I hope this link to the New York Times article stays available for some time
Boys and Reading: Is There Any Hope?By ROBERT LIPSYTE Published: August 19, 2011
Boys don't like to read
“The important question is why aren’t boys reading the good books being published?”
As you will see in the article, there are several answers to this question
"Boys gravitate toward nonfiction. Schools favor classics over contemporary fiction to satisfy testing standards and avoid challenges from parents. And teachers don’t always know what’s out there for boys."
Also
"Boys don’t have enough positive male role models for literacy. Because the majority of adults involved in kids’ reading are women, boys might not see reading as a masculine activity.”
"Schools favor classics over contemporary fiction to satisfy testing standards and avoid challenges from parents" Should we be asking - What is wrong with contemporary fiction to make teachers nervous about recommendations?
Positive male role models -: When was the last time you saw a man walking with a novel he intended to read at the first available spare time? If you did, chances are he was a lecturer; or a student forced to read a novel to pass a course. Even the reading of newspapers in the home might soon be a scarce sight as many subscribe to online news instead of an actual paper.
Boys gravitate towards non-fiction. This suggests that boys are reading, but not fiction.
In my own experience with my grandsons, this is true. Both are good readers but decidedly prefer non-fiction. I have tried to get them to explain why this is so, but they can't give a coherent answer. Just that non-fiction is more interesting. So perhaps what we should be looking at is subject matter.
Boys prefer action and are less inclined to read books which emphasize feelings - what my elder grandson calls "chick books". He was curious about Stephenie Meyer's Twilight, because so many of the teenage girls at his school were walking around reading it at the slightest opportunity. He took a look at it and was quite puzzled. What is so interesting? he wondered. I, being female, couldn't explain it so that it made sense to him.
So, another challenge might be that so many of the writers today are female and we are not producing the sort of fiction that will attract male readers. Is it worth the while for our female writers to research the areas which would attract boys and use these in their fiction? Seems we wouldn't lose our female readers since it is generally agreed that whereas boys do not want to read "chick books" girls will read any interesting story - boy or girl oriented.
Another question we have to settle is why is it so important for boys to be reading fiction. if there is enough non-fiction available isn't it enough that they are reading these?
I really would like to see a Caribbean discussion on these ideas.
As to teachers not always knowing what is available for boys - I don't know who is responsible for that.
Here are a few recent titles (some not so recent) from Jamaica featuring boy protagonists or situations which might attract boys from the 8-12 age group. And there are more
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Most interesting - the usual excellent quality of writing 'about and around (meaning covering all surfaces)' a topic, that we have come to expect from you. There is also a great deal to think about here, especially for one (me) who knows that part of getting boys to read is to have a male protagonist, but mainly writes stories with girl protagonists. I espcially liked the part where your grandson could not understand what was intersting about the particular 'chick book', and you were unable to explain it to him. And therein lies the difference. I do hope that there is a dialogue about this topic, as you have suggested. I'm going to think about it a bit before I respond to 'why we think boys should read fiction'.
ReplyDeleteThis post is most welcome and deserves input from a variety of readers. My own thoughts are that boys don't find the early stages of reading to be enjoyable, because of the circumstances in which they are taught (e.g. overcrowding and lack of positive reinforcement).
ReplyDeleteThe content of reading material is geared to a reading age corresponding to chronological age, so is too babyish for boys who learn to read late.
As Hazel mentioned, their role-models are not reading, so boys consider reading to be a 'girl thing'. Boys would prefer to be outside playing football, or inside playing video or computer games, or watching TV. They do however like to read comics.
As long as boys are reading something, I don't see that preferring non-fiction to fiction should be frowned on.
Hazel, you've prompted me to write my own blog about this topic. I will include some more book suggestions there.
Thanks for joining the conversation, Helen. I want to isolate this part of your comment
ReplyDelete"The content of reading material is geared to a reading age corresponding to chronological age, so is too babyish for boys who learn to read late."
I have been thinking that we need to produce more hi-low books which would help with this problem. Here is a definition from the Internet of hi-low books for those who do not know about this.
"The term "hi-lo book" refers to books that are at the reader's interest level (“hi” stands for “high interest”) but written at a lower reading level (“lo” stands for “low readability”) to encourage reading. Kids and teens reading below grade level are more apt to want to read a book if it is not only at their reading level but also at their interest level.
Hi-Lo stories were my starting point. I wrote quite a few for the boys I was helping with reading. Some of them were 'written' by the boys with themselves as protags. The only way these will get published is if I publish them. No one else is going to publish books for people who can barely read and don't buy books.
ReplyDeleteRe boys reading: in the JLS reading competition, girl parish winners outnumbered boys 11:1.
Did you see it? It's on again Wed 21st at 5:30.
You would think that with all the talk about increasing/improving literacy the Ministry of Education would come up with a plan to encourage/publish hi-lo books. Maybe it exists or is being planned and we don't know - this sometimes happens unless one has inner contact with the right people. Surely the ASTEP programme should need such books both fiction and non-fiction.
ReplyDelete