Parents are our childrens' first teachers.  All learning starts in our homes. One of the greatest gifts you can give to a child is to read to them.   Start reading to your child, even before your baby is born. Your unborn child loves to hear your voice.  This also establishes a common learning bond between parents and child.

Here are a few books you might consider reading to your unborn child

• Good Night Moon
• The Very Hungry Caterpillar
• Rainbow Fish
• Runaway Bunny
• Are You My Mother?

One of the greatest gifts that our American democracy offers is free public libraries. Books and DVDs are free to check out.  Get to know your library. Encourage friends and relatives to buy books, not toys, as gifts. Ask them to write a short, personal note to the child in the cover of the book. Books often become treasured keepsakes for your child. Model reading. This is especially important if modeled by men. Boys need to see men reading.

Dedicate shelf space to books for boys.
We hope that you’ll even establish a BoysRead.org section and host a Reading Tribe at your store.

You don’t have to be a man or a parent to make an impact. If you have a passion for reading or for books, get involved. Start your own Reading Tribe. In his wonderful book, Connecting Boys with Books, Michael Sullivan states, “We must recognize that boys long for role models, and that their world is largely devoid of men.  If we fail to give boys male role models who read, then they are likely to find their role models with more destructive habits.“

• Lead the way. Transforming boys into lifelong readers is a tangible and measurable learning initiative.
• Establish Reading Tribes at your school.
• Host a Boys Literacy Day.
• Conduct ongoing Recycle Book Drives for at-risk children.
• Buy new books specifically targeted for at-risk children.
• Initiate alternative ways for stimulating boys' interest in reading. For example, dramatize Lord of The Flies.

Below, we have extracted five key excerpts from Connecting Boys with Books: What Librarians Can Do. The American Library Association published this thought-provoking book in 2003.  The author, Michael Sullivan, is one of America’s leading authorities on how to transform boys into lifelong readers.  Mr. Sullivan writes from the point-of-view of a librarian speaking to fellow librarians.

5 Key Excerpts from Sullivan’s book:

1. “In the end, we want boys to read.  It is such a simple goal, but obviously we find ourselves challenged, frustrated, and even thwarted by it.  Much works against our success.  Boys must overcome challenges from within and obstructions from without to become active readers.”
    
2. "External forces push in on boys, making it harder for them to develop as readers.  Peer pressure, social stereotypes, and an aggressive mass media bombard the preadolescent boy with discouragements.  Men are active, assertive, heedless of consequences, and disparaging of mental activity.  Reinforcing these images, boys do not see men read.  The people they see in schools and libraries are almost exclusively women."
    
3. “Without an active reading life, boys are almost destined to fall behind, and stay behind, in the acquisition and effective use of language.”
    
4. "Boys’ reading skills suffer as they struggle with other transitional issues — issues of identity, separation, and social development, in the early elementary years.  We need to realize that these transitional issues can put boys so far behind in reading they may never catch up.  We can help boys through this struggle by offering recreational reading that they can identify with, and by allowing them to read below their level if that is what it takes to develop good reading habits.”
    
5. “We can accomplish these objectives by applying the best of traditional librarianship and being open to new ways of doing things.”