This paper shows how cultural models mediate children's "Discourse about reading" (in Gee's sense), which is considered as a boundary object between the community and school. An empirical case study of the stories of 7- and 8-year-old children, in conjunction with classroom ethnography show gendered positioning in a Discourse about reading, which marginalised boys' participation in reading. It is argued that cultural models may provide the essential tool for analysing the sociocultural impact of outside communities on educational participation and outcomes. Activity Theory informs an analysis of classroom pedagogic practice, which illustrates how cultural models about reading, largely drawn from children's Discourses of reading outside of school, mediated classroom pedagogic practice.