Dear Maggie,

I’m a fifth grade teacher, and I was hoping you could help me think of a way to get my male students more interested in reading. It seems to me that most girls have a natural affinity for stories, but most boys either never have it at all, or have it and then lose it by the fourth or fifth grade. What can I do to encourage my male students to enjoy stories and maybe even substitute a book every now and then for those videogames they’re always playing?

Thanks,

The Teach

Dear Teach,

I once gave a talk to a group of fifth graders whose teacher had assigned them the task of reading one book per week. R.L. Stine didn’t count, she said. What reason did she have for making that rule? The only one I could see was that the kids wanted to read him. They enjoyed reading Stine. It wasn’t work to them. To me, that means Stine is a gifted storyteller. The kind who can convince kids that they love to read!