Boys DO read when presented with materials that interest them. The key is finding the right book to unlock that potential.
— Move Books
(Reading) offers a way to transcend the often powerless world of children into a fictional word where they can “claim power and privileges they could never claim in ‘real life’ (Thomas Newkirk, 2002 Misreading Masculinity: Boys, Literacy and Popular Culture)
It is texts that privilege mystery, suspense, plot and action that boys often find most compelling. Bronwyn T. Williams, University of Louisville, Department of English
Boys and girls are likely to use literacy in social relationships but their needs and practices may look different. — Maynard, T. (2002). Boys and literacy: Exploring the issues. London
Boys read less fluently due to lack of engagement in the process: -Literacy Skills for the World of Tomorrow”, UNESCO and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)
Other researchers have established that various groups of young people employ powerful literacy practices outside school that then go unrecognized, untapped or unvalued in school. -Michael W. Smith and Jeffrey D. Willhelm (2002), Reading don’t fix no Chevy’s”: Literacy in the Lives of Young Men.
At a surface level it appeared that the girls were really reading, whereas the boys were “goofing off.” Looking a little further, we saw the boys using these texts as a point of connection through which they communicated their interest and expertise to one another. Their communication consisted of exclamations - “Look at that!” - and gestures as they pointed a different parts of the page. — Heather Blair and Kathy Sanford, “Morphing Literacy: Boys Reshaping Their Literacy Practices, University of Alberta
They were transforming academic literacies into their own life literacies in order to stimulate their real and imaginary lives that included challenge, risk, excitement and opportunities to win. (Blair and Sanford)
Friendships that develop among boys through stories and problem solving are as tight as those that develop through overt verbal expressions of friendship (Newkirk, 2002; Smith & Wilhelm, 2002).