Boys Are Losing Interest in Books as New Figures Reveal Female Characters Outnumber Male Leads Two to One

Boys are falling behind girls in reading, and one book reviewer believes part of the problem is on the shelves: there are not enough stories about boys.

Afoma Umesi analysed a database of hundreds of middle-grade books published this year and found girl protagonists outnumbered boys by more than two to one. The gap was widest in realistic fiction.

The Atlantic's report on her findings has prompted debate online.

'Do You Have Anything For Boys?'

Umesi runs the review site Reading Middle Grade, which curates book guides for children aged roughly eight to 12. Whenever she posted a new list, at least one parent or teacher would ask: 'Do you have anything for boys?', The Atlantic reported on 5 November.

At first, she was annoyed. 'What do you think this is, the 15th century?' she recalled thinking, she told the Atlantic's Sophia Nguyen. But when she went looking for boy-led titles, 'It was kind of like I was running into a wall.'

The middle-grade years are considered the crucial window when children do or do not become lifelong readers, the Atlantic noted.

A Two-To-One Gap

Umesi analysed a database of 444 middle-grade books traditionally published in the US in 2026, she wrote on her Substack, noting it is not a complete count. Of those, 253 had a female lead and 118 a male lead, a ratio of 2.14 to one. The remaining 73 had shared, nonbinary or unspecified-gender leads.

The imbalance was starkest in contemporary realistic fiction, where girl-led books outnumbered boy-led ones by 3.62 to one. Mysteries were also heavily tilted towards girls, at 3.13 to one. Paranormal stories were the only genre in which boys led more often.

Her reader surveys, drawn from self-selected applicants rather than a representative sample, offered further clues. Of 30 boys who applied to be junior reviewers, 27 named at least one favourite book with a boy lead, and 67 per cent named no girl-led favourite. By comparison, 46 per cent of girls named no boy-led favourite.

Umesi says the goal is balance and has urged publishers to try more realistic fiction about boys.

Boys Already Behind

The concern comes amid a long-running gap. Boys score lower than girls in reading in nearly every US school district, trailing by about three-quarters of a year in fourth grade and roughly a year by 12th grade, according to a Stanford analysis of national and state test data reported by The Star. Reading scores have fallen since the mid-2010s, with boys declining more.

That gap long predates this year's books, and the shortage of male heroes is one possible factor in boys' interest in reading rather than a proven cause of lower scores.

Not everyone accepts the explanation. 'Girls read books with boy protagonists all the time,' one X user replied to the Atlantic's post. 'If men and boys can't read books with a girl protagonist, could it be because they think girls are lesser than boys?'

Others objected to the messenger. 'Why aren't boys reading? Here's a girl to tell you why,' another user wrote. The Atlantic's post had drawn more than two million views when checked on Sunday.