Boys don’t like to read. It’s a theory backed by dozens of educational studies. But is it true? Not necessarily, says award-winning children’s writer Jon Scieszka. He maintains they just can’t find books they’d want to read.
Scieszka, a former teacher who created the literacy action group “Guys Read” in 2003, is not alone in his thinking.
According to a survey conducted by literacy experts Michael Smith and Jeffrey Wilhelm (“Reading Don’t Fix No Chevys: Literacy in the Lives of Young Men”), reluctant readers in the classroom setting – older boys who called themselves nonreaders – actually read voraciously outside of the academic setting to pursue their personal interests and goals. In other words, they didn’t hate reading. They hated what they had to read at school.
So what is the solution? Like all elements of educational evolution, the answer is hardly simple. But Scieszka has some ideas that might move us forward.
Accept and support what boys like. “If we expand our definition of ‘reading’ to embrace what a lot of boys happen to enjoy – humor, action/adventure, nonfiction, graphic novels – it will help boys feel like they are or can be readers,” Scieszka says.
Get men involved. “Women make up the majority in children’s book publishing and elementary education,” according to Scieszka. “An unintentional side effect of that majority is that many books produced and presented lean more naturally to women’s tastes.”
If more men write, teach and publish, Scieszka says, more boy-friendly books will come to light. But he insists there are great options already out there. And women are ready to ride the pro-active wave. “Many women I’ve spoken to really get this idea, and are eager to make the change,” he says.
Create visible role models at home, in schools, on television, in movies, “to show that reading is a male activity,” Scieszka says, not something “just for girls.”
Overall, Scieszka says awareness is the key to winning this battle. And he is tireless in his efforts to spread the word through public speaking, print press and online (www.guysread.com) . But even if talk is cheap, travel and Web technology are not. So Scieszka recruited dozens of his fellow writers and illustrators to help fund the Guys Read literacy war.
“Guys Write for Guys Read,” an anthology available from Viking this month, is the measurable result of Scieszka’s call to arms. More than 75 of the children’s book industry’s finest authors and illustrators donated stories and art, without compensation, to create the ultimate introduction to work for guys, by guys.
Why were superstars like Daniel Pinkwater, Jerry Spinelli, Tony DiTerlizzi and Chris Crutcher willing to offer their support?
“Because he asked me nicely,” says children author and funny man Pinkwater (“Irving and Muktuk: Bad Bears and a Bunny”), who is heard regularly on National Public Radio hawking the best in children’s books. But he confessed he believes Scieszka is also, “an agent from a foreign planet with instructions to carry out experiments.”
Spinelli, a Newbery Award-winning author (“Maniac Magee”) was more straightforward in his response. “As a kid myself, I seldom read outside of classroom assignments,” he said. “I tell kids, don’t be like me. This (contributing to ‘Guys Write for
Guys Read’) was a way of putting my pencil where my mouth was.”
Illustrator and author DiTerlizzi (“Spiderwick Chronicles”) was also eager to share. “Jon is not just a good guy,” he said, “but a rock star in the field, and he felt very passionate about this. I was honored to be asked, and excited to be involved in this when someone is as passionate as he was.”
Crutcher (“The Sledding Hill”), a frequently banned and heralded author who writes for teens, agrees. “It was a great idea and a great group to be in league with,” he said. “Like Jon, I think guys will read if you get the right stuff to them.”
And according to Scieszka, that’s exactly the point. “We don’t have to convince boys that all reading is magic or wonderful or that it will be good for them. All we have to do is pass along books that other guys have enjoyed and say, ‘Here’s a book you might like.’ If we start there, we might eventually get to changing our social structure and showing boys that guys read.”
Kelly Milner Halls is a Spokane, Wash., freelancer.
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Illustration by Robert Neubecker
Special to The Denver Post
