What boys need

I am a great fan of literacy expert Sue Palmer, whose first book, "Toxic Childhood", pointed out all the ways in which today's world prevents children growing up happy and healthy. She looked right across the spectrum, from televisions in children's bedrooms, to fast food, and our test-and-target-driven schools, and delivered a really important message. But the message was far too uncomfortable for many people, and she took a lot of flack in the process.

Now she is back for a second round -- and all power to her.

Her new book, "21st century boys: how modern life is driving them off the rails and how we can get them back on track" does what it says and examines how pressurised parenting, feminized schools, a screen culture, and a lack of adult male role models all conspire to hamper boys' growth and learning.

Problems can be charted in the staggering rise of boys diagnosed with learning disorders, the steady slide of too many teens into drugs and crime, and the growing number of young men who retreat from real life into cyber world.

It sounds depressing, but Sue Palmer is a positive and practical person, as befits a former head teacher, and the book is full of suggestions -- for parents, school and government -- about how things can be changed.

There isn't quite the impact of "Toxic Childhood", but that's because she has already put in the spade work educating us all about these kinds of problems. Even so, we would live in a far better society if everyone who has any responsibility for raising and educating boys were to read it -- and then take action.