"Harry Potter," "Goosebumps," "I Spy," "The Guinness Book of World Records." The staff at the Parkville Public Library glumly recites its list of recommended readings like failed strategies in a losing war.

How do you get a grade-school boy to read? Librarians Jean Blair, Beth LaPenotiere and Mercedes Connor would love to know. And this time it's personal: They are the mothers of boys who just say no to books.

"My boys are embarrassed for people to think they might be reading a book," says Connor, the mother of three boys, ages 8, 10 and 12. "Card games and Nintendo, those are socially acceptable. Take out a book at the pool and you'll be branded for life."

Connor and her colleagues voice a frustration familiar to many parents. Even boys who are accomplished readers and gifted students may be reluctant to pick up a book -- unless it's thrust upon them.

Now, imagine you are a librarian who treasures reading and knows the books that are supposed to interest boys most. Watching your son abstain can be as discomforting as a noisy patron in the quiet room.

"I see parents in the library day after day who say the same thing: 'My son's a reluctant reader. What can I do?' " says LaPenotiere, whose son Evan is 9 years old. "You hope you can find something to say to them.

"But sometimes, it comes down to this: If the boy doesn't want to read, you might as well forget it."

Educators say the experience is all too common and parents are correct to be alarmed. The less time boys spend reading, the less they are able to read. Like playing music, reading takes practice and many boys won't even pick up the instrument.

"If you have a boy who can read, but doesn't, I'd be concerned," says John T. Guthrie, a University of Maryland, College Park education professor who researches child reading patterns. "The amount of reading a child does -- the time he or she spends with books -- largely determines how well they achieve in reading."

Ann Mintz, who develops reading curriculum for Howard County's public schools, says she sees that happen all the time. If a "child doesn't read independently, he will fall below grade level" in ability, she says.

"It's a big problem, and I'm not sure we have the answer to it yet," she says.

The Maryland School Performance Assessment Program, the standardized test the state uses to gauge its public schools, shows boys consistently lag behind girls in reading. Among third graders, 45.5 percent of girls read at a satisfactory level compared with 37.7 percent of boys.

But the fifth grade gap is even worse with girls outscoring boys, 46.1 percent to 34.7 percent, a margin of more than 11 points in last year's test scores.

"There's a gender gap," Guthrie says flatly. "Girls are better readers."

Researchers suspect there are many reasons behind the gap, some biological and some behavioral. Boys are more likely than girls to be born with some form of learning disorder -- although some researchers dispute this, arguing that boys are simply more apt to be diagnosed with one (due, in part, to their tendency to act out).

Less arguable is the fact that boys mature differently from girls. How much of the gender differences are due to nature and to nurture is "hard to distinguish," says Dr. John Andrews, a pediatrician at Johns Hopkins Children's Center.

"Boys learn and process information differently than girls," says Dr. Andrews. "But that's not the whole story. There are also a lot of parents who just naturally envision their sons as athletes and their daughters as readers."

Boys are more likely to want to gravitate to sports; girls prefer quiet, introspective activities. That generalization -- as un-P.C. as it may sound -- is more often true than not, agrees Jean Berko Gleason, a Boston University psychology professor and authority on language development and gender.

"We press little boys to be risk-takers and to go outside and play," Gleason says. "They pick that up pretty quickly. Whatever differences may be hard-wired, they are magnified by societal expectations."

Book publishers have long recognized the gender gap and have recently tried to do something about it. Particularly in the last decade, the market has been flooded with books aimed at boys.

The latest and hottest are the Harry Potter books by British author Joanne K. Rowling. The first two stories about the aspiring student -- and sometime hero -- at Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry have set record sales -- 1.5 million copies in the U.S. alone, with a third installment due next month.

But Rowling's books have sold well with girls, too, marking a publishing truism: girls between the ages of 7 and 12 read, boys 7-12 read sometimes.

"There's now a large body of work written for reluctant boy readers," says Tim Moses of Penguin Putnam's young readers division. "Sometimes, it's a matter of finding the right key, the right match for the boy."

Scholastic Inc., Rowling's U.S. publisher, has demonstrated a flair for publishing such books. In addition to Harry Potter, their past triumphs include the "Goosebumps" and "Animorphs" book series.

But Scholastic's CEO says while the genre's best-selling books have some common traits -- teasing-type digue between characters, shorter chapters with cliff-hanger endings and boy heroes -- boys aren't always so predictable in their tastes.

"There's really no specific formula," says Jean Feiwel, Scholastic's publisher. "What do you look for in a boy's book? I wish I knew."

Kathleen Odean, author of Great Books for Boys, a guide to 600 titles with boy appeal, says one of the biggest problems facing parents is the "uncoolness" of reading among boys. It starts at age 9 and worsens through middle school, she says.

"We have a culture that portrays reading as a female activity," says Odean. "Chances are a boy is first taught to read by a woman and the person who reads to them at home is probably a woman, too."

She often recommends parents try nonfiction, maybe a newspaper's sports section, as a starting point. Above all else, it's important for the child to make the choice of what he reads.

"Women tend to think about reading only in terms of reading fiction," says Odean. "They need to respect their son's choice. A child who doesn't love books can grow to love them. I've seen it many times."

At the LaPenotiere house in Bel Air, there is no shortage of reading material. Not only is fourth-grader Evan's mother a librarian, but so is his father, David, who manages the public library in Brooklyn Park. Both bring home books for their son.

Even so, Evan would rather play video games, or trade Pokemon cards with his friends, or shoot hoops in the driveway, or do most anything else than read during his summer break. The last book his mother brought home -- "The Boy In the Doghouse" -- had to be returned to the library and he only made it to Chapter 5.

"I didn't have it for very long," explains Evan, who held the book for 3 weeks. "My Mom just had to take it back 'cause it was overdue."

Evan is no slouch at school. He's in the top reading group. He even likes to hear a book read to him. But he'd rather socialize with the neighborhood boys than stay home and read by himself.

Above his bed hangs a poster of baseball player B.J. Surhoff. Sports pennants and trophies from soccer, baseball and basketball are openly displayed while books are tucked inside his desk drawers.

"I guess I'd be more concerned if I hadn't done the same thing when I was his age," said David LaPenotiere, who met his wife when both worked at the Towson library. "I see a lot of this in my line of work. It's just so common."

Evan's mother is also resigned to having a reluctant reader in the house. "I won't bust him over the head," she promises.

Instead, she will ask him a question: "How about reading for 10 minutes, Evan?" Sometimes, he says yes.

"Maybe Evan won't be the reader his parents are, and that's OK," she says. "He will read things by himself and he reads well. I think that's a success."

Tips for parents

How to encourage your son to read:

Let your son see you reading -- books, newspapers or magazines. Read aloud to him and encourage him to read to you.

Leave books lying around the house. Buy books likely to appeal to your son or check them out of the library.

Give your son privacy: Some boys may fear being teased for reading and may not want to talk about what they're reading.

Subscribe to a magazine that might interest him.

Encourage relatives and family friends whom your son admires to give him books as presents.

Let your son make choices at the library or bookstore and don't criticize his interests.

Recognize that reading about information is as legitimate as reading novels. Be encouraging to a son who likes to read the sports page.

If he loves a particular sport, seek out books with related information or biographies of star players.

Try reading nonfiction aloud, especially on a topic your son cannot yet read about alone, but about which he wants to know more.

Choose a book together to donate to his school or public library.

Source: "Great Books for Boys" by Kathleen Odean. (Ballantine Books, 1998)

Check these out The Parkville Librarian Moms' Top Books For Boys

(These are the most requested by boys ages 8 to 12.)

"Cam Jansen" mystery series by David A. Adler

"Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" by Roald Dahl

"Don't Eat Fried Worms" by Thomas Rockwell

"Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" by J.K. Rowling

"The Magic Tree House" series by Mary Pope Osborne

"Pokemon" books by various authors

"Shiloh" by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor

"Soccer Halfback" by Matt Christopher

"Star Wars" series by various authors

"Superfudge" by Judy Blume