Are MG boys slower readers than girls?

Wish you could remember the agent, I'd like to read that.

But this is the first I heard of it. Although it might be part of the whole myth that "girls develop soon than boys."

On the AVERAGE, more girls read for pleasure than boys. However, that is often a product of the books we offer them.

More boys than girls read these series: DIARY OF A WIMPY KID, CIRQUE DU FREAK, LIGHTNING THIEF.

My principal just posted the Accelerated Reader total-words-read ranking. #1 reader at our school is a girl, at 2.5 million words read since school began. #2 and #3, at over 1 million words each, both boys. Top ten kids, equal numbers of boys and girls, including kid #8, my own son. (go, Kevin!!!)

So I believe that agent is acting off a stereotype. Boys will read voraciously if we give them books they enjoy. And I know plenty of girls who just aren't into reading, no matter how hard we try to motivate them.

Hey look! A whole report.

http://www.educationalliance.org/Downloads/Research/GenderDifferences.pdf

There are tools (including many free ones online) which will calculate your reading level. You'll probably find that most normal fiction writing supposedly hits at a very low grade level. To get to higher grades you really need to be writing about science or other specialized subjects--anything that requires long sentences and multi-syllabic words.

Start with the Wikipedia article and then Google your way to links to calculators of choice.

I think the differences must be cultural myself. For thousands of years people assumed men and boys had higher reading skills than women and girls; now we all believe the opposite.

mware01 said:

BTW: It must be hard for your son to have to see Mom at school! I know I would have been sooo embarrassed (hopefully he's more mature than I was).

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This one doesn't mind at all. My older one...pretended he didn't know me from about second grade on. Which was hard to do, what with everyone yelling, Scott! Scott! Look, there's your mom!

But my younger one is quite quirky, so more often I'm the one who ends up embarrassed. Just a little.

The agent said boy MG readers are at a different level than girls.

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lol

I've read somewhere (I too can't remember the source) that boys develop at a slower rate at school because there are too many female teachers causing a lack of proper male role models to inspire them.

That said, I doubt it has much effect on their fun reading. If you offer them interesting books, they'll make the effort.

JudScotKev said:

On the AVERAGE, more girls read for pleasure than boys. However, that is often a product of the books we offer them.

More boys than girls read these series: DIARY OF A WIMPY KID, CIRQUE DU FREAK, LIGHTNING THIEF.

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My son hated reading. Hated it. Until he got his hands on the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series. OMG. I can't get that boy to put the books down now. It is awesome. I think there are more books geared toward younger girls than books written with younger boys as their intended audience.

Girl or boy, it's all about finding something they enjoy reading. Once they have that, they're unstoppable.

mware01 said:

If so, how much? Is it enough that I need to be careful how many big words I use when writing with a male MC or reader in mind?

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When I was a kid, I avoided YA precisely because I thought the authors were writing down to me. Don't do this. Use as many big words as you need to tell the story.

Reading is a skill; the more of it you do, the better you'll get at it. Getting better means you'll be able to read faster.

One other HUGE difference that I've seen again and again: At the younger ages, the "beginning reader" stage of first and second grade, boys are much more likely to be motivated by FACTS. They want to learn ABOUT something. Stories about people and friendship just aren't as interesting to them, unless the stories are really, really funny.

So those boys will read MAGIC TREEHOUSE books, because they can learn about lions or tigers or polar bears. They will read CAPTAIN UNDERPANTS because it's gross and funny. But they are less likely to get hooked on a character like girls will on Fancy Nancy or Junie B. Jones.

I buy every easy-to-read science book I can get my hands on, because I know that's what the boys want to read. I wish more publishers put out non-fiction lines at a second-grade reading level. The trend is there, though; I've seen a lot more new titles in recent years.