I was reading at 2.

One of my children taught herself to read full sentences using Garfield comic books on a cross-country car trip when she was 4. All the rest were reading by the age of 6.

Yet there are many children who are not developmentally ready by that age. Some of the developmental reasons are physical, and some are psychological. It's the same as with toilet training: while we certainly don't prevent a 16-month-old from toilet training himself, the average age of achievement is higher, and the age at which it's expected is higher still, for developmental reasons unique to each child. If we postpone the requirement to read proficiently and independently until age 8 for everyone, then the children who can read already will not be prevented, and the children who have not yet mastered the skill for developmental reasons will not be C and D students already at age 9.

No one told my early reader that she was not allowed to read. It might have been entertaining to have someone try...

I once thought the same thing about the boy/girl thing. Then I started dealing with children who were learning to read, and not just my own (who come from a reading culture at home), and with reluctant readers. All the things observed at "Guys Read" are simple but true in my experience, which is why it resonates with me. I'd come to the same conclusions on my own. The big mistake would be to say any of these points is true of all boys.

One other thing that is not mentioned is something I call the Cooties Factor: boys in general will prefer to read fiction featuring a male protagonist, whereas girls will read fiction with a protagonist of either gender. Think about it: which is more likely, to see a boy reading Little Women or a girl reading Treasure Island? When practicing reader's advisory ("to every book its reader and to every reader his book"), an interview process they actually teach in library school, reading specialists who study children's reading habits mention this detail, a kind of literary extension of the gender self-segregation that goes on in elementary school playgrounds. The thought is, to offer several suggestions, including some with female protagonists, but to make sure that at least two are male. That way, the young client may make his choice based on his taste, which may include distaste for girls, without him having to actually state this explicitly.

To me, it's more important that reading as an activity should be widespread, easy, accepted, relevant, and fun. I encounter many people, not all of them children, for whom this isn't true. I'm willing to tailor my approach to help those people in any way I can, and if that means looking at boys as people who may not think the same way girls do, well, I can do that. It has begun to seem rather obvious.