How do you get boys to read? Give 'em comics

Thanks to a partnership between the school board and public libraries in Edmonton, Canada, libraries and classrooms will start offering comics and sports magazines in an attempt to get more boys to read.

Now why couldn't this have happened when I was a kid? I had to hide my comic books like everybody else.

The Edmonton Journal reports that one of the partnership's goals is to get more boys to visit the library and, y'know, read.

A 2003 study based out of the University of Alberta and University of Victoria found that contrary to public opinion, boys do read, but they are more selective in what they read and often choose materials that aren't traditionally considered literature, such as comic books and sports magazines.

The study found that boys are often assumed to be less literate than girls because their preferred reading material is not highbrow enough.

"We're working with the teachers to make sure they know that it's OK to read a comic book," Pilar Martinez, a district manager for Edmonton Public Libraries, told the newspaper.