I think reading lists are skewed towards girls because about the time the guys hit 6th grade they start reading nonfiction material about subjects they are interested in. Girls, meanwhile, are still reading novels. So, by default, reading lists of novels are more likely to have stories girls will like. Whoever made your son's list goofed, also. Girls will read books with a male protagonist, boys will not read a book with a female protagonist. One year I got a book on tape of my son's summer reading assignment and we listened to it on our summer vacation. It worked very well. Good Luck.

The real issue is that girls are able and willing to read books with male protagonists but boys find female main characters unappealing. By continuing to re0nforce this, boys lose out and girls continue to excel in reading and school in general. Perhaps if boys were able to "get into" a book with female main characters they might understand the perspective of girls/women more. A good book is a good book regardless of the gender--or gendered traits--of the main character. Isn't that the rationale behind the traditional canon of dead white men?

The short answer is, "Yes summer reading lists are skewed toward girls." This shouldn't be a shock. Most English teachers are female as are the school board functionaries that publicize such lists. Since you are talking about extra credit reading, calling and asking for an alternate title may be appropriate. Or, you can skip all that and just take him to the library.

I second Peg's comments. Why are girls expected to read books about men, but boys are not expected to read books about women?

Meanwhile, boys are reading books about cars, wars, airplanes, astronomy, science, history, computers, video games, sports, and many other subjects. Their reading is different than girls'. They may not read a whole book, just a part that has the information they need. They will read something which may be technically higher than their reading level because they are interested in it. We do them a disservice by primarily using novels and poetry to get them to read. I admit, Harry Potter came along when my son was in the third grade and we used the breaks between books to read the Narnia series, the Redwall series, the Golden Compass series, and even some of the Tolkien books. Note that most of these books are considered pretty good literature but they are all adventures. When you are trying to make a life long reader of a child, you fit the reading to what interests him, then when you have 'hooked' him, you can expand his horizons.

As Peg and Bradley both noted, girls are more willing to read books with protoganists of both sexes but boys will not. Perhaps you should encourage your son to expand his horizons?

This sounds like the BCPS reading list that my daughter had for her GT freshman class last year. If so, all I can say is good luck with the Once and Future King. I know it's a good book, but it's long and even I, a vociferous reader, had trouble wading through that one with the older style of writing. The good news is that the sophomore list is broader; my daughter is currently reading "Of Mice and Men". She read the other required book, "To Kill a Mockingbird" in her 7th grade English class at a private school, so she just needs to look that one over.

The book readings are less among the boys. Many of them are not willing to read books and they likes to watch movies or to go out. But most of the girls are reading books now.