Having trouble finding a book that will pull your son away from the PlayStation or skateboard park? Maybe you just need to up the gross factor!

As J.K. Rowling and the creators of Shrek learned, the key to capturing the young males in an audience is to include gross stuff like vomit-flavored jellybeans or ear wax candles. Publishers are finally catching on and are now promoting more gory and grossness in children's books to attempt to appeal to a male market.

According to research from Scholastic, children's interest in reading declines sharply starting at age 8 and continues to fall into the teens, especially among boys. Creating books that boys want to read is a crucial step in making reading an activity boys enjoy, so editors are bringing on the barf and boogers!

I can personally attest to the fact that what boys want to read might be completely different from what their parents want them to read. For example, I loved Charlotte's Web and the Little House on the Prairie. However, on my sons' bookshelves are: The Captain Underpants series, The Day My Butt Went Psycho books, Goosebumps, American Chillers, and Michigan Chillers. It's not exactly Shakespeare, but I'm choosing to view the potty humor and gore in their books as preparation for the good literature they'll be reading down the road.

Books Boys Like(click thumbnails to view gallery)