Boys’ and girls’ reading habits and the literacy gap between the sexes.

Much has been said by the media in recent times about boys’ and girls’ reading habits and the literacy gap between the sexes.

One theory is that children’s books tend not to contain the elements many boys are typically attracted to, such as battling pirates, or technical details about vehicles or spacecraft.

Supported by a grant from Creative New Zealand, 2014 NZ Post Finalist Donovan Bixley set out to appeal to exactly these kids – boys (or girls!) interested in bloody battles, gore and ghouls – in his new illustrated novel Monkey Boy, published this month by Scholastic New Zealand. (rrp $16.50)

The art of exciting boy readers

Award-winning author and illustrator Donovan Bixley wonders if a picture tells a thousand words, why should books stop having illustrations as the readers get older? His latest creation Monkey Boy is an innovative hybrid – part novel, part comic and all action – which he hopes will get young readers excited about books. Bixley calls it “History disguised as a rollicking yarn.”

“Donovan Bixley writes as well as he draws, and Monkey Boy is both gloriously funny and gleefully disgusting. Young Jimmy is a powder monkey, the lowliest member of Nelson’s navy, and the indomitable hero of this rollicking ocean-going yarn. Only readers brave enough to face nausea, ghosts, monsters, bullies and sea battles should sign on for this exciting voyage in HMS Fury.”

––Trevor Agnew, children’s book reviewer

It took Bixley six years to complete the ambitious project, mainly due to the fact that he was in such demand – he had 21 other books to complete over the period. “I specifically set out to create the type of book that I would have loved as a kid,” says Bixley, citing the

discovery of The Black Adder as a young boy. “It was funny and gruesome and it sparked a lifelong love of history. I wanted to create a book that would do that for young readers today. Readers who may not normally pick up a fictional story like this. History is fun, but often kids get put off because they perceive that it’s just a bunch of boring names and dates. Bixley describes his new junior fiction comic/novel Monkey Boy as “Black Adder meets Hornblower with pictures”.