Sometimes Bubba will find a book that Daisy has read and he squirrels it away. Enticed, I assume, by both the cover and Daisy’s interest, I often will find her books stuffed under his pillow on his bed or in the bathroom, where he sort of surreptitiously reads them.
I’m not sure why he seems to hide them–we’ve never given either of them any grief over reading “boys” or “girls” stuff. In our house, every printed word is fair game.
He doesn’t just grab her books though. We have subscriptions to a number of kids’ magaizines, and he’s equally excited when her Discovery Girls
As a mother, I’m glad he picks up his sister’s reading. At least he’ll get a good look into the mind of girls–perhaps it will help his future relationships, and that’s all good. Daisy makes great choices in her reading, too, so I am totally fine with him reading anything she reads.
I recently I read an article, “Guys Read Judy Blume Too…” over on Jezebel, so at least I know he’s in good company. But I want to help him find more books that are like Judy Blume, or Lauren Myracle, only for boys. I’m not sure where to find them. Where is today’s S. E. Hinton
I also wonder how it is that we can change things up a bit and make it a bit cooler for boys to be readers. But that’s a challenge for another day.
So.
I’m on a mission to find good Middle Grade fiction for Bubba. Not because I don’t want Bubba to be reading my daughters books, but because I want him to find himself in the protagonists of books he reads, like Daisy and I have. I feel like he is searching for that, but hasn’t yet come up with the right fit.
He needs something beyond Diary of a Wimpy Kid
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Just Being a Good Person
Hi, Marg. I’ve forgotten how old Bubba is… My 13-year-old nephew, who is the most selective reader of that group, has loved Brian Falkner. Has he read Brian Jacques?
I’m going to refer you to a couple of resources, one of which you already know about. It’s an on-going, long-term question! My experience is that boys who read, read. Doesn’t matter what it is.
http://www.hbook.com/2012/04/using-books/home/on-the-rights-of-reading-and-girls-and-boys/
Jon Scieska, a published author, worries about boys reading and has an interesting website: http://www.guysread.com/books/
Brian Jacques red wall series is awesome but also he has a 3 book series called castaways of the flying Dutchman that I really enjoyed . Michael ende’s neverending story. Eoin colfer atrimis fowl. I have not read Vampirates by Justin somper yet but it seems like it might be good. And don’t forget cs lewis narnia. One more series I cannot remember the author but the books include Flyte and physik.
What I remember my brothers reading in Middle School:
*Hardy Boys series
*Redwall series, by Brian Jacques
*The Hobbit and then The Lord of the Rings series
My husband says that he enjoyed books by Roald Dahl at that age, and wishes that Harry Potter were around then.
I don’t remember if my brothers read these then, but I remember just starting to get into Asimov in Middle school. I really enjoyed the robot stories – they were fun logic puzzles wrapped up in narrative. “Robot Visions” by Isaac Asimov is a good collection of his robot short stories.
Hope that helps!
P.S. Can you tell we’re big sci-fi/fantasy readers?
Is he too old for Harry Potter?
Also, my girl loves the “Warrior” series – I think it could apply to both girls and boys.
Hi Marg!
Gotta go with Jerry Spinelli on this one! He has tons of titles; something is bound to coincide with one of Bubba’s interests. Just get a few, because you and Daisy will probably both want to read them right away! : )
Oh, yeah, couldn’t forget My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George, or Slake’s Limbo by Felice Holman. Slake’s Limbo was a particular favorite of my little runt. So much so that he did a Lego project as a book report, worked Super Hard (rare!), and earned an A (simlarly rare!)
How about Gary Paulsen?