Boys Are More Likely to Abandon Books. Here’s How to Keep Them Reading!

Helping my twin 6-year-old sons become readers has been one of my biggest parenting challenges so far. We work our way through sight word flashcards, play phonics games, and spend evenings sounding out beginner readers like Fly Guy and Owl Diaries word by word. I thought that instilling my sons with a lifelong love of reading would be like potty training — once you accomplish it, it’s done. They’ll be happy bookworms forever! (Right?)

Turns out, our kids’ relationship with reading isn’t quite that simple. Around the age of nine, pretty much right after they’ve learned how to read well on their own, there’s a marked decline in the way kids think about reading. Many start to view it as something they have to do, rather than something they want to do, according to the Scholastic Kids & Family Reading Report. As a boy mom, what’s even more concerning to me is that boys are less likely to have a positive attitude about books and be frequent readers than girls.

But the good news is that we don’t have to resign to raising boys who aren’t naturally happy readers. Try these three simple but effective ways to keep boys excited about curling up with a good book, and you'll have an avid, happy reader on your hands for years to come.

Engage Their Sense of Humor

Wondering how to encourage reading habits? Try books that appeal to your son's silly side. If he loves to tell jokes, is always making you smile, or can’t hear the word ‘but’ without snickering (like my own boys!), picking books that will have him giggling chapter after chapter is a great way to help him fall in love with reading.  

In fact, humor is a major thing kids look for when picking out books to read for fun, according to the Scholastic Kids & Family Reading Report. As parents, we often worry about what life lessons our child is getting out of a book or what they can learn from a novel, but having a shelf full of books with awards on the cover means nothing if your child isn’t actually reading them. “Let them read whatever they want, and their love of reading will continue to grow,” says Michelle Farella, a librarian in Meriden, Connecticut. 

Give Graphic Novels a Chance

You may dream of your son one day perusing classic novels or Shakespearian prose “just because,” but if he’s only into comics right now, keep in mind that any reading will benefit his growing mind.

“For boys that are reluctant readers, I always suggest graphic novels,” says Farella. “A lot of the time a child is a reluctant reader because they do not have the best comprehension or decoding skills. Graphic novels help with this because the pictures allow the reader to figure out what the text is implying.”

When you start thinking of graphic novels as “real” reading, you'll find that your son may actually be a pretty avid reader after all. Here's some insider intel to get you started: The books below appeal to comic lovers, but still low-key boost their reading comprehension, too.  

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Try Out a Few Audiobooks

Kids ages nine and up get more and more homework, so after studying for a history quiz and getting through the chapter for tomorrow’s English class, reading for fun may not be your son’s first choice for an activity. It’s understandable!

If this is the case, rather than mandate reading-for-fun time, Farella recommends encouraging him to listen to audiobooks. “They can be easily fit into the day, and a great narrator really brings a book to life,” she says. Whether it’s on the ride home from school or while playing Candy Crush before bed, it’s easy for kids to find time to listen to intriguing picks like Magisterium, a sci-fi thriller in which a 16-year-old must flee her comfortable technological oasis for a world that’s rumored to hold monsters and magic. You can even suggest that he leaf through the hard copy of the book while listening, too, to unplug in a relaxing, screen-free way. 

For more tips on finding books at the right level for your child, visit our guide on reading levels for kids.