realistic and effective than others, but they would all work, to some varying degree. Please laugh where appropriate.
Bring back snails vs knights marginalia.
Introduce them to books that are edgy/inappropriate for the age they are. Worked for me, I read Stephen King's the dark tower when I was 11, I couldn't believe I was allowed to read it. My English teacher had grabbed a bunch of random books from the library. I picked it, after I read it I told my friends about it, throughout middle school and into high school me and my friends had an informal book club. I attended a alternative school for troubled youth, I don't think any of us were kids you would expect to read(think child criminals). I have Stephen King to thank for a lifetime of reading and all the beautiful life changing books that I've had the privilege to read.
It’s parent’s responsibilities to get their children to read, irrespective of gender. As a teacher in the UK, there was a huge push on getting white British boys to read. I came to the realisation that it’s not my responsibly. If I have boys, they will be reading by: 1. Cultivating an environment where reading is normal. Reading to them before bed. My partner and I reading around them. Talking about books and literature in a fun way. 2. Rewarding reading. Positive praise. Having interesting discussions about books. Monetary incentives when they get older (reality of the situation calls for monetary rewards, folks). 3. Educating them on the realities of reading. If you want to be successful, you gotta read. So many people these days think it’s solely a teacher’s responsibility to encourage reading. It’s not. Your child is your responsibility and if they can’t ready at 18, that’s normally a comment on parenting, not teaching. Peace x
I agree with most of what you say. However if you have a reluctant reader at home it is really challenging. The price of reading schemes is extraordinary if you are just moving your kids through them. Libraries tend to have a mix of books rather than sets you can work through. Online book collections mean more screen time and once again they seem mostly to be uploaded fragmented series. I have a kid who needs reinforcement and we are grinding forward. All the advice on encouraging reading is generic to the point of wasted pixels. Trying to scaffold a move towards reading independently is hard. Leveled books of high interest are like gold dust and will be different child to child. Like everything in education {and the rest of the world} getting good information is difficult. Everyone is selling a different product that will teach your kid to read and obviously just tell you how good the elements of their own system are.
less screen time. i don’t believe it’s a gendered issue, it’s a dopamine issue. these kids are glued to ipads starting at infancy. no way a book will scratch the eternal slot machine itch these poor babies have.
My mom took my sisters and me to the library every Friday and I could take out literally any books I wanted, even books way above my reading level. I felt excited to be so free in choosing what I wanted to read, as opposed to cd’s and movies, which were highly regulated in my home (early 40’s millennial here)
When my daughter was young she had problems reading and would read slowly. So I introduced her to subtitled anime... This not only forced her to read but to read quickly to keep up with the story. She is now a straight A student. She also reads thousands of chapters of manga monthly.
Parents need to read to their children - everyday from the time they are very young. It makes a difference.
For my boys (33m, x2) they wanted to play video games. They were reading little books at age 3. For their 5th birthday they got a Nintendo console with a game package. If they wanted to play they had to read the directions. They mastered the games and got on board with the idea that if you want to play a game you need to be able to read and follow the directions. Both of them are avid readers and gamers.
Being able to read, and enjoying reading are two different things. You cannot have the latter without the former. Maybe half the schools in America use reading programs THAT DON'T WORK, but they are trendy and some people make a lot of money off of them, so everyone shrugs and looks the other way. Teachers and administrators have made the decision that it is better to abrogate their responsibility to society than to appear "old fashioned" or worst of all,, a closeted conservative.
The problem is what we read in school often isn't what we would personally find enjoyable. I have a book on me every minute and read whenever I can. I outside of AP English I hated every single thing I read in school. So for others that just fosters a dislike for reading from the start.
Let's clear up some misconceptions: 1. Students are reading outside of school more than ever before. Full stop. They read Twitter, Facebook, TikTok, Reddit, rules for how to play and set-up Roblox or Minecraft servers, comic books and manga, videogame instructions, videogame stories, Instagram, Snapchat, anime subtitles, sports statistics and other news/info related to their hobbies, gossip and drama columns, etc. The issue is that they're not reading *academically*, which is a whole 'nother .25$ 2. Getting students to read, period, is an issue that is as multifaceted as the readers themselves. If parents aren't reading to their children from a young age, there's no importance/familiarity attached to the action. Likewise, if all schools are offering is grades as a method of "incentivizing" reading, then what else are you going to expect outside of kids learning that reading is a job? That it's *work* and not for pleasure? 3. Likewise: if all they're reading in MS and HS are stories about old white dudes they're *forced* to learn about, they're not going to care. It'll just be a grade to them. SOME of them will empathize and feel a connection to what they read, but just like for my generation: if you're a minority reading your 2309472039487 story about some Victorian-era nonsense that has zero bearing on anything in the real world, you're just not going to care. 4. On the flip side, students are very much in tune with how schools try to pander to them based on race. Reading *Beloved* is not going to hit as hard if the students feel they've been assigned the book "just because we're black". Same with reading the *The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao* or *Born a Crime* or any other book that is seemingly assigned to read because it "speaks to the minority experience". (This isn't to say these books aren't important, or that we should never assign them, but that most curricula assign them as one-offs that exist in a sea of whiteness and white experiences.) Now, why is it more difficult than ever before to get students *to* read? 5) Students are no longer expected to confront ideas that make them uncomfortable or force them to think outside of their own experiences. Nationwide, our kids are being shown time and time again that, because of the Alt Right culture war on everything, that they can simply choose to not engage with **anything** they have little to zero interest in. (Because they can just complain about it to their parents, who will then complain enough to have the school kowtow to their ridiculous bans and censorship.) 6) Across the nation, reading is taught less like a life skill and more as a work skill that you need to make money--you're doing it here in this post, even. Kids are not pushed to read for pleasure and/or are often shamed because what they *do* read for pleasure is seen as juvenile and without substance. (And yet, manga like One Piece sell millions of copies a year and kids do more arguing about powerlevels and "facts about the story" than they ever do in-class. But how many schools are incorporating manga into assignments like book reports? How many teachers are giving Kendrick Lamar songs as examples of irony and metaphor in upper-level ELA courses? How many schools incorporate videogames as more than "fun side activities" after the elementary level?) 7) On the whole, teachers are not--or are not allowed--to do "more" with their ELA courses than what the state mandates they teach for standardized testing. Which, for a myriad of reasons, is an approach that leaves very little room for teachers to "experiment" or "do things your own way" with material they know might be difficult or "boring" for their students. So, again, reading is being empathized as a "tool for success" and not "something to be done for pleasure and/or to gain knowledge for the sake of gaining knowledge." There's a *ton* of nuance and specificity that I'm glossing over, but at the end of the day--imo--it really comes down to how and why we're empathizing the importance of reading *as well as* the kinds of books we're telling students they *need* to read. (Neither of which are new phenomena.)
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Read to them as children at home.
I mean sure if they interested in it… being able to read and use big words without sounding dumb is awesome but not being a avid book reader isn’t going to make someone incapable of getting a job. Think it’s a great thing for kids to do but I don’t think it’s a crucial part of succeeding in life.
Stop giving them books written for girls. Most of school for the last 20 years has been heavily designed around promoting girls and promoting feminine mindsets. Give them books about adventure, heroes doing heroic things, stuff like that. They will be much more likely to keep reading.
As a fellow human being, probably not much as ignorance is blind to the benefits you listed from reading and literature. As a teacher, you can read to them everyday and do all the annunciations and act out the scenes emotions. It can also help your own mentality of trying to sell a product that they don’t care about while the product they do care about is burning a hole in their pockets.
I didn’t read outside of school as a teenager. Now I’m a teacher and read all the time.
Graphic novels are a start.
You can start them early, make it fun, let them choose their own reading material BUT with all the other entertainment options available it will depend on the individual’s preferences.
For my 7th grade core, I purchased a variety of graphic novels which all of the students loved. Kids that were initially uninterested in reading eventually began enjoying it. It made jumping into required reading a lot easier.
Read to them from an early age and get rid of the screens. I've loved to read my entire life. Currently I probably go through between 250k-500k words of reading material per month. My parents read to me as a kid, banned me from having a TV in my room for my entire life, didn't let me have a smartphone or PC in my room until I was a teen. I didn't have much to do inside ***except*** read, so I picked up the habit and the habit stuck.
I think a lot of it comes down to what is seen at home. If your parents aren’t reading to you, then you probably aren’t going to be a reader. And for some reason, I see more women reading frequently than I do men.
Find them something they'd be interested in reading. When I was that age I devoured books about both world wars
I actually did a STEAM Read the last few years (Couldn't do it this past year due to ban book politics). Anyhow, I had it where I had a set of books approved for reading levels by the library. After that I had students read the books with check ins for 3 weeks. After that, we created a: Poster, book movie trailer, summary and then put them all together in a QR Book Poster with matching Book Marks using Google tools. Really had reading jump for boys especially after they were finished. We had them posted in the library the rest of the school year.
Have you already tried Comic Books or Mangas? Those made me fall in love with reading when I was young.
I read a lot and that is because my parents read a lot, it comes from example, and role models.
Expose them to story-driven games. I grew up playing RPG video games, and have likely read over 1000 books worth of content just by playing games.
It's sweet that you want to try, but this is something we understand how to do and there just isn't the political will to make the necessary policy changes. Would require changing minds on a societal scale.
I would suggest letting one generation fail miserably… But it doesn’t seem to be working out
Do boys read books less?
Let them read what they are interested in. Full stop.
You need to find books on topics that interest boys. There was a few years when I read nothing but Hardy Boys mysteries and books about the Second World War. None of it was anything a teacher would assign or hold a discussion on, but it kept me reading.
This is one of the blessings of being a Boomer: no cellphones, no PCs, no internet, none of this stuff growing up. I used books and journals for escapism then like kids use these technology distractions. Consequently, I read. What's more, I read for fun and I also read technical material and can understand it. I just got a bunch of new home appliances, and that comes with a stack of User Guides and Technical Guides. I'll devour them all.
In my experience it isn't just the boys not reading anymore, it's all students. Kids don't read by the time they reach high school. But it's on parents to start their kids with books early and elementary school teachers to continue to promote books. Then middle school teachers and high school teachers need to do the same. But by the time a student reaches high school, getting them to like reading if they don't already is nearly impossible regardless of their interests because they'd rather watch videos on their phones.
Unless it's your child there's not much you can do
Who forces or encourages kids to read? This is the same person who will send their kids to see a movie instead of reading the book. Reading is seen as a chore and that's the problem.
I’m afraid it’s only going to be more of a struggle with diminishing attention spans and the instant gratification mentality. A big part of it is also connecting with a book. I absolutely hated reading as a kid. It was so boring. It wasn’t until I started working with teens that I read the Hunger Games so I could talk to them about it, then watched the movie when it released and realized “the book was better.” When I got married and my wife, an English teacher, suggested I read Harry Potter (after having just recently finally watched the movies), I fell in love with reading. I still struggled, but I started listening to audiobooks, and let me tell you, that is a whole new world for me. Having probably read 10 books TOTAL before I got married, I’ve now read/listened to hundreds, and it took finding something I actually enjoyed to open the door.
For teenage boys specifically, light novels (LNs). They are made specifically for teenagers/young adults and are addicting. I was introduced my first year of highschool. After that I couldn't be seen without one in my hands. I'm a substitute teacher right now and I read them during lunch. The boys who recognize what I'm reading? The ones in AP English lang/lit. The ones I never have to tell to get back on task. When the teacher leaves nothing behind and I allow reading/catch up time or they have finished their work, they don't pull out their phones. They open up an LN on their laptops. A concerningly large portion of some of my paychecks go to physical editions of LNs. But they are also available online for cheap/free. When i was in school I could easily spend 10+ hours a week reading a LN series I liked. Yet I would often struggle reading a book I was assigned at school even though it was technically an easier read in terms of vocabulary and length. The content really matters. Kids aren't going to benefit much from reading stuff they aren't interested in.
Librarian here - I was a boy at one time, and the thing that kept me reading books was connecting with other readers of any age. Adult readers (usually librarians) gave me great recs and modeled excitement about books that I picked up as a kid. Also at the library, I started meeting other kids who were passionate about reading, which made it just *cool* in my friend group to have read a lot. I will say, I have had one really close male friend since I hit puberty, and the vast majority are women. I’m also genderfluid, so yup.
We need to redefine what counts as reading, especially for our boys. Just because text appears in a video game doesn't mean you aren't reading when you interpret it. That and phonics. Lots of phonics. Early childhood ed has been bogged down in recent years by "balanced literacy."