TRENDS National campaign coaxes boys to read

Guys Read advocates claim that we subtly discourage boys from reading. By H.J. CUMMINS MINNEAPOLIS-ST. PAUL STAR TRIBUNE Jon Scieszka knows the particular challenge of coaxing young boys to read -- as a former young boy himself, a former teacher of young boys and now as the author of boy-friendly books such as "The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales." That's why he is part of a national campaign to combat that resistance -- the Guys Read campaign that aims to end a documented lag of American boys behind girls in reading interest and ability. The Guys Read campaign says that just as this country has subtly discouraged its girls from science and math it also chases its boys from reading. The causes include school and library reading lists that include "Little House on the Prairie" but not Sports Illustrated or computerandvideogames.com. Some see a link to higher rates of boys assigned to remedial classes and eventually dropping out of school. Presentation "We have to change how we present 'reading' to boys," he said. "We have to find a way to really excite them." Scieszka's work adds a direct-appeal approach to a larger movement whose earlier and sometimes angrier voices include Christina Hoff Sommers, a mother of two sons, resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute think tank in Washington, D.C., and author of "The War Against Boys." She worries that the current culture -- especially in schools and libraries dominated by women -- is inhospitable to boys. "For one thing, I don't think there's an effort to provide boys with the books they like," she said. "They like adventure and action books. If there's a hero, that helps. If there's some combat and excitement, they're happier still. But all that is out of fashion now." That's part of what she blames for some dismal academic statistics: According to 30 years of National Assessments of Educational Progress, girls nationwide are closing the gender gap in science and math, but boys remain behind in reading and writing. In the most recent writing measures, 11th-grade boys ranked on par with eighth-grade girls. Findings The good news, Scieszka said, is that scientists are making discoveries about how boys learn and how to engage them. Those findings -- some of them collected in a recent book, "Reading Don't Fix No Chevys" -- include: UBoys are more physically active and develop slower, which causes them to struggle with reading and writing early on. UBoys have a more competitive learning style and will read in order to be accomplished in something that matters to them. UBoys prefer nonfiction or action-filled stories. They want information or excitement -- and they're not into delayed gratification. On the other hand, they are social readers in the sense that they like things they can talk about to pals. That's partly what's behind such phenomena as Harry Potter and "Captain Underpants."