Reluctant young adolescent male readers: choosing and using young adult literature to motivate boys to be real readers

Recent studies and research consistently find that boys success, especially success as readers in the English classroom, lags well behind that of girls. A review of the literature indicates that there are hundreds of thousands of nonreading young adult males who need our attention as English teachers. There is much we can do, including altering text choice, discussing openly issues of gender, providing purposeful reading for motivation, and making reading a more authentic and social endeavor. This thesis and the research it presents highlight the perspectives of many teachers, authors, and researchers throughout the field and offers suggestions for motivating reluctant male young adults.