If kids are reading, does it matter what they read?

Is it OK if boys are reading books about farts as long as they're reading?

According to a Washington Post article, boys lag behind girls in reading, and some teachers, librarians and authors are hoping that books about more boy-centric topics might get them to read.

The article explains:

Parents of reluctant readers complain that boys are forced to stick to stuffy required school lists that exclude nonfiction or silly subjects, or have teachers who cater to higher achievers and girls. They're hoping books that exploit boys' love of bodily functions and gross-out humor can close the gap.

Some of the most popular topics, according to the article, include "sports and historical nonfiction, potty humor, bloodthirsty vampires and action-packed graphic novels, fantasy and sleuthing." One librarian even held an armpit-noise demonstration. If you've ever been around an elementary school boy, you know that this will thrill them beyond anything else you can do. My 11-year-old nephew loves all that kind of stuff.

But books about bodily functions such as "SweetFarts" and "Captain Underpants" (which, I'll admit, I haven't read), or even a lot of popular books for kids (in my day, it was "Goosebumps" and "The Babysitter's Club") aren't on reading lists that kids get at school. I never had much of a problem with that - I was a voracious reader and read a lot of "classics" as well as some popular fiction - but many kids just want to read something fun. By forcing them to read "literature" all the time, it's easy to turn them off from reading forever. I'm not saying that kids should never have to read more challenging books, because there are books that every American should be required to read. But by forcing children and teens to only read a certain list of books, it's not much of a stretch for kids to just stop reading altogether.

Parents and schools need to realize this, and allow children to read what they want to read. My Book Tart partner Kelly and I were very lucky - our parents let us read literally anything we wanted to read growing up, and we had more than one librarian, teacher or other adult question what we were reading and whether our parents knew what book we had in our possession. I know that I tried reading several books that I just could never finish, because they were too difficult for me. Kelly and I both probably read some books that were at least marginally inappropriate for us when we read them - Kelly was reading Stephen King horror novels at a pretty young age. But, you know what? We turned out all right, and we still read like crazy ... even to the point that we actually started this blog to write about what we read!

Reading, and literacy in general, is a very, very important part of building a productive, educated society. Let kids read what they want, so that they can foster that love of reading and be part of a better society.