Book Recommendations for raising boys without stereotypes

Are you looking for parenting advice for boys?

This is one of our top asked questions! And while my top answer is still grab yourself a copy of Sonshine Magazine: Raising boys for a more equal world there are some books that I think will change your mind about the way we raise our sons to be better men. Some are non fiction, but some are fiction and some are memoir, because I think changing your mind is the first step to changing your parenting.

Books about parenting sons can be non fiction, fiction and memoir, because changing your mind is the first step to changing your parenting to make a better world for our children.

Best quick read for raising boys without stereotypes

Grayson Perry’s Descent of Man is as brilliantly illustrated as you’d expect. Throughout this book he both explains and pokes fun at rigid codes of masculinity, and explains how they are really damaging boys and men, just the way rigid stereotypes of femininity trap girls and women. Perry picks over it all offering some radical, and sensible solutions, and also pointing out how hard it is to change things. (But not impossible!) Great easy read, with tons of pictures and lots of moments that really make you think.

Best science book for raising boys

Cordelia Fine explains just exactly how we’ve come to see testosterone as all important in our society and our parenting. This is the perfect book for debunking all those myths about ‘male and female brains’ (spoiler: there’s no good evidence for that theory, and our brain connectivity can change with practice), and about toddler testosterone surges - which are not true, though toddlers are very difficult people to be around often.

Best novel for parenting without gender stereotypes

This novel imagines what would happen if women and girls suddenly got the power to administer a powerful electric shock through their skin. It’s a page-turner, but also over turns lots of our ideas! The clever plot points out that many of the ideas we have about what boys and girls are like ‘naturally’ are laid down by society’s expectations for them.

Best book for raising Gentle Men

This memoir from comedian Robert Webb explores how ideas of what ‘being a man’ actually held him back in many areas of his life. Top read for fathers who will resonate with Webb’s experiences of growing up and becoming a father himself, and wanting to make a change for his own children and family