Scrambling to finish your Christmas shopping this week? Why not add some books for all the boys on your list?
We need to encourage young boys to read more. In Scholastic’s 2016 survey of over 2000 U.S. children ages 6-17, boys were found to spend less time reading than girls. Forty-five percent of boys questioned (versus only 36% of girls) said they often have trouble finding books they like. On the U.S. National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), boys have scored significantly lower than girls in reading at all grade levels every year since 1992 (the first year for which NAEP scores are available).
Here are a few beloved classics and great new books to consider:
Ages 0-4
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin Jr. and John Archambault
Please Baby Please by Spike Lee and Tonya Lewis Lee, illustrated by Kadir Nelson
The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats
The Little Engine That Could by Watty Piper, illustrated by George Hauman and Doris Hauman
Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown
Corduroy by Don Freeman
5 – 7
Click Clack Moo Cows That Type by Doreen Cronin, illustrated by Betsy Lewin
Where The Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak
My People by Langston Hughes, illustrated by Charles R. Smith, Jr.
Guinness World Records 2019 by Guinness World Records (So many boys love this book! Parents will need to read it to the younger ones.)
8-13
Stories for Boys Who Dare to Be Different: True Tales of Amazing Boys Who Changed the World without Killing Dragons by Ben Brooks, Illustrated by Quinton Wintor. (This compilation of stories about famous and and not-so-famous men who broke rules and made history is also a great book for parents to read to younger boys.)
28 Days: Moments in Black History that Changed the World by Charles R. Smith Jr., illustrated by Shane W. Evans
Hand in Hand: Ten Black Men Who Changed America, by Andrea Pinkney, illustrated by Brian Pinkney
Want more suggestions? Check out “Books Every Black Child Should Read Before Age 10”, a list curated by HereWeeRead.com.