Adventures of Jay and Gizmo

Books for Young and Early School-Aged Boys

This is the third in a new series of children's books, The Adventures of Jay and Gizmo. Although they will be of interest to all children, these books are aimed specifically at young and early school-aged indigenous boys. They are written based on educational research into the factors that have been shown to play a role in increasing the probability that boys will develop an interest in reading at an early age.

Educational research has shown that the number 1 predictor that children will experience long-term success in school is the level of reading readiness that they already have when they begin school. The research also shows that young boys who have been provided with books that have specific characteristics are likely to have a higher level of reading readiness when they begin school. These characteristics are as follows:

1. Books that have a male as the central character
2. Books that the boys actually own, even if they cannot yet read them by themselves
3. Books that contain action, adventure, and/or problem-solving by boys
4. Books that portray the central character modeling behaviors such as reading, problem-solving, searching for, and applying knowledge
5. Books in which the vocabulary allows them to be read to boys by their parents in their early years and by the boys themselves once they begin to read for themselves