I have six boy approved books today. Also, look at my page The Dynamics of How to Homeschool Easily and Smarter for more tips.
Not wanting my boys to be among the boys-who-hate-to-read statistics, it was a challenge in the beginning to keep my boys’ enjoying reading.
I had a LOT to learn about how boys learn.
Sharing these 6 boy approved books which spark the love of learning, I’m hoping that one or more of them will flame that ember to read in your boys.
3 Boy Mom Reading Tips
Now that I have lifelong adult son readers, I know you’ll benefit from these three simple, easy, and tried and true reading tips.
1. Quit thinking like female teachers.
I know, it sounds crazy because homeschool stats reveal that a majority of the teaching is done by moms.
It’s hard to not think like a woman when you are one.
Where am I going with this?
The point is we add to our son’s dislike for reading when we try to use the books we loved as a girl to spark a boy’s interest.
My boys didn’t connect with a lot of the books I loved as a girl.
When I started homeschooling, I felt like I had a diversified reading diet growing up, but it didn’t include a lot of topics boys liked.
Sure, some of the books were the same ones I loved like Where the Red Fern Grows and The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe.
But I had to expand what I thought were appropriate topics to read about.
2. The Hero or Heroine Matters.
Although boys love to get lost in a world of fiction too, relating to the hero matters.
It’s hard for boys who are struggling to read to relate to a sentimental girl.
At the time my first son was struggling with a love of reading, unless the girl was mischievous or a tomboy, it wasn’t easy for my boys to understand the sentiment.
Too, a lot of boys, including mine, develop slower.
Their maturity rate is different than girls.
They don’t necessarily see themselves in a place through the eyes of the character, so you have to be sure they do.
Instead of trying to read between the lines, my boys needed to understand the why of a point directly.
Finding a solution to the problem was more paramount than understanding exactly how a character felt.
A story line with male role models no matter the age was a good starting point in helping my sons identify with people who are like them.
3. Boys LOVE Pictures.
Boys are not ready to move away from pictures as fast as girls may be.
Realizing that significant fact, I was so grateful for the Great Illustrated Classics series.
True, some of the pictures are not like the comic books that boys love, but pictures are still pictures to boys.
The size of the print mattered to my first reader too.
The bigger the better in the beginning.
Until he felt comfortable and was hooked on reading, we just kept on reading most of the books from the Great Illustrated Classics series.
I never worried whether the books were abridged or unabridged until I hooked my reader.
Out of all the books I used for my boys to hook them on reading they narrowed down their favorites to these 6 choices to nurture a love for reading.
- Where the Red Fern Grows
- The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe (Great Illustrated Classics)
- Invisible Man (Great Illustrated Classics)
- Carry On, Mr. Bowditch
- Shiloh
- Stone Fox
One or more of these books or series should give your boys a taste of boy approved books, but more important they’ll nurture a love of reading.
A book list doesn’t have to be long to work; the book list needs to be focused on what boys can relate to.
I’ll be sharing more book lists that have worked for us through the years.
Does your son have a favorite book or series that worked to fan that tiny ember to a raging love for reading?
You’ll love these other tips:
My son (now a 25-year-old Army first lieutenant) loved “war” stories, but that it difficult to find suitable books in that genre. He also (like his sister) read above level once his reading got going.
I stressed the adventures he could have in a book, and I modeled reading in front of them — both reading from my Bible and reading for fun as well as reading books that added to whatever we were studying (after all, Momma doesn’t really know everything!!)
Back to the point: he loved the “Billy and Blaze” books as an early reader and, later, the Horatio Hornblower series, many of Charles Dickens’ books, and non-fiction books about World War 2 that were written for children decades ago. We also read aloud daily, Horatio Alger and Ballantyne (cannot remember his first name) and Henty and many 19th century books from the Lamplighter Publishing collection.
Now, all that said, what I did with books like the Horatio Hornblower series, which were written for adults several decades ago, was to pre-read them. Yes, I read every, single page. I also edited them for cursing and, as I recall, one “sex scene”. There were years I could only just keep ahead of my voracious readers because our daughter also read “adult” level in middle school. We agreed together that Momma could scratch out/white out/put white sticky labels over anything that wasn’t in keeping with our family’s values. It worked for us. I still run across books that have “Approved by Momma” written on the inside of the cover!!! What wonderful memories!
Therefore, in additional terms of advice from a homeschooling Momma of 23 years, reach into better eras for children’s books. Don’t limit yourself to what newer authors tell you is appropriate. I found horrible books in the “young adult” section of our public library, and protested them — to no avail. Horrible cursing words, sex, drugs, violence — and nothing redeemable in the storyline. Very depressing.
Hope this helps someone.
Beautiful!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thank you so much Deborah for sharing. I love ALL of your valuable advice. Every bit helps. Again, thank you for sharing..
I’d be interested in a book list for tween and teenage boys. Particularly if it takes into account boys who are still struggling to get into reading. I have 3 boys who have no male readers in their lives. (modeling can really help!) Two of them would naturally be readers, I think, but they struggle with both the idea that reading is really for girls and the draw of the computer/games. I still do read-alouds with them. If you are looking for boy book suggestions:
I had my first success with Charlotte’s Web (when they were younger), we really played up the stinky egg scene and swinging from the barn loft! The Mouse and the Motorcycle was good too. We read the first Ralph Moody book, and the idea of having a job at 9 and working with men was appealing. Then they loved The Hobbit, A Series of Unfortunate Events, and the Percy Jackson series, all were all big favorites! As they started getting older, Hatchet was another favorite, and the Mysterious Benedict Society. I had one boy who really enjoyed Johnny Tremain because of the metal working stuff. And I have one boy who really likes Avi. And Forge by Laurie Halse Anderson, which is the Revolutionary War, and also Fever, same author, although told through the eyes of a female protagonist, it really kept their interest. That’s all I can think of off the top of my head.
Hey Stephanie,
Loved your comment. Ok, I’ll keep that in mind about your list, I have more books coming.
I love your boy book suggestions as they are the exact same ones mine read. lol Especially the ones by Laurie Halse Anderson. I had one son that preferred that series over the book Johnny Tremain which my oldest loved. Those are some of the same books on my next list. And yes we read through all the Series of Unfortunate Events.
I have some more to share, but your list is similar to what I used. I stayed after it and they’re lifelong readers. I threw in lots of comic books too. I didn’t care and they loved it.
Love having you here♥