As I lecture to educators, parents, and writers about the literary components of a good boy book I invariably hear some form of this comment; “my personal experiences differ.”

My MFA thesis was on the subject of Combating Aliteracy. Aliteracy describes children (and adults) who CAN read but choose not to engage in active literacy on their own. No educator in the public school system can deny that it is mostly boys who lose interest in recreational reading. In my lecture I cite research which unquestionably demonstrates that boys, in general, have different reading preferences than girls, in general. Of course there will be children who buck this trend but right now they are the exception, not the rule. Anticdotal evidence to the contrary in no way negates the fact that there are objective literary components of a good boy book that need to be promoted and utilized so as to usher these kids (mostly boys) back into the world of books.

For those of you in this thread who have successfully won the battle of aliteracy, join the fight, don’t thwart it. We need your success to be passed on to thousands of others.

In these times when fewer and fewer children are reading at all, it seems to me we ought to encourage whatever it is they want to read. That includes not telling them some books are for boys and others are for girls. Silly rabbit. Books are for kids.