According to an AP article published yesterday afternoon, boys trail girls in reading achievement as much as 10 percentage points in some states. The best way to get them reading is to give them “sports and historical nonfiction, potty humor, bloodthirsty vampires and action-packed graphic novels, fantasy and sleuthing.” Or, as reporter Leannie Italie writes, “fart jokes.”
(I bet you thought the day we wrote about Norman PhartEphant would be the last post on this topic. No such luck!)
No surprise here, but the reluctant readers I know all go crazy for Jeff Kinney‘s Diary of a Wimpy Kid and Dav Pilkey’s Captain Underpants books. The sequel to Raymond Bean’s popular Sweet Farts comes out on August 3 (titled Sweet Farts: Rippin’ It Old School) and Pilkey has a new book out on August 10 (The Adventures of Ook and Gluk, Kung-Fu Cavemen from the Future). An alternative for kids waiting for Diary of a Wimpy Kid #5 (out November 9) is Lincoln Peirce’s Big Nate: In a Class by Himself.
If you are a parent, teacher, librarian or babysitter to boys, please share: What books are the boys you know most excited about?
If you’re interested in books for boys, make sure you’re signed up for BookPage Reading Corner, our kids e-newsletter; we’re planning an entire boy-themed issue for the fall.
Oh, do I know boy books. At least for the younger set.
Popular with my almost five year old (almost reader): the Froggy series (Froggy does LOTS of things — baseball, soccer, camping, etc); anything with a fire truck; in fact, anything with a truck (Trucks Roll is great); anything with Toy Story; the Elephant and Piggie series; Bearenstein Bears are still popular with the kids; Dr. Seuss wins all the time; dinosaurs. The list goes on.