ATLANTA (Map) - ATLANTA, May 9 /PRNewswire/ -- If boys will be boys, why not engage them with reading they might be more likely to enjoy?

That's what needs to be done in public education if American boys are to make up ground in reading, said award-winning children's author Jon Scieszka at the International Reading Association's (IRA) annual convention in Atlanta this week.

Although boys have lagged behind girls on reading tests for the last 30 years, all is not lost, said Scieszka at IRA, where he is contributing in his role as a new member of Pearson Education's author team for reading and language arts.

"Boys can be motivated to read by texts they want to read," said the highly popular author and expert in books for boys. "I am really looking forward to bringing what we have learned about boys and reading to the classroom. I think we can make a huge difference."

In announcing its partnership with Scieszka, Pearson, the world's leading educational publisher, said the award-winning children's writer will serve as a member of Pearson's reading and language arts author team for preK-12 materials. This includes Pearson's new customized Reading Street for California elementary grades program, recently submitted for consideration to the California Department of Education.

Well-known for his commitment to initiatives to engage boys in reading for fun, Scieszka will bring his "Guys Read" (www.guysread.com) perspective to Pearson's literature programs. Pearson has obtained the exclusive education rights to Scieszka's newly debuted Trucktown book series. Scieszka says, "Trucktown is a place where everyone is a truck, and everyone acts like a preschooler -- smashing and crashing and learning by playing."

Statistics show that boys have not only fallen behind, but are being lapped by girls, and therefore require special attention and new approaches. For example:

    -- The U.S. Department of Education reading tests for the last 30 years
       show boys scoring worse than girls in every age group, every year;
    -- Eighth grade boys are 50 percent more likely to be held back than
       girls;
    -- Two-thirds of special education students in high school are boys;
    -- Overall college enrollment is higher for girls than boys.

One of the reasons boys have trouble reading, Scieszka said, is that they don't get to read for a purpose that makes sense to them. So they turn off to all of reading.

"No one book can be right for every kid. We need to make more of an effort to connect kids with many different kinds of reading," he said.

"If we can expand the notion of what reading is, we'll have a better chance of inspiring boys to want to be readers, This means expanding our definition of reading to include boy-friendly nonfiction, humor, comics, graphic novels, action-adventure magazines, websites and newspapers in school reading," Scieszka said. "Let boys know that all these materials count as reading."

According to Scieszka, boys often have trouble reading for the following reasons:

    -- Biologically, boys are slower to develop than girls and often struggle
       with reading and writing skills early on;
    -- The action-oriented, competitive learning style of many boys works
       against them when learning to read and write;
    -- As a society, we teach boys to suppress feelings. Boys often don't feel
       comfortable exploring the emotions and feelings found in fiction;
    -- Boys don't have enough positive male role models for literacy. Because
       the majority of adults involved in kids' reading are women, boys might
       not see reading as a masculine activity.

"For years, teachers have been telling us that they have a huge issue with identifying literature that boys like," said Pearson Senior Vice President for Reading Dean Brown. "As developers of reading and literature programs for schools, we are continuously working with teachers and leading researchers to find new ways to motivate and engage all students. Jon Scieszka's work is a major leap forward in addressing the challenge of motivating young boys to read," said Brown. He added, "Jon brings us a compelling and extremely relevant perspective on education and reading, and we are all very excited to have him joining our team."

Scieszka is the author of numerous bestselling children's titles, including "The Stinky Cheese Man," which won a Caldecott Honor medal, "The True Story of the Three Little Pigs" and the Time Warp Trio, a chapter book series. He was recently named the National Ambassador for Young People's Literature by the Library of Congress.

About Pearson

Pearson (NYSE: PSO) is the global leader in educational publishing, assessment, information and services, helping people of all ages to learn at their own pace, in their own way. For students preK-12, Pearson provides effective and innovative curriculum products in all available media, educational assessment and measurement for students and teachers, student information systems, and teacher professional development and certification programs. The company's respected brands include Scott Foresman, Prentice Hall, Longman, AGS, PowerSchool, SuccessMaker, TeacherVision and many others. Pearson's comprehensive offerings help inform targeted instruction and intervention so that success is within reach of every student. Pearson's other primary businesses include the Financial Times Group and the Penguin Group.