Storybookers

So does putting reading in the 'for pleasure' category get boys into reading?

I've never been a big fan of the 'Reading For Joy' movement.   So I was really pleased when figure published this week showed that the 'Reading for Pleasure' drive is beginning to bear fruit.  When I heard this my first reaction was, Reading for pleasure' when did that happen.  The last I heard it was called 'Reading of Joy'.  I'm sure there more to this than changing a word but does this have something to do with it's success.

What's in a name

So does the name change have something to do with literacy drive's success?  Could be, and I'll tell you why.  I've always found the 'for joy' labelling a little off-putting. And I feel that many boys, the hardest group to reach when it comes to reading, may feel the same.

I doubt that many boys outside of the Famous Five novels would ever dream of using the word 'Joy'.  I was told off the other day by a 10 year old pupil of mine because I said he had a 'nice' singing voice.  "Nice! That something you'd called an old lady", he said,  "Can't you call it radical'.   Now we don't have to get all trendy vicar about it and call it radical reading.  But I feel a rethink in our approach to getting reluctant boys into reading is worth serious consideration.

Even the 'for pleasure' approach has a serious downside.  I know some people may disagree with me on this but many boys still see reading as boring and uncool.   And I'm not sure that just telling them it's a pleasurable experience will change that. 

Kids take things pretty literally.  By putting books down as pleasure it's now competing with all the other things that a child associates with enjoyment and having fun.  For a boy this box could also be filled with:

• Football
• Sweet and Ice cream
• Cutting worms in half 
• Playstation
• Water guns
• Tormenting girls
• Tormenting adults

In this company sitting quietly and struggling to keep you concentration focussed while you make it through the latest kiddie potboiler might not be as appealing.  I'm sure there are adults who would also put some of the things on the list ahead of reading a book as a joyful recreational pursuit.  So why do we think children, especially boys, are any different?

Of course we should be encouraging boys to read. But is insisting that they jump for joy at the prospect of delving into the latest kiddies potboiler the only answer?  This approach barely works on girls or adults.   So is there something else we should be doing?

As I fall into the grown-up boy category, I'd like to offer up a few reasons why this latest trend hasn't yielded the desired results.  I'd also like to put forward a few suggestions as to how you can get the little man in your life excited about what lies beneath the standard book jacket.

First thing I want to say is 'I love books'.  Hardly a day goes by without me reading something.   I will visit a library  at least 4 times a week and spend considerable time there reading and researching.   I also have a British Library readers cards.  And, to my wife's consternation, I own a mountain of books.  AsI looks up from my screen I can see my copy of The Chambers 1970 Yearbook, which I've had since that year and refuse to give up.   Also on the bookshelf is: the full Stanislasky series, African folklore,  the Audacity of Hope, Bruce Lee's Toa of Jeet Kune do,  Library of World Poetry and I could go on.   But I do not 'Read for joy in the sense that it's being talked about.

Take a look at the list of books again.  Notice anything?  No fiction.  This is not to say that I don't read fiction.   It's just that they are not my biggest draw.  When it comes to reading fiction I have to say that I prefer to read stage and screenplay to novels. And I don't think that I'm alone in saying that I prefer to be told stories rather than read them.  Be it films, theatre, TV or good old traditional oral storytelling.

The main reason I read for knowledge.  I read to satisfy my curiosity for things.  

Even when I'm reading fiction I'm searching for Information.  An insight into the world or the head of the author.   I seldom read for entertainment purposes.  For the joy of it.  This is not to say I don't get any joy from reading.  I do.   I get immense pleasure from it. But in the found that I now know something I didn't know before. But this is different to reading for joy. Understanding the difference could mean the difference between getting boys into reading and putting them off for life.