The Boys Will Read | Parent Series
Back in June 2016, I published the first book in the Boys Will Read | Parent Series, Boys and Books. I wrote it two years after I left the teaching profession because I found myself still worried about boys who resist reading; it literally kept me up at night.
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That's because whenever I spoke to parents of boys- friends, neighbors, strangers, my hairdresser, my bank manager- they all lamented how much work it took for them to get their sons to read. Many felt like "the enforcer," and they noticed the more they enforced reading, the more their relationship deteriorated.
To make sure reading was the culprit and their son didn't have other hot-button issues to address first, I would ask, "Is it just when you ask your son to read or talk to him about books that things go south quickly?" For many, they hung their heads and answered yes, as happened during the 20+ years I taught literacy.
Not that living with a 9- to-14-year-old boy is ever easy, but I've found there's something about an adverse reading relationship with boys that feels heavy on the heart.
Maybe it's because instinctually parents know the importance of the daily reading habit, but they're stuck in understanding how to help their son develop it.
Or maybe they feel guilty because they don't read and recognize that their son is just following the example they set.
Whatever the reason, I knew I could help by using my experience and expertise around boys and books to show parents how to build a beneficial reading relationship with their sons before it was too late (after 8th-grade graduation seems to be the line). And after a heart-to-heart conversation with my hairdresser about her son and his resistance to reading while sitting in her chair, we decided the best way for me to reach parents was by writing a book.
What I didn't realize was just how passionate I was and how much I had to say about helping boys develop the daily reading habit. It took three books to share it all, and those three books now make up the Boys Will Read | Parent Series.
Book 1, Boys and Books: is a book written just for parents so they can develop the reading mindset and the reading environment before talking to their son about his reading habit.
Book 2, Real Boys Read: is a step-by-step book written for parents so they can coach their son to develop the daily reading habit in 90 days.
Book 3, Win the Reading Game: is the Real Boys Read companion playbook for boys.
It's taken me two and a half years to publish all three books, but I did it. Now any parent who is worried about their son who resists reading and their adverse reading relationship with him, they don't need to anymore.
Everything I know to be true that helped me help parents help their sons develop the daily reading habit in 90 days is available to read and use with their sons. And because of this, I no longer lie awake at night, worried about boys and reading.
I've done my part. I've given all I have and all I know. It's now up to just one person in a 9- to 14-year-old boy's life to become the reading-habit coach he needs to read and succeed.
