Every Student Reads: Collaboration and Reading and Learning

After reading Gail Bush's book, Every Student Reads: Collaboration and Reading and Learning, last week, I was left wondering about boys and reading. I found an article by Michael Sullivan called "Why Johnny Won't Read" http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA439816.html and found that it shed new light on how to address the issue of boys and their lack of motivation for reading. Sullivan argues that "It's not that boys can't read, they just don't. Study after study reveals that boys read less than girls. And according to the U.S. Department of Education, school-age boys tend to read a grade and a half lower than girls" (Sullivan, 2004).

So how do we apply all the reading strategies and higher thinking activities that Bush encourages? According to Sullivan, librarians must throw out the old traditional model of "here's a book you're going to love" approach and really observe and learn what boys are drawn to (Sullivan, 2004). Most boys, according to Sullivan, are attracted to "comic books, baseball cards, and cereal boxes. They are less likely to read books; and when they do, they often don't read the ones we want them to" (Sullivan, 2004).

One of the main reasons, Sullivan argues, is that boys identify with males but do not have male role models to model good reading behavior. Girls, on the other hand, often times have female role models who read. Sullivan quotes a study that found that "mothers are 10 times more likely to read books than fathers. On the other hand, dads are 10 times more likely to read newspapers than moms" (Sullivan, 2004). So what is the difference? Informational texts such as newspapers and how-to manuals, according to Sullivan, do not "provide boys with the sustained, language-rich reading experiences they need to become mature readers" (Sullivan, 2004).

So what do boys like to read? Boys like reading about sports, adventure, fantasies, horror, science fiction, humor non-fiction and real life accounts. They like books that help them discover their place in the world and characters that take risks, rebels who push against the boundaries that society has imposed upon them. However, often times educators do not honor or value the reading interest of boys and push them toward more "reflective" fiction books the type that girls are also more likely to be drawn to.

Sullivan argues that the major reason why "librarians and teachers often have so little respect for what boys like is that most of them are women—and guys' tastes don't appeal to them. Yes, many libraries my have popular "boy" series like the Time Warp series or Captain Underpants but Sullivan states that "respecting boys' tastes goes beyond simply possessing these books: it comes down to what you do with them" (Sullivan, 2004). Librarians need to be more active in promoting titles that may be of interest to boys and definitely include them in the book selection process.

Sullivan's message really struck home with me because I, too, am guilty of mostly reading "girl books" and gender neutral books like Harry Potter. I am not particulary drawn to sports or horror. The fantasy fiction that I do read mostly have female leading characters. So how do female librarians begin to develop a taste for the reading interests of boys? Also, does this mean that male librarians have the opposite issue - not honoring/valuing the interest of girls?

Well, to begin honoring the reading interests of boys I did do a little more research and found a blog site called Guys Lit Wire http://guyslitwire.blogspot.com/. This site will keep you up to date with what boys/guys/males are reading. The site has a black background and lots of book reviews and recommendations on "boy books".  It sort of gives you the feeling that you are trespassing on a "boys only site" but it does provided an extensive archive lists, just in case you want to catch up.

Sources

Bush, G. (2005). Every student reads: Collaboration and reading to learn. Chicago, IL: American Association of School Librarians.

Sullivan, M. (2004). "Why Johnny won't read." http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA439816.html. Retrieved July 27, 2009.