'Boy books' won't solve the reading crisis - young people need the chance to explore reading without limits

The Bookmark Reading Charity claims a quarter leave primary school unable to read well.

There are many reasons for this, but one factor worth paying particular attention to is the stark contrast between boys and girls. Separate figures from the National Literacy Trust found only 25.7 per cent of boys enjoy reading in their free time, compared to 39.1 per cent of girls.

The explanation given is often that boys do not enjoy reading because they're being pushed towards the wrong books. We're told that to solve the problem, books need to be louder, more exciting, and ideally blood-soaked. Having been an English teacher in schools for over a decade, and now live-streaming English lessons to thousands, I know that is not how it works.

From an early age, reading is gendered. Boys learn which stories are considered ‘cool’, which emotions are acceptable to feel when reading, and which forms of intellectual curiosity are likely to be mocked. This framing shapes how boys see reading long before exams or attainment gaps even enter the conversation. Then, when they do, schools overwhelmingly pander to this discourse, prescribing, for example, Macbeth over Romeo and Juliet – to make Shakespeare ‘palatable’ for boys.

This myth of ‘boy books’ does real harm. It narrows reading down to one-dimensional stories built around aggression or dominance. The overwhelming message boys receive is that reading is fine, as long as it reinforces orthodox masculinity and does not ask you to feel too much or think too deeply.

The consequences of this are significant for development too. Boys fall behind in reading at primary school, and these gaps are reflected in exam results and in disparities in confidence, emotional literacy, and self-expression as they grow up. When reading feels like something you are not meant to enjoy, disengagement is inevitable, and the ramifications last a lifetime.

We need to change this by ending the concept of 'boy books' and by giving boys a broader range of options. I have seen many young men tear up in my classroom when reading Jane Eyre. Had we stuck to the ‘safe’ option among 19th-century novels, with something like Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, this experience may have been lost.

There is also another issue: the shortage of male English teachers. When boys don’t see men reading for pleasure or engaging emotionally with literature, it shapes their assumptions about who reading belongs to. Intellectual curiosity and emotional depth are not at odds with masculinity, but are part of it. Seeing more male English teachers at an early age goes a long way in achieving this.

With renewed attention on literacy, this is a moment for honesty. If we want confident, articulate and emotionally literate young men, we must stop underestimating them and make space for them to become whatever readers they want to be.

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Louis Provis is Head of English at MyEdSpace, an online learning platform, and has spent over a decade in classrooms around the UK.

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