I cannot tell you how many times I have heard other moms complain that their boys don’t like to read. Girls, sure – give them a book and they will be absorbed for days, but boys are another story.
Boys are a curious bunch, that’s for sure. I grew up with five brothers, and almost none of them enjoy reading just for pleasure. They might pick up the occasional best seller, but they don’t really spend much time with novels.
A friend of mine was just telling me that she read Why Gender Matters: What Parents and Teachers Need to Know about the Emerging Science of Sex Differe nces
. In it, she discovered that boys are more interested in non-fiction. So she visited the library and for the first time, ventured into the non-fiction section. She allowed her son to choose a few books (he chose The History of Ford Trucks) and voila! Her son cannot be peeled away from it’s pages.
So this got me thinking. Remember those five brothers of mine? Every single one of them enjoys reading about cars, computers, and the latest gadgets and games. Hand them a work of fiction and it will sit on their shelf for months untouched, but hand them a How-to, or The History of, and their nose will never see the light of day because it is buried in a book or magazine. My husband personally loved Sasquatch and read any number of books about
our big footed forest friend when he was a boy. And do you know what?
He still reads non-fiction. He rolls his eyes at my love of romance,
adventure, and fantasy, all while turning the pages in the latest
biography he’s checked out.
So if you have a boy and are wondering how to get him to enjoy reading, try the non-fiction section of the library. Let him choose a subject that interests him. There are books about animals, cars, outer space, science, monsters, and literally anything else you (or he) can think of.
Here are a few ideas to get you started:
