Books for Reluctant Readers (Boys)

I desperately want my son to love books.  He's a third grader now, and he can read independently, but he'd much rather be out on his new skateboard trying to fracture something.  I don't want to push him, but my own semi-pathological love of books makes it difficult to be restrained.  My anxiety has led me to reflect: when exactly did I fall in love with books?  I remember spending countless hours lost in the Lord of the Rings, and the fat fantasy books of Terry Brooks.  Walking into the school bookfair was like finding an open vault.  But how old was I, fifth grade?  Sixth?

This meditation reassures me.  It's definitely not time to panic.  With a little encouragement, he'll be begging for the latest Harry Potter in just a few months.  As for the encouragement, most nights I suggest reading together to my son, and he happily complies and enjoys our reading time. We alternate reading chapters, or even pages.  And I have made a conscious decision to eliminate any editorial standards in picking books.  If he likes them, we read them.  If he seems bored, I move on to something else.  The publishing industry has made this easy by producing a wealth of short, funny, gross-out, boy-friendly chapter books to help me in my efforts.  Here are three books that have kept my Oldest engaged and looking forward to reading time.

Is That a Dead Dog in Your Locker? by Todd Strasser (Scholastic 2006)

A fine example of the no-smells barred, booger-centric, gross-out book.  The plot here centers around a debate over which smells and tastes worse, French cheese or toe cheese.  So there you have it.  The heroes of the book, the Tardy Boys (I smell series cheese) and their friends Daisy and Al-Ian are opposed in the debate, and in their efforts to save Wheezy, the dog of the title, by the bully Barton Slugg and the hyper-allergenic Fibby Mandible.

Within just a few pages, this book had me feeling a little, well, let's say old, but my son was laughing so hard I though he was going to rupture his spleen.  And he kept laughing throughout.  I seriously have never heard the kid get so amused by anything.  Good enough for me to plow through179 pages of size16 font.  Don't go looking for morals, or exemplary behavior or lyrical prose in Dead Dog (the title wasn't clue enough?), but if you wan to hear a third grade boy laugh, this book does the trick.

(one note: this book is only available through the Scholastic Book Club – you know those pulpy catalogs the kids bring home every couple of weeks – or you can call Scholastic at Scholastic Book Clubs at 1-800-724-6527)

Shredderman 1: Secret Identity by Wendelin Van Draanen (Scholastic 2004)

In Shredderman 1 the setup is familiar – our hero, Nolan, is plagued by a bully named Bubba Bixby.  What is novel here is Nolan's solution – to create a website that will expose Bubba's bullying ways.  What I really appreciated is the level of specific detail the author uses in describing how Nolan extracts his digital revenge – how he uses his camera an computer.  We watch as Nolan chooses and registers a domain name, creates and publishes web pages, and ingeniously markets his newly created website.  Van Draanen includes just enough detail to avoid being instructional, yet allowing young readers that such things are within their reach.  If dad's work is the least bit tech-y, this book can also serve as a great primer concerning what dad does all day.

And what do you know, a supportive helpful teacher!  Mr. Green may sport a ponytail and use his guitar in his daily lesson plan, but at least he isn't the evil nemesis that most books of these types doom teachers to be.  As a veteran of the classroom, I appreciated this touch.

The humor here isn't as broad, though there is some exaggeration, yet I think my son enjoyed the reality and the payoff of this novel even more than the more slapstick books we have read.

Hoot by Carl Hiassen (Yearling Books, 2002)

My son and I found the best blend of humor, character development and social commentary in Carl Hiassen's wonderful novel Hoot.  That the action is rambling and fun, and the characters distinctive and not little odd is no great surprise, given Hiassen's track record (dads, put a copy of his book Skinny Dip on your nightstand for a rollicking good read).  We laughed, found our selves eager to get to the next chapter, and were both moved by the resolution.  Both my son and I genuinely enjoyed this book.

In Hoot, Roy is the new kid in town, but he has soon made some decidedly unusual friends and has enlisted in an environmental battle.  This little book really does have a nice element of suspense for this genre, so I won't play spoiler here.  Suffice it to say that the Florida landscape is as vivid a character as those Roy encounters in dumps and empty lots and on construction sites.

Obviously, Hoot is more akin to an "adult" novel in length, and the vocabulary is a bit more difficult, which meant that I had to carry the load when it came to reading.  I felt this was as good trade off in terms of developing an appreciation for the depth and bredth of story hat a good novel can bring, though I did notice that he had grown a little lazy when we started our next book.  He still prefers to be read to, and backslides quickly.

I'm confident that my oldest son will soon discover the joys of curling up with a good book all by himself, without my voice as an intermediary.  I know that he already has ambitions as a writer.  His first book, an illustrated book on relationships entitled Sines of Gurl Afekshun, was insightful and useful.  His adaptation of our book, entitled Film Making for 8 Year Olds was heartwarming to the old man.  In some ways, I hope he doesn't outgrow reading with me too soon. I'm starting to enjoy the reading list. 

If you have suggestions of book that have worked well for you and your reluctant reader, please leave me a comment below.

Read more of my stuff at dadlabs.com