The American Library Association, who is tasked with keeping tabs on our libraries across the country, also receives the statistics on which books are asked to be removed from library shelves across the nation. Parents, usually, are the ones submitting requests for bans on books.

To be clear, the American Library Association does not ban books. They simply keep track of the books across the nation that are most challenged - "to inform the public about censorship efforts that affect libraries and schools".

For reference, the most challenged series from the past decade (2000-2009) was the Harry Potter series.
​
​Every year, they release the list and the reasons books are asked to be removed. Without further ado:

​2. Fifty Shades of Grey, by E. L. James
Reasons for Banning: Sexually explicit, unsuited to age group, and other (“poorly written,” “concerns that a group of teenagers will want to try it”).

6. The Holy Bible
Reasons for Banning: Religious viewpoint.
​

Aside from usually banned books, this year's seems to include coming of age stories in the era of homosexuality, refugee crises and marginalized individuals. It's not often that we see picture books on the Banned Book List (the last was Tango Makes Three) and it's worth noting that many of these books are true stories or memoirs of true events.

Enjoy (and keep reading, even if they are tricky subjects)!

This is possibly going to be the quickest of the quick literacy tips, ever. And the easiest to do. When Liliana was just starting to handle books, we signed her up for Babybug (you can see Grandpa reading it to her above) and the Sesame Street magazine. She loved them, even though she's just staring at the camera. She would usually pay extra attention to the baby magazines.

Sign your kids up for magazines. This branches off of last week's quick literacy tip because...everyone LOVES getting mail. Not junk mail, real mail!

​In case you're wondering what that list is, you can find it here. It includes Harry Potter, The Chocolate War, Scary Stories, My Brother Sam is Dead, Fat Kid Rules the World and some great adult classics.

So then, the first thing we need to solve is having books boys like - not just the standard fare. And we can indulge their interests a little bit here. If the little boy reader in your life only wants to read dinosaur books or books about sports, do it. Or, stay with me here...farting books.

For awhile.

The goal is to get them through the gateway of reading. Once they're through, we motivate them to read more complex material (more on that in a different post, but you have to get them consistently reading first!). Boys tend to like edgier material, things that will throw the adults in their lives for a loop. Those are usually books that we don't always keep around in our school libraries. 

The idea here is to engage your boy readers. We must use the topics they like and stock their libraries full of books they would most likely pick up and find interesting. If they can't find the books that are interesting to them, they start to believe that they don't exist. And that reading is not for them. 

So, what interests them? You know your reader best, but the research bears this out. Boys tend to like:

• Books in series. Once they find one they like, they want to know there are more of them.
• Graphic Novels
• Comics
• Succinct texts - magazines and newspapers, which are not always kept in classrooms
• Books with male main characters in action settings -Harry Potter and Gary Paulsen books

​So, what are some of the banned books that are appropriate for boys in elementary and middle school?

• The Stupids Series (for younger readers) - Level K
• Goosebumps Stories, Guided Reading Levels range from O to U
• Scary Stories, Level P
• Captain Underpants, Level P
• The Adventures of Super Diaper Baby, Level Q
• The Boy Who Lost His Face, Level R
• Saga - series of graphic novels, no Level
• Bone - Ranges from Levels S to W
• Harry Potter, Level V (and bonus, there is a new Illustrated Harry Potter series)
• Harris and Me, Level V
• Athletic Shorts, Level Y
• Friday Night Lights, Level Y
• His Dark Materials, Level Z
• Fallen Angels (for middle schoolers content wise), Level Z
• A Day No Pigs Would Die, Level Z
• The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, Level Z
• Fat Kid Rules the World
• Grendel
• The Chocolate War

And bonus, a number of these are series and can be followed immediately up with the next book. Keep in mind, you can also read these with your boys. They can be your read-aloud book. 

​Let's get our boys reading enthusiastically. Enjoy!

Dads are awesome in all sorts of ways. 

Now that that's out of the way...

​Dads who read are more awesome. 

​Reading aloud to your kids is a great skill to have. As we discussed last week, reading aloud to your kids is important and there are ways to make it fun at home and reachable. You can read stories over and over and over again. Day after day. You can focus on the art one day, words another day, story the next. For bigger kids, you can practice your inflection while reading. You can choral read. You can do it at the library. You can can do it in a new place altogether. There are lots of possibilities - and we'll get to them. But one of the best is, handing reading aloud to your kid off to your partner.

I love reading. And, I love reading to Liliana. I love getting lost in the story - getting loud, whispering, pointing out pictures, catching funny words in a story and seeing the bigger picture. I love listening to her say, out loud, the parts of stories that she knows - showing me that she's latched on to a story. I used to love reading to bigger kids and middle school kids because they get so into a story. You can see them analyzing its believability as you read it. You can see the wheels turning.

And sometimes, Dads are the best to get those wheels turning.

By second grade, most students start to identify reading as a feminine activity. Moms do the bulk of the reading aloud at home and many elementary school teachers are women. Boys see girls reading more at school and this contributes to the cycle. 

And it follows, fathers only read to their children an average of 15% of the time. Jim Trelease, in The Read Aloud Handbook, posits that boys who are read to by their fathers enjoy higher reading achievement scores. And sons who see their fathers read recreationally, read more themselves. Makes a lot of sense.

So, what's the big deal? This is not new, but girls are outperforming boys in overall reading achievement. Anecdotally, I always had a harder time getting my middle school boys to read for fun. And, I'm not the only one - engaging boys in the classroom is a topic of discussion for many teachers.

Much of this is due to the differences in motivation to read, having good reading choices and having good reading role models. Studies show girls are more intrinsically motivated to read and have an easier time finding books to read. Boys have a harder time and start to shy away from reading in the classroom (and at home). A lot of my boy students wanted to read about dinosaurs and sports and that starts to wear thin after awhile.

Boys also perceive themselves to have a lower ability to read than girls. This perception of lower ability starts early in elementary school and persists through to high school and you guessed it - this perception concurs in timing. It's right when reading is identified as a girls' activity. 

Let's make it an everybody activity. And, let me amend my earlier statement.

​Mom, hand off the reading aloud time every once in awhile because Dads who read to their kids and read recreationally in front of their kids are the most awesome. Dads who read to their boys have an extra level of awesome added on.

Enjoy!

And, in case you're wondering, it's Judy Blume's, Tales of a 4th Grade Nothing, that's getting those two reading goofballs laughing. And, Joe will read it to Liliana for real one day.