This week we’re talking about ways to help boys do as well in school as girls do. (They don’t, generally. If you missed yesterday’s post, you can read it here and learn why.)

School-aged boys often must be coaxed to read. In case you haven’t noticed, that may be because books that appeal to boys are very different than the books that are meant to appeal to girls.

Yes. I know. I just committed a HUGE generalization, but my point is not that all girls like pink and princesses (which is certainly untrue), but that girls TEND to be drawn to books about relationships with happily-ever-after endings while boys TEND to gravitate toward adventure stories with endings that are much less assured. If our boys don’t enjoy reading, then we may need to look at what we’re offering them.

ALL children enjoy quality storytelling. It’s out there. Unfortunately, books written as “readers” and “texts” often do not contain stories that are riveting. In fact, they may not even be mildly interesting…or passably well-written. ALL children will benefit from a chance to roam through the library or local bookstore where they can select real books with real stories written by real authors.

If your guys STILL don’t enjoy reading, consider a family read-aloud evening every now and again. Among our son’s favorite memories are the nights we shut off the TV and passed a book around. He didn’t know at the time that we were trying to build fluency in oral reading. What he remembers is the joy of storytelling as one and then another took their turn reading a few pages and creating voices for dialogue. Remember our previous discussions about making learning a personal experience? What could be more personal than conjuring images as individual as each listener’s imagination?

For ideas about books guys like to read, check out GuysRead.com…or check out the reading lists on the Teacher Tips pages of your Discover Texas program!