Links: Books for Boys (and a plug for a continuing ed program)

I frequently get requests from my librarians for continuing education workshops on the topic of books for "reluctant readers" (usually this means the librarians want book suggestions for boys). So this blog post is dedicated to assisting them in their quest.

Disclaimer: I am not a Youth Services Librarian (I don't even play one on tv). You may not find any of the sites I posted to be of assistance to you. Feel free to comment with your own recommendations and/or suggestions. I am happy to pass along any helpful information to my librarians.

First, the plug: On Thursday, November 7th, at 10am CST, Megan and Merri from the CCBC will present an hour-long program for OWLS via OPAL called Captivating Choices: High Interest Books for Low Interest Readers. They will feature a selection of high-appeal books for children through teens. (I feel like I jammed a bit too many acronyms into one tiny paragraph. How librarian of me.)

Second, the blogs:
Guys Read is a site run by Jon Scieszka, author of a lot of books (pardon me for being lazy, okay?!). "Guys Picks" breaks books down by age range (sort of), and I really like the "Links" link featuring Guys' favorite authors.

Boys Rule Boys Read! is a blog by Carl and Bill, two librarians in North Carolina. They recommend books for boys and issue fun challenges to their readers.

Books for Boys is another author-run blog where you'll find Max Elliot Anderson's comments about books and boys, and book chapters and information about his works.

Bookclub4Boys assists folks in setting up boy-themed book clubs. It gives links to books, magazines and other resources designed to encourage boys' literacy.

Booksforboys, run by parents of a teenage boy, has nice lists of books broken down by genre and age range.

Books for Boys is a web page of suggested titles by Moms of Boys.

Bookhive is not specifically for boys but the site contains reviews of children's literature. It's a member of the Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenberg County web sites and has won several awards.