From my own experience, I was a below average reader in the 6th grade. I tested at a 5th grade reading level. It wasn't due to a lack of example - my parents read a lot and we always had books in our house. I was just bored out of my mind with the books we had to read in school.

The key for me was to find books on a subject that interested me. By the 7th grade, I became very interested in aviation and space. Since my junior high library was so limited, I went to the Huntsville Public Library and started going through their entire collection. Huntsville is the home of Redstone Arsenal, Army Missile Command, and Marshall Space Flight Center, so the library had a good selection of books on the subject.

The library allowed me to check out up to 10 books for 3 weeks at a time. I went every week and checked out 10 books, keeping as many as 30 books at home at any given time. I read them all, including those way beyond my mathematical ability. Astrodynamics, aeronautics, aerodynamics, histories, biographies, it was a wonderful time. That was also the year I became near-sighted (ending my dream of being a military pilot). I don't know if there was a connection between my reading and going near-sighted.

As a result of finding books I enjoyed, my reading scores and other grades increased rapidly. By the 8th grade, I tested as reading at the "grade 14+" (junior of college) level. That was quite an improvement in only 2 years.

Over the years, I broadened my scope to include fiction. It started with science fiction but later included a wide range of novels. In the 8th grade, I didn't care much for fiction because "it wasn't true." I later learned that a good novel can tell truths that are beyond most nonfiction.

Thank you for your efforts at finding reading materials that boys will like to read. That's the key - if they're not interested in the topic, then they won't read.