Many Australian boys experience difficulties with literacy at an early age, but research has found that humour encourages boys to read.

Bestselling author Felice Arena knows what boys find hilarious and has harnessed that power in the form of a gladiator - Farticus Maximus. This month Mr Arena’s new book Farticus Maximus is being released and he hopes more boys will take up reading through a love of humour. This kind of humour has not always been welcomed by parents and teachers, but Mr Arena hopes his humour will be embraced by boys in the same way other generations loved Roald Dahl’s stories.

Those books continue to be bestsellers years after they were first published.

Reading is important for boys.

Problems with literacy at an early age have been linked to isolation, incarceration, health problems and a sense of inadequacy later in life.