As a boy, one of my favorite times in school was when we’d get a new Scholastic News book “catalog.” I would pore over the pages, picking out which books I wanted and filling out the order sheet. And as soon as I got them, I was lying under the covers with my nose buried in a book. Unfortunately, not all boys have that kind of enthusiasm for reading.
For several decades now, boys have scored lower on reading assessment tests than girls. Boys also take longer to learn to read than girls, are less likely to actually read and to value reading, and are more likely to label themselves as “non-readers” (up to 50% of high school-age boys consider themselves as such). Non-reading boys do poorer academically and end up as non-reading men (women read almost twice as many books as men).
Some of it may be biological (boys’ language skills develop more slowly than girls). But a lot of it is sociological. Boys may see reading as a passive and thus sissy activity.
Boys also lack male reading mentors — their librarians and teachers are often female, and it’s mom who reads to them. And in the name of gender-neutrality, teachers are foisting books on boys that they simply do not like. But parents are to blame too, often trying to make their sons read “important books” to build their character.
Dad loved some long tome as a boy and wants Junior to come to an equal appreciation of it. But reading experts all agree that boys need to be allowed to pick the books that really interest them. Of course it’s okay to make suggestions to your son about things he might like — boys very much value the opinion of other boys and men in making their reading selections.
So here are 50 books that many boys and young men will really love. We’ve included some classics, but we also threw in some more modern and accessible choices; after all, not every boy has the desire or the aptitude to dive into Dickens. The fiction stories capture the imagination and provide valuable life lessons; the non-fiction ones offer primers on handy and fun skills a boy should develop.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
