Shana Ronayne Hickman

Found an article on MSN and traced it back to Scholastic's website.
This is something you might be able to give to doubters. It's
obviously *not* unschooling, but it does have a few unschoolish bits
about reading (and unlike the title states, the basic premise applies
to both genders, of course).

I'm sending it along because I know there are some people (relatives,
husbands, friends, etc.) who might distrust pro-unschooling
literature. This is from a schoolish site, a well-known company, and
still states that the best way to get kids to love reading is to let
them read what they want - what interests them - whether it's comics
or gaming manuals, etc. The author also points out that the parent
should not judge what the child chooses to read. Who cares if it's
high literature?

It might be a starting place for someone.

-Shana
www.livefreelearnfree.com

http://www.scholastic.com/familymatters/read/reluctant/boys.htm

If Your Boy Won't Read
Chill out and get down with what he loves, starting with the comics.
by Betty Holcomb


If you're the parent of one, like I am, it's no surprise to you that
tween and teen boys read less, and tend to score lower on standardized
reading tests than girls. You know that your son has things he finds
far more interesting than actually reading a book. There's the
countdown to "Halo Tuesday," the red-letter day the latest version of
the popular video game "Halo" hits store shelves. When playing Halo
gets old, there's instant messaging while he simultaneously flips
between the Cartoon Network, the Sci-Fi channel, and Comedy Central.
That's life in the video age. When you shut that down, he turns to
anything that involves action, from a neighborhood game of Capture the
Flag to soccer, football, biking, or skateboarding.

Not that you haven't fought a valiant battle on behalf of books.
You've tried trips to the library and bookstore, and made sure that
every title on the school's summer reading list is in the house.
You've limited video games and television, which turned into an
endurance test for both of you, as your son whined, complained,
wheeled, cajoled, and pleaded to win those privileges back. When
forced, he skimmed through those classic books, making sure you
understood what a bore they were. By now, you're even bored with your
own lecture on the critical importance of reading as an essential
life-long skill, a source of pleasure and power, the key to academic
success.

In other words, he's still not engaged in reading. He never asks for a
book, and often complains bitterly about the ones assigned at school.
In fact, he tells you he'd rather die than read classics like Little
House on the Prairie or The Diary of Anne Frank.

Make Reading Useful, Fun, and Funny
Don't despair. A new generation of experts on boys and reading finally
has some cures. "Any boy can and will get excited about reading, if
you make it useful, fun, and funny," says John Scieszka, author of The
Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales and founder of the
popular web site GuysRead.com. "We have to give them more choices, and
especially more nonfiction. Boys like to read for a purpose, to find
out how to do things, like how to build a dirt bike or skateboard.
That's just not encouraged enough."

Exactly right, says Jeff Wilhelm, associate professor of English
education at Boise State University and one of the nation's leading
authorities on boys and literacy. "Boys like to read what's toolish,
not schoolish." By "toolish," Wilhelm says, he means that boys eagerly
devour anything that connects to their daily life, interests, and
imagination. "Boys prefer reading things that have something they can
immediately use, talk about, argue about, or do something with," he
says. "They are very, very impatient with the reading they do in
school, because it's not useful or interesting to them. Even worse,
they then have to take a test on it."

Wilhelm comes to these conclusions based on a major study of boys in
grades 6 to 12, who, he says, were not just disinterested in reading,
but downright cynical, based on their experience in school. "These
were great kids, very smart. Some went on to places like Harvard and
MIT. But they were all cynical about reading, as it was promoted at
school and by many adults in their lives," he says.

One of the big problems, Wilhelm says, is that much of the real
reading the boys did wasn't recognized or supported by their schools
or families. "Teachers and parents often conceived of reading
narrowly, as 'literature' only, and failed to see that there's all
kinds of reading that boys do, like magazines and even formulaic
novels," he says. "I tell parents and teachers to take a chill, expand
their idea of what reading is. Even expert adult readers go through
phases of reading pulp fiction or romance novels. It's something boys
outgrow, but it helps develop skills."

Even graphic novels, comic books, and video game guides? "Reading is
reading and the more practice kids get reading on their own, and the
more they hear books read aloud, the more skills they pick up," says
Lisa Von Drasek, head children's librarian at Bank Street College of
Education in New York City. "They are hearing and seeing words,
building a vocabulary that they will recognize as they read, and that
makes reading easier. They know how words sound, what they mean and
what they look like in print. It's all part of expanding literacy."

Start with What He Loves
So if you have a kid who hates books, where do you begin? All three
experts agree that it's crucial to begin at the beginning, with what
your son loves. "Kids will read when you focus on what they love. If a
kid is a sports kid, I'm going to do my darnedest to find a book about
a sport that kid loves," says Von Drasek. "If he loves bikes, I'm
going to look for books about bikes, bicycling, anything that feeds
that interest."

Try books that are about how a kid would love to be. "Boys will read
themselves into a book about a character who allows them to be who
they'd like to be. Even books that seem like wild fantasies are about
real stuff to the boys who are struggling with similar issues," says
Wilhelm. The wild success of the Harry Potter series is a case in
point. "Even though the books are fantasy, many boys identified with
Harry because he was struggling with the day-to-day problems of every
young boy, how to make his way in the world," says Wilhelm.

Humor is another winner with boys. "Humor is underrated on school
reading lists, but boys love it," says Sciezska, whose own hit, The
Stinky Cheese Man, is a playful book that pokes fun at classic
fairytales. "Calvin and Hobbes, Lemony Snicket, those books get them
excited about reading, because it's fun. It's important for parents
and teachers to accept these things as reading, instead of acting like
it's not 'real' reading, like there's something wrong with them. Those
books will get boys hooked on reading."

Other ideas from the experts:

* Model reading. Studies show that when parents read and have
books around, both boys and girls are more likely to be readers.

* Give your boy a book. "It sounds like a small thing, but it can
make a big impression. Choose one that's related to a hobby, an
interest, or is just fun," says Wilhelm.

* Make reading social. "Invite them to talk about something out of
the newspaper," says Wilhelm. "For boys, the purpose of reading is
often social, something they can use with their friends, something to
connect about, talk about."

* Don't give up. "Sooner or later, using comics, magazines,
anything that connects to an interest or a passion, you can hook any
child on reading. It's all a matter of patience," says Von Drasek.


Indeed. Just last week, for example, I witnessed a band of boys at a
local middle school talking about a book they'd just read. The
conversation was lively, heated, and engaged. The book? The latest
edition of the Halo series, the fantasy novels that describe the world
behind the video game. And from Halo, it turns out, it's not such a
giant leap to mythology, science fiction, and a long and pleasurable
reading list for many of these boys. "The main thing to remember is
not to judge the reading," says Wilhelm. "If boys are engaged and find
it pleasurable, it will lead to more reading."