Recommendations for books with good boy role models please

[PandasRock]

Ds is 5. He is my youngest child, and has 2 older sisters.

I am separating from H, and am conscious that ds will soon be living in a totally female household.

I hate gender stereotyping, and think it is very harmful (especially for my dc, who all have ASD and so 1) struggle to understand societal ‘norms’ and pressures, and 2) spend a fair bit of their lives feeling ‘other’ and like they don’t fit in)

I have a houseful of books for dd2, with strong female role models who don’t play second fiddle to boys, etc (thanks to A Mighty Girl)

Of course, I read some of these books with ds, and he is welcome to read them all as he grows (dd2 is 11, so a large age gap), but he quite rightly wants to read about characters he can identify with.

What books/authors can you recommend for him, with good male role models (and by that I mean ones who don’t belittle female characters, don’t assume boys are better etc - questioning society,s enforced gender roles, but with characters he can identify with)

Swallows and Amazons is quite good - OK the girls seem to be in charge of cooking all the time, but Captain John is quite happy to play second fiddle to Captain Nancy. Is that the sort of thing you're after?

Thanks.

I’m not really sure what I’m after, tbh!

We have S&A somewhere, so he/I will probably pick it up at some point.

He likes some of dd2’s books, but wishes they had a boy main character, and I don’t want to fall into the trap of just picking up any old books and then finding out they’re reinforcing a load of gendered nonsense.

I don’t suppose there’s a handy website (like A mighty girl!) where there’s a list of no-nonsense, feminist boy characters/books?!

It’s quite natural for him to want to identify with the characters in books he’s reading, but beyond the (very! - dd1 (age 13) has learning difficulties so is still at this stage) wide range of picture books and early readers, the children’s chapter books I have are aimed at dd2’s tastes, so mostly have female protagonists etc. I just wanted to get him some books which have the same values, but with main characters he can dream of being.

What about the Animal Ark series by Lucy Daniels? Think, from memory, there is a boy and girl protagonist. There are Animal Ark Pets for younger readers.
Dirtie Bertie.
Enid Blyton Magic faraway Tree books.
Mr Majeika.
Humphrey the Hamster by Betty Birney. Mixture of classmates.
Paddington. Might go down well with the (new)ish film.

Enid Blyton “the famous five”; really good and sweet adventure stories

Beast Quest, despite its cod mediaeval setting, has a male protagonist with a very able female sidekick (who has a bow and a wolf). Other characters tend to assume traditional roles though. He'll be reading these for himself soon!

Began reading The Edge Chronicles to DS2 at about 5.5. These also have male protagonists with able female friends (and are a better read for an adult too)!

I have recently read the two 'Accidental Pirates' books with DS and loved them a lot, because in addition to being fun adventures with pirates, dragons, and magic, they include male and female main and supporting characters that defy gender stereotypes. One of the boys is introspective, wrangles with big emotions, struggles with being the outsider. His power (magical abilities) does not automatically convey him status, but rather makes people suspicious of him. He worries a lot about how power may corrupt him. The other main boy is a book lover, scholar and writer who cares deeply about his mum. The main girl character is a feisty, resourceful girl who plans and gets things done. The pirate captain is female, and legendary.
I can really recommend these books to anyone, but particularly if you are looking for characters that do not conform to gender stereotypes (whilst not 'pushing' it either, they are just their individual selves and I'm sure DS never consciously noticed that the gender role distribution is different than in other books).

They may be a bit 'old' for your DS yet, but I'd keep them in mind for in a year or two!

Right now, how about 'The Magic Treehouse' series? They are early reader type short chapter books, my DS read them to himself at age 5 but you could equally read them together. There is a boy/girl main characters duo, they are older brother/younger sister. The boy tends to be a bit of a worrier and planner, trying to think through everything (not in a bad way) whereas the girl is very brave and jumps in and wings it. Obviously at this level the characters are a lot less detailed/refined, but they are still good solid stories with non-stereotypical characters.
There is an added benefit to these stories as they are always based on a 'real' topic, e.g. dinosaurs, ninjas, polar lands, ... (there are over a hundred of them!) and they have companion non-fiction books too.

I am not so sure about PP's aforementioned Enid Blyton books. The boy characters are positive, definitely, but they're on a backdrop of more stereotypical girl characters. The boy/s tend to be in charge, have responsibility etc and the girls tend to look up to them, obey them, and do the menial tasks such as cooking and tidying. Even in Swallows and Amazons - yes Captain Nancy of the Amazons is brilliant but within the Swallows, it is always the girls doing the 'women's work'. For its time, it's great, because the girls do get to do lots of fun things and have adventures, it's just that they also are in charge of keeping the camp tidy and getting the team fed.

"don’t belittle female characters, don’t assume boys are better etc - questioning society,s enforced gender roles,"

A bit old for him yet, but the How To Train Your Dragon books might hit the spot? I'd say Hiccup (main character) definitely fits your criteria.

(They're also good for reminding parents not to expect / want their children to be carbon copies of themselves, and to value them for who they are!)

The Silver Sword - when he's a bit older.

Looking for the same thing for my DS who's the same age. The Jonny Duddle pirate books are reasonably good I think - girl and boy main characters who are both brave and kind.

Reading The Worst Witch to him at the moment. Thinking of getting The Carpet People and maybe trying the Jonny Maxwell books by Terry Pratchett - I haven't read them, but trust Pratchett to be decent and thoughtful.