Boys and Books

Last night, I came across a post Amy (MyFriendAmysBlog) had written about “Reading & Gender“, and it got me thinking… Of course, then, today, I had to go back and click through the links she gave in her post to read the other articles on this subject. Fascinating stuff! And, now I feel led to write my own opinion on the topic! LOL.

Basically, the discussion is about boys and books. Why is it that the market for teens seems to be aimed at its female readers more so than the males? You can argue that girls are buying and reading more, and so that’s why there are also all of these books written with them in mind. But, I like to also argue back the other side of the coin, and say that, perhaps it’s specifically because books are being written with the girls in mind that they are the gender that is reading (and buying) more.

I won’t bother to argue that there is “nothing out there for teen boys“, as I know that that’s just not true. I have a 12-year-old son, so I know it’s just a matter of taking the time to look, and of finding the right kind of books that will appeal to them.

Staciajo, a commenter on Amy’s post (and also a librarian), says that boys like books that are filled with “sports, adventure, spy stories, blood, guts, gore, survival, war stories, gross-out, edgy, serial killers, murder, etc.” And, I’d have to agree! I even know grown men who still lean towards these themes! LOL

Amy thinks that part of the problem lies in the books’ cover art, and that a possible fix would be to take the usual “faces” off, and just use thematic elements from the story as part of the cover (see “Twilight“ by Stephenie Meyer, “The Hunger Games” by Suzanne Collins, and “Bitten” by Kelly Armstrong, for examples).

         

Of course, the real problem still lies in that there just aren’t a ton of books out there that are written with teen boys in mind. They exist, yes, but they aren’t as readily accessible as the books for teen girls are. Most books written for the Young Adult market feature female main characters, and deal with female issues like boy-crushes, girly friendships, and fashion dilemmas. Even the new paranormal craze (vampires, werewolves, faeries, etc) includes a lot of romance, or female protagonists. Sure, some boys will brave it and read these — but they’ll more than likely be teased for reading a “girly book”.*

I really do think that there’s a need for more books that would appeal to teen boys. But not just that, there’s also a need for the stigma against boys reading (“it’s a girly pasttime” -or- “reading is for geeks & nerds” -or- “it’s just plain NOT cool”) to be done away with. And, again, it might help if the book covers were changed to be more gender-neutral — not all pastels, or female bodies, or sappy romantic scenes.

Just my two cents’ worth…

* ((Even I, a woman, get gruff from people — usually my DH, though — for reading YA paranormal books. Hubby rolls his eyes at me when he sees me reading yet another vampire novel, or another title with the library’s “young adult” sticker on the spine. But, I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: The books written for adult women are just too much of the same-old, same-old for me… so I find myself drawn to the “new and exciting” plots in YA literature)).

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