Happy Family Day everyone!
I wish the best to all of you for a fantastic day celebrating your families! My now teen kids and I are huge fans of Harry Potter, and we have spent many years of bedtimes curled up together sharing J.K. Rowling‘s stories about Harry and his friends, among hundreds of other stories. Could it be thousands by now? My wish for you for tonight is a cozy bedtime with a great book!
Motivating Boys to Read
For those of you who may be struggling with motivating boys to read, you are not alone. Research in recent years has cited the importance of book choice for all readers, but boys in particular need to be motivated to read by books that appeal to their specific interests. A significant number of boys respond better to books about real things like vehicles, sports, animals, dinosaurs or other boys and non-fiction books, for example. Jon Scieszka, author and illustrator, launched Guys Read, a website and resource listing books for boys and men by age and interest. Interest categories include ‘Realistic Kids in Realistic Situations’, ‘Robots’ and ‘At Least One Explosion’ to name a few! You can follow Jon on twitter at @Jon_Scieszka .
I leave you with a quote from J.K. Rowling…
“I will defend the importance of bedtime stories to my last gasp.”
A question: What is your favorite bedtime story?
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I’ve only read two of the Harry Potter books – it never caught on with my daughter, but I enjoyed them! Right now for my own bedtime reading, it’s usually catching up on my decor magazines, but I do have a few books waiting patiently for me to settle in!
Thanks for your comment, Sheila. You’re right about HP books – they are as appealing to the adults as they are for the kids. My son used to get ahead of me when we were first reading them together and I’d go nuts trying to catch up! They’re addictive. Our daughter didn’t get into them at first, then suddenly she was caught. Much older than our son.
Knock on wood, my nephews still love reading. I’m sure as they get a bit older this interest may fade a bit. Heading over to check out Guys Read — thanks for the tip!
You are welcome! It’s a great site, I’m sure you’ll get a real kick out of it! Thank you so much for commenting!
As a former YA librarian, I love this. I found that graphic novels often appealed to boys who were reluctant readers. And my favourite book for ANY teen boy is “Swim the Fly,” by Don Calame.
I love graphic novels, too. Our daughter was really into Thea Stilton and Baby Mouse when she was younger. Then we got her ‘Smile’, the last one she really read. She seems to have grown out of them. So sad. Hopefully she’ll get back into them. Our son, who is a teen, likes to read them once in a while, so there’s hope! So glad there are so many now.Thanks for your comment! I have a special place in my heart for librarians!
Thankfully my 8 year old likes to read and I just love it when he reads to me!
You are a very lucky mom!
Thank you so much for commenting! Bet he’ll love Guys’ Read!
Good day! I could have sworn I’ve been to this site before but after reading through some of the post I realized
it’s new to me. Anyhow, I’m definitely happy I found it
and I’ll be book-marking and checking back frequently!
Thanks so much for writing in. Your son is not alone. There is so much competing for our kids” attention these days, when you compare a book to a live action hockey game, an exciting T.V. show, movie or video game, it can seem dull in comparison! Hopefully the Guys’ Read website will help him find something he’s interested in, and keeping reading periods short, lively and fun will go a long way, too.