When talking reading with other parents of boys, something like this crops up in nearly every conversation:   “Stevie used to love to read, but now he hates it,” OR  “I just cannot get my boys to read…”

Reading is not a gender specific activity, but I do think that parents play a role in making it such by reinforcing societal notions that boys can only be entertained with active pursuits and the latest technology.  The reason boys–and girls–do not read is that their parents don’t read, their parents don’t read to them and with them, and they are not raised in a language-rich home environment.

To parents of boys who don’t enjoy reading, I usually recommend some sort of adventure book, non-fiction reading about something the child is interested in, or a junior novelization of a favorite film. The whole idea is the interest the child in the subject so that they want to bury their nose in a book, even for a short period of time a day.

While the reasons children don’t read are not gender-related, the books that interest them CAN be tailored to a child’s sex.  Boys will be boys, and they like reading about other boys who live interesting lives and who do daring and dramatic things–boys like Alex Rider.

My son discovered Anthony Horowitz’s The Alex Rider Series
during the last school year, when he purchased nearly every book in the series at his school book fair. He just started  book one, Stormbreaker , which he told mom and dad all about on our return trip from grandma’s last night.The story we heard involves murder, action, suspense, and spy-story intrigue… at one point in the telling, my husband asked if my son saw this on TV!

Fourteen-year-old Alex’s uncle has been killed in what appears to be a tragic  car accident, but Alex suspects foul play anddiscovers clues, like a windshield full of bullet holes, a bloodied driver’s seat, and the fact that his uncle was an operative for a top-secret British spy agency.

Young Alex is recruited by the MI-6 Agency to learn more about the Stormbreaker–a supercomputer that is to be distributed free to children. Alex’s instincts tell him the Stormbreaker’s creator isn’t as charitable as he seems and is up to no good. So, with some fantastical spy tools, he sets out to prove it and save the world.

Stormbreaker is the first book in The Alex Rider Series series of seven Alex Rider thrillers by Anthony Horowitz,, including Point Blank, Scorpio, Snakehead, and Skeleton Key.

The writing is top-notch, and the story is fast paced, with cliffhanger chapter ends that keep the reader flipping pages. I also find Horowitz’s prose perfect for reading aloud. I think we’ll try to read the sequel as a family.