More Boy Bashing - Here We Go Again

Okay, as the mom of a boy who LOVES to read (nonfiction and LOTS of it), can I just say STOP! If I read one more article that starts this way, I'm going to scream:

Despite everyone's best efforts, we all know that boys don't read. There have been attempts to lure them in with subjects close to the heart of any creature made of slugs and snails: the trumping and nose-picking of picture-book fave Dirty Bertie, the rank silliness of Captain Underpants, and the insane does-what-it-says-on-the-tin popularity of Walter The Farting Dog, soon to be a movie starring the Jonas Brothers (another baffling success story).

In the article Can a Book Really Look Like the Web?, the focus is on the new "Gamer's Edition" of the Guinness Book of Records. There are some interesting thoughts about "reverse engineering" books to resemble the things readers so love about the web. However, must authors always resort to boy-bashing to do it? Can we please give boys and young men just a bit of credit for their reading habits? If we constantly push potty and other forms of low humor on them as something they'll read, aren't we just setting the bar a tad bit low?

Don't get me wrong, "tooting" in our house still brings on a fit of the giggles, but my boy left with a heavily-laden backpack this morning because he was taking 4 books about animals (at 100+ pages each) to school so he'd have something to read in his free time.

Talk Amongst Yourselves - Why Boys Don't Read

This article was posted to the School Library Journal blog on Monday.

Wanted, Male Models: There's a good reason why boys don't read

Here's an excerpt.

Who reads? Well, mostly women. Moms frequently read to their young sons at bedtime. Elementary school teachers and media specialists, who are primarily women, read to their classes. And in movies and on TV, it’s women or girls who are typically rushing off to their book clubs. Men don’t read—instead, they do. For instance, men don’t read books about hunting, they hunt. They don’t devour novels about race-car driving; they go to drag races—and often take along their sons. For many boys, reading becomes a chore that prevents them from pursuing manly things, like playing sports, fishing, rock climbing, and, later, chasing girls. Testosterone keeps guys running and gunning, and if they don’t see members of their own tribe reading—trust me—they won’t deem it important.

. . .

Now, this is purely my opinion, but children copy their elders. They want to be what they see. A boy doesn’t want to be a woman. He wants to do what a man does. And if he doesn’t see a man reading, he won’t read.

I have tons of school work to do this week, but folks seem to be writing things I just can't ignore. Why do we give boys so little credit? Why the gross generalizations? While reading role models (teachers, parents, relatives, friends, etc.) are important, they can't possibly be the most important factor in what makes a reader and keeps one reading. Or can they? What do you think makes a reader? Are role models really the most important factor at play here?

As you're pondering this question, watch this video about reading.

P.S. - A little personal history, not that my experience should be the basis for the argument I am formulating, but my father was a reader AND a doer. My mother never read until recently (and she's nearly 80).