Connecting Boys to Books

1. Connecting Boys to Books Information provided by Kathleen Baxter

2. BOYS •Are 50% more likely to be retained a grade •Comprise over 80% of students diagnosed with ADD and ADHD •Are an average of one and a half grades behind girls in reading. •Commit suicide at a rate four times higher than girls. •Take longer to learn to read than girls do. •Are far more likely to read for utilitarian reasons than girls are.

3. What do boys love? •Information they can use or talk about •Humor! •Comics! •Action, not feelings. Most do not like to talk about feelings. •Books that capture their interest immediately.

4. Top reading preferences for sixth grade students •Scary books or story collections •Cartoons and comics •Popular magazines •Sports •Drawing books •Cars and trucks •Animals •Series •Funny novels •Books written mostly for adults

5. What to Look for in a “Guy” Novel •A male protagonist •Action that begins quickly, continuing throughout the story •Questions of “What would I do?” more important that “How do I feel?” •Plot driven rather than character-driven stories •An “edge” or an “attitude” in the protagonist »Paul Kropp

6. A SUMMARY OF THE RESEARCH ON GENDER AND LITERACY • Achievement • Boys take longer to learn to read than girls do. • Boys read less than girls read. • Girls tend to comprehend narrative texts and most expository texts significantly better than boys do. • Boys tend to be better at information retrieval and work-related literacy tasks than girls are.

7. Attitude • Boys generally provide lower estimation of their reading abilities than girls do. • Boys value reading as an activity less than girls do. • Boys have much less interest in leisure reading and are far more likely to read for utilitarian purposes than girls are. • Significantly more boys than girls declare themselves “nonreaders”. • Boys spend less time reading and express less enthusiasm for reading than girls do. • Boys increasingly consider themselves to be “nonreaders” as they get older: very few designate themselves as such early in their schooling, but nearly 50% make that designation by high school

8. Choice • Boys and girls express interest in reading different things, and they do read different things. • Boys are more inclined to read informational texts. • Boys are more inclined to read magazine articles and newspaper articles. • Boys are more inclined to read graphic novels and comic books

9. Boys tend to resist reading stories about girls, whereas girls do not ten to resist reading stories about boys. • Boys are more enthusiastic about reading electronic texts than girls are. • Boys like to read about hobbies, sports, and things they might do or be interested in doing.

10. Boys like to collect things and like to collect series of books. • Poetry is less popular with boys than with girls. • Girls read more fiction. • Boys tend to enjoy escapism and humor; some groups of boys are passionate about science fiction or fantasy.

11. Response • The appearance of a book and its cover is important to boys. • Boys are less likely to talk bout or overtly respond to their reading than girls are. • Boys prefer active responses to reading in which they physically act out responses, do, or make something. • Boys tend to receive more open and direct criticism for weaknesses in their reading and writing performances. • Boys require more teacher time in coed settings.

12. All information for this presentation was taken directly from information provided by Kathleen Baxter via email after her presentation in Louisville, KY on May 5, 2006.