Summary

Michael Gurian's blockbuster bestseller The Wonder of Boys is the bible for mothers, fathers, and educators on how to understand and raise boys. It has sold over 400,000 copies, been translated into 17 languages, and sells over 25,000 every year, which is more than any other book on boys in history. To follow up on this first book, which launched the boy's movement, he has now written this revolutionary new book which confronts what he and a lot of other parents and teachers in this country truly believe to be a "boy's crisis".

Here are the facts: Boys today are simply not learning as well as girls Boys receive 70% of the Ds and Fs given all students Boys cause 90% of classroom discipline problems 80% of all high school dropouts are boys Millions of American boys are on Ritalin and other mind-bending control drugs Only 40% of college students are boys And three out of four learning disabled students are boys So what can we do?

Gurian has the answer in this enormously fascinating and practical book which shows parents and teachers how to help boys overcome their current classroom obstacles by helping to create the proper learning environment, understand how to help boys work with their unique natural gifts, nurture and expand every bit of their potential, and enabling them to succeed in life the way they ought to.

Gurian presents a whole new way of solving the problem based on the success of his program in schools across the country, the latest research and application of neuro-biological research on how boys' brains actually work and how they can learn very well if they're properly taught.

Anyone who cares about the future of our boys must read this book.

Booklist Review

Gurian, author of The Wonder of Boys (1996), and Stevens investigate the male learning style that is so often at odds with current educational practices, leaving the mistaken impression that boys are difficult to manage and teach. The authors begin by detailing the crisis faced by boys--lower grades, greater discipline problems, higher dropout rates. They then explore research on the differences between the male and the female brain that account for their differences in conforming to current teaching methods. Throughout the book, Gurian and Stevens offer advice to parents and teachers on how to encourage learning based on the particular strengths of boys, from bursts of attention and physical play with infant boys to appropriate discipline as they grow older to developing a more boy-friendly curriculum at schools. The authors emphasize that their strategies are aimed at boosting the learning and academic performance of boys without disadvantaging girls in any way. Parents and teachers concerned about teaching and disciplining boys will appreciate this thought-provoking perspective. --Vanessa Bush Copyright 2005 Booklist

Library Journal Review

In this follow-up to his best-selling The Wonder of Boys, therapist and "social philosopher" Gurian, along with Stevens, a specialist in education and child development, makes a strong case for an educational crisis. The nature of "boy energy" and boys' general needs require mentoring and hands-on learning, but the typical classroom setting is still that of a lone teacher lecturing to a large group of students. This mismatch, according to the authors, leads to a frustrating educational experience for many boys, overdiagnosis of ADD and ADHD in others, and even lifelong repercussions for some. Thankfully, solutions are offered: advocacy and modifications to traditional educational methods by parents and teachers that in no way threaten the progress made recently in the education of girls. Gurian covered similar ground in Boys and Girls Learn Differently!: A Guide for Teachers and Parents, but this book stresses how boys are lagging behind girls in the classroom. Logically organized, readable, and meticulously documented, it would make a useful addition to parenting and education collections in any library.-Kay Hogan Smith, Univ. of Alabama at Birmingham Lib., Lister Hill (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.