5 Ways to Encourage Boys to Read for Pleasure

 I've been asked to speak to a visiting school to discuss how to engage boys in reading for pleasure. 

My first question for the school will be:

Do they have a library?

My second question will be:

Do they have a full time librarian?

My third question will be:

If the answer is 'yes' to questions 1 and 2, does the librarian have a dedicated budget?

I will then discuss the findings of The National Literacy Trust's 2023 report which found, amongst many other things, that:

Just 2 in 5 (43.4%) children and young people aged 8 to 18 said they enjoyed reading in their free time in 2023. This is the lowest level since we first asked the question in 2005

Fewer boys than girls said they enjoyed reading (40.5% vs. 45.3%). While the gender gap in reading enjoyment has halved for those aged 8 to 18 between 2005 and 2023 (decreasing from a 10.7 to a 4.8 percentage-point difference in favour of girls), this drop is largely because of a greater drop in reading enjoyment in girls than in boys.

There has been a 26% decrease in the number of children and young people aged 8 to 18 who read daily in their free time since 2005 (decreasing from 38.1% to 28.0%).

This is not very good news, and poses a huge challenge to parents, teachers and librarians. In our library, when I run monthly statistics, I see that boys regularly borrow more than girls, only slightly, something like 4% more. However this appears to be much higher than the national average. Also, it's important to note that just because they are borrowing more doesn't mean that they are reading more. 

It's also important to note another aspect of The National Literacy Trust's report, which stated that:

Nearly three times as many children and young people who perceived their reading environment to be supportive said they enjoyed reading compared with those who perceived it to be less supportive (63.9% vs. 25.4%), while twice as many read daily in their free time (41.7% vs. 17.7%).

With this information, here are some things I have found successful in making the library a desirable place to be for boys and therefore increase book borrowing on their part. All of these things also increase reading for girls and students who identify as non-binary, I just notice that they seem to be more effective for those who identify as male. 

1. Create a dedicated manga area and fill your shelves with manga.

I know this isn't as easy as snapping your fingers. Manga isn't cheap and space is often very difficult or even impossible to come by. However, I can say with absolute certainty that by having a "manga area" with soft seating along with a massive collection of manga has made a huge difference. Every single day, before school, at break and at lunch, this little nook with a bean bag and soft chairs near the manga shelves are stacked with boys reading voraciously. This relates directly to the idea of having a positive reading environment directy affecting how these students view reading for pleasure. Tie this in with weekly manga quizzes, film clubs that show Studio Ghibli films, and you've got a great way to bring great books to boys. I have a list of appropriate manga here. 

2. Highlight Your Non-Fiction Collection & Create Activities Around Them

I have found that boys love reading non-fiction and it is often a collection that gets overlooked. I've run a fake news lesson using Ripley's Believe It Or Not which you can find here. It's a programme that gets students reading from Ripley's and makes them think critically about the headlines they read. I also run a non-fiction scavenger hunt which you can read here. It asks students use parts of a non-fiction book like the index, bibliography, table of contents and more. I also find boys love urban myths, I run a lesson around these which you can find here. Another series the students love is called I Survived. I use this series to run a comic book contest, you can find this here. These are all ways, in my opinion, to bring non-fiction to the forefront and keep them reading. 

3. Give Them A Lot of Choice

Again, this works for anyone, but in my experience, having a wide range of choices keeps boys coming back to the library for more. Comic books are an amazing resource, there are so many out there now it's quite frankly hard to keep up. There is a fantastic list here at Page 45 and I made a list here that might be useful. Comics have been absolutely essential in bringing boys to the library and getting them to come back for more. Essentially, you need books that aren't just on the shelves in Tesco, and I know I'm speaking to the converted so that message is essentially for senior leadership, parents and other teachers. 

Books written in verse are essential, books by Kwame Alexander Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds are massive in our library. Books like Steady For This by Nathaniel Lessore has made a huge difference, as have books like When I See Blue by Lily Bailey. Barrington Stoke books have been a life-saver, they are short, engaging and written by popular authors. You can find anything you need in the Barrington Stoke collection. 

Having a huge Sci-Fi collection, books on war, books that deal with real life issues, everything and everything, essentially. Ensuring you have books that act as both windows and mirrors so boys can see their lives

I'll add on to this section, author visits are massive in engaing all students. There is a ton of evidence to show how important these are. Students who engage in author visits are:

    Twice as likely to read above their expected age level.

    More likely to be more confident in their reading and writing.

    More likely to read daily. 

    More likely to enjoy reading. (Source) 

I wrote a longer piece on the importance of an author visit here. 

We recently had author Jennifer Killick visit and it's amazing to see the impact she's had long after the visit. Hearing Jennifer speak to the students about her love of manga and her amazing horror / comedy novels Crater Lake, the stunning Dreadwood series and many more, means that both boys and girls are scrambling to the library to get a copy of her novel to read. They want to read these books so they can be in on the action, have a shared experience and have that connection to the author. It's an amazing thing to see. 

4. Dungeons and Dragons

I've talked a lot about this but I'll try to boil it down to one paragraph: D&D has, for me, been completely revolutionary in the way it has brought new faces to the library, especially those who feel isolated or who might struggle socially. It has an unbelievably huge number of benefits, it improves confidence, reading comprehension, reduces anxiety, helps with public speaking and will help create extremely tight friendship groups. I wrote about our big Saturday DungeonCon in the library here which tries to capture many of these things. D&D will transform your library, I have a web site dedicated to everything you need to get started here. 

5. Reading Aloud

There is a lot of data out there on the importance of reading aloud to youth and having them read aloud. 

    Reading Aloud:

    Improves academic performance.

    Improves vocabulary and reading comprehension.

    Improves attention spans.  

    Increases critical thinking and problem solving skills. 

    Increases language and communication skills.

    Creates positive social environments.

    Increases empathy. 

In my experience, it is a sure-fire way to make readers out of those who claim they are not, both boys and girls. A short story:

I bought two copies of Steady For This by Nathaniel Lessore. I read it myself and loved it, truly made me laugh out loud and that is not an easy thing to get me to do. There is one scene in that novel in particular that is so embarrasing for the main character, it's hard to describe it. I decided to read this passage out to around 1,000 students during the Key Stage 3 Whole School Assembly. What followed was a flood of students coming to the library asking for that book. I needed to buy many more copies and this book is now number one in our borrowing statistics. 

Reading aloud works, because it creates a shared experience and brings this and other moments to life. Pair this with an author visit and this book will never stop being popular, as we've seen with authors like Lily Bailey, Alex Foulkes and Jennifer Killick. 

These are just some ideas, there are plenty of other ways to engage boys, or anyone who says they don't like to read. These have been effective for me in my library and I would recommend any of these steps to cultivate a love of reading.