Oct 17, 2008 3:48 pm US/Eastern
Keeping Boys Interested In Books
BOSTON (WBZ) ―
For some parents, the battle of the books is a daily struggle – encouraging kids to read rather than watch TV or play video games. This can be especially true for young boys.
At 9 years old, Jake Shaw is a lot like other boys his age. He would rather pick up a baseball than a book. In fact, Jake admits he's most likely to read if he's in his room being punished.
Jake isn't the only reluctant reader his age. Research shows that boys start to lose interest in reading around age eight.
Jeffrey Wilhelm is one of the nation's leading experts on males and literacy. He says often, writing is just plain "vanilla", and that can make it tougher to keep boys as interested in reading as girls.
"Anything that would interest the kids, anything that's edgy, anything that's controversial, is gone," Wilhelm said.
Now publishers like
Scholastic are using research as a springboard to create a new generation of books geared toward boys, using blood, guts, gore, even bathroom humor to give boys something they want to read.
"Lots of compelling visuals, side bars, fact boxes, but also humor and just a different spin on the books is what really makes them appealing," explained Jackie Carter of Scholastic.
The series "
24/7: Science Behind the Scenes" is inspired by medical and crime shows. It caught 11-year old Daniel Nordiff's attention...
"The 24/7 book I'm reading right now is called 'Help! What's Eating My Flesh", about staph diseases," said Nordiff.
There's also "
Wicked History" and Capstone has a series called "
Bloodiest Battles."
Some educators, though, aren't fans of bathroom humor or violence.
"They're not really good reading for a student," argues Jan Harp Domene of the national PTA. "What you want to do is you want to give them something that's going to encourage their imagination."
Both Scholastic and Capstone press say they work with librarians, teachers, parents and students to make sure books are appropriate.
As for Jake Shaw's mother, Amy, she says as long as her son is hooked on books, she doesn't have a problem.
"If it gets him to read, I'm all for it," she said. "As long as it's age appropriate, whatever it is... bring it on!"
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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