How To Get Boys To Read

The Wall Street Journal had an interesting article on Friday titled "Problem: Boys Don't Like to Read; Solution: Books That Are Really Gross."

The story reiterated what we've all heard before about how girls like to read and boys don't:

Jeffrey Wilhelm, an education professor at Boise State University . . . tracked boys' reading habits for five years ending in 2005 and found that schools failed to meet their "motivational needs." Teachers assigned novels about relationships, such as marriage, that appealed to girls but bored boys. His survey of academic research found boys more likely to read nonfiction, especially about sports and other activities they enjoy, as well as funny, edgy fiction.

So now publishers, booksellers and schools are addressing the problem head-on.

Last year, U.S. publishers released 261 new works of juvenile fiction aimed at boys, more than twice the number put out in 2003, according to Bowker's Books in Print database. There were 20 nonfiction entries for boys, compared with just four in 2003.

Read about the solution here.