Boys.

Boys, boys, boys. Again.

I've been wondering something. Perhaps the adults who write the books and make the movies and create the video games have been missing the boat with boys for the past few years. Perhaps they've been too focused on battles and Star Wars and comic books. Perhaps they've forgotten that, though boys hardly have a chance to do this today, they really like to get dirty, explore, make messes, build stuff. Get in trouble.

I know! I'm stereotyping again. But I'm not saying girls don't like to do this either. I'm just saying, picture the boy with the rolled up pants from the 1950s. Out playing with sticks and floating boats down a river and nearly drowning as he jumps off a rope swing.

Perhaps boys still want to read about adventures like that, even if they don't get to do that themselves any more?

So this post is not going to have any brand new book suggestions. It's going to have old suggestions again, and it's going to have suggestions I've posted before and you've probably read. But I'm going to post some good ol' boy books with the idea that you might snatch one of these up and either present it to your son or read it aloud to him and see what happens. Does he identify with these kids that light off firecrackers in the outhouse? What about the boys that climb on top of the water tower and swim though the beams keeping it up in the air are about to bust? What about the boys that stole a ride on a wild horse and nearly lost their lives doing it?

The Soup books by Robert Newton Peck. Oh, these are great read alouds. Please try them. Please! (This is the same author of the very serious and very sad, The Day No Pigs Would Die. These books are completely different but of the same great writing caliber.)


The Great Brain books by John D. Fitzgerald


Pretty much anything by Richard Peck (who I love!) A Year Down Yonder, A Long Way from Chicago, The Teacher's Funeral (This is a great one for this kind of thing!), Here Lies the Librarian, On the Wings of Heroes, Fair Weather. These would especially be good for older boys ten and up. (Maybe even twelve and up.)

    

Owls in the Family by Farley Mowat


Mad Scientists Club by Bertrand Brinley (This collection has fourteen short stories—perfect to read aloud)



And here are some nonfiction books about some pretty cool cowboy heroes—:

Bill Pickett: Rodeo-Ridin' Cowboy by Andrea Pinkney


Black Cowboy, Wild Horses by Julius Lester


Paul Bunyan, Pecos Bill, Johnny Appleseed, Mike Fink, and Sally Ann Thunder Ann Whirlwind Crocket by Steven Kellogg (okay, so these aren't exactly nonfiction)


John Henry: An American Legend by Ezra Jack Keats

Family Books

So I'm still thinking about boys here. And I'm thinking about this reading gender gap or crevice or crevass depending on how you pronounce it. 

What did boys read long ago? I think they read many of the books I posted about in my last blog, but what about the good old family books? Those books where the main characters were a group of children, a family of children, with girls and boys. 

They say boys won't read books with a girl main character, but these books have multiple main characters. Many people are important, boys and girls. (I have found some serious reluctance from both of my boys to read books with girl main characters, so despite this great post by Shannon Hale here: http://shannonhale.tumblr.com/post/27853826082/why-boys-dont-read-girls-sometimes, and as much as I wish I could totally agree that boys will read girls if parents don't prevent them, I think this stereotype is generally true. Boys are reluctant to read girls—even when they say their favorite color is pink, like Shaemus does.)

I'm thinking of these sorts of books—family books:

All of a Kind Family by Sydney Taylor

Half Magic by Edward Eager

The Saturdays by Elizabeth Enright

The Moffats by Eleanor Estes

These sorts of books aren't written much these days. Books about families of children. This is sort of not true, of course. Of course, there are books written about families of children, but most of them are very silly or involve espionage or plots to take over the world. Or goblins. 

There is this book:

And its sequels, and my boys do love The Penderwicks despite its four sisters and no brothers whatsoever. 

Hmm.

I have no answers here, I'm just thinking, but I wanted to bring to your attention a series of books, mostly forgotten now, about a delightful, eccentric, wonderful family. These books are sooooo good. Good for boys and good for girls. They're not silly, not really, and they're not about espionage or plots to take over the world. Or goblins.

These are real books, realistic fiction, but they aren't issue books. They're not about cancer or divorce or bullies or autism. Not really. They're about the twists and turns of regular life and the adventures that happen within them.

This is The Not-Just-Anybody Family, the first book in a series of books about the Blossom family by Betsy Byars. I loved this book when I first read it a few years ago. Loved it. I couldn't understand how it had escaped my attention for so long. The characters are wonderful—the grandfather in this story is one of my favorite characters ever. I felt so much empathy for these people. I loved them. The children were wonderful, and it is so fun to read about a time when children can be six and seven and eight and nine and they can run off and play in the woods all day without a play date or adult supervision. 

There are sequels as well, equally delightful and mesmerizing. 

The trouble is the covers. Kids today aren't going to like these covers, especially the 8-10 year old boys who are really the perfect audience for these books. Tell your kids not to judge a book by its cover. Tell them that authors have no say about the cover! Design a new cover with Darth Vadar on the front. Rip off the cover, whatever you need to do! These books would make great read alouds. Great birthday presents. Great rewards for good behavior. 

Go and meet the Blossom family today! You won't regret it. 

Boys! Help! Argh! (Why don't they read?)

There are many reasons why I might write that title. Most of them have to do with the state of my bathrooms right now. Or the smell in the shoe closet (Calvin is allergic to socks). And I don't even have boys that need deodorant yet.

But I'm not talking about odors here.

It really is true that boys don't read as much as girls. It just is, and I have been asked by quite a few people recently for help finding books for their boys. And the plea always seems to be followed by an exclamation point and a throwing up of the hands. What is out there for boys to read?

I can relate. Shaemus is the closest thing I have to a non-reader. He does read, but not the voracious way his siblings do. I stew about this regularly, particularly as I'm trying to fall asleep at night.

Part of that is simply the stage he's in—it is a hard thing to move from picture books to chapter books to novels, and we are pushing that too early—but there is more to it.

Could it be that he is in a classroom where the kids sometimes go an entire day not reading a book?

It could.

Could it be that he just prefers working with his hands, building and playing?

It could.

But it could also be that I don't have enough books that suit his particular needs and interests right now. And it could also be that he doesn't have enough male role models who read. In general, books for children are written by predominantly female writers, published by predominantly female publishers, stocked by predominantly female librarians, taught by predominantly female teachers, and distributed by predominantly—mothers.

When was the last time your husband or father followed your son around, begging him to read this great book? 

Read the article below. Please. It is so good. Many of us are wringing our hands about our six to twelve-year-old boys who don't read enough. But reading for boys practically vanishes once they hit their teens, and the impression I have gotten from mothers of these teenage boys is that they have given up. Even boys who used to read won't pick up a book for fun. It is too hard to force them; they aren't interested. What's the point?

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/21/books/review/boys-and-reading-is-there-any-hope.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

Here's a great quote from the article:

"If we’re to counter this tendency and encourage reading among boys who may collectively resist it, boys need to be approached individually with books about their fears, choices, possibilities and relationships — the kind of reading that will prick their dormant empathy, involve them with fictional characters and lead them into deeper engagement with their own lives. This is what turns boys into readers."

This topic deserves more than one blog post. I am worried about Shaemus, but I'm also worried about our boys in this country, in this world. If you have any thoughts or ideas or articles to pass on, I would love to get them. 

It seems we may have been better about publishing books for boys a long time ago. With that in mind, here are some great, GREAT, books for younger boys (six to twelve depending on interest, reading ability, and whether or not you are reading aloud or they are reading to themselves). The more I look at this list, the more I think this article is correct. We got boys better back long ago.  

Here's one more quote from the article:
"Today’s books for boys — supernatural space-and-sword epics that read like video game manuals and sports novels with preachy moral messages — often seem like cynical appeals to the lowest common denominator. Boys prefer video games and ESPN to book versions of them."

Let's talk about this!


The Great Brain and its sequels by John D. Fitzgerald. THESE ARE SO GOOD!

The Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander. (Lloyd Alexander is a neglected author today, and he should not be.)

Mad Scientists Club by Bertrand Brinley. (Your boys will wish they had a club like this. Or they'll make one!)

Homer Price and The Canterburg Tales by Robert McCloskey. (Robert McCloskey is also neglected!)

Encylopedia Brown by Donald Sobol (Really, these are great, and at least these have new covers!)

Tom Swift: Young Inventor (Exciting, not about animals, and not about farts.)

Secret Panel Mysteries by Clifford Hicks (Great mysteries in here...)

The Forgotten Door by Alexander Key

The Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet by Eleanor Cameron

The Shy Stegosaurs of Cricket Creek by Evelyn Lampman

Have your boys read...

Masterpiece by Elise Broach?

Isn't that a cute picture? It's a mystery with a cockroach. Seriously, doesn't that make you want to run out and read it right now? Elise Broach also wrote Shakespeare's Secret:

Both are good mysteries. Both are well-written. They are really just fun. And they are slightly educational, one about Shakespeare, one about fine art.

And we also have a new animal book we love:

The Adventures of a South Pole Pig by Chris Kurtz

Great pictures. Good story. Funny. Worth a look!

Cool series for boys

This is a cool series. Good for kids second grade and up. These are intense, exciting retellings of myths and legends every kid should know. And every adult too. These covers are gorier than necessary, but remember, you should never, ever judge a book by its cover. Ever.

Legends by Anthony Horowitz

(Beasts and Monsters is a Bargain Book on Amazon right now. Four bucks for a hardcover!!!)

Nonfiction and fiction mixed together in fabulous books

These four picture books are worth reading to your older children, and if they don't want you to read them out loud, leave them in the bathroom. Leave them on the kitchen table. Leave them on their beds. Leave them somewhere and your kids will have ten minutes of amazing art mixed with a great story and a real life individual who made a difference in this world!

For the Birds: the Life of Roger Tory Peterson by Peggy Thomas


Mama Miti by Donna Jo Napoli


Jose! Born to Dance by Susanna Reich


Abe Lincoln Tells a Joke: How Laughter Saved the President (and the country) by Kathleen Krull