Boys into Books 5-11

Remember last week's blog, here, about boys and non-fiction? This week, I'm going to talk about some great examples of books that many boys love to read. They are also books that lots of girls love to read.

Back in August 2007, when Create Readers was just getting going, I blogged (here) about the "Riveting Reads Plus: Boys into Books 11-14" list on the British School Library website. This is a list of over 160 books to attract and enthuse boys of 11-14 about reading for pleasure.

Since then, this post has continued to be one of our most frequently linked to pages, showing that the topic of boys and books is continuing to be of keen interest to our readers.

Last year, Britain's School Library Association wrote another publication, chock full of wonderful books for boys aged 5-11. It is available in full for free download as a PDF document.

If you haven't yet seen it, you can download Riveting Reads Plus: Boys into Books 5-11, here.

This list focuses mainly (but not only) on books by British writers. It includes mostly recent books, published within the last 3 years, with some older favourites. The list is divided into sections on Youngest; Middle Years; and Older Readers. The latter section is a good one to look at if you have good readers at your Primary/Intermediate school who want meaty stories without the teenage content that is not right for them. Each section includes areas of interest, for example dinosaurs galore for the youngest; middle year funnies; and fantasy for the older readers.

As we discussed last week, boys often love non-fiction, and this list does not disappoint, with separate sections on Folk Tales, Myths and Legends; a substantial list of General Information Books; and Poetry.

Watch out next week for more information about getting boys reading.