Boys will be boys.

Every now and then, because I am a nerd, I read books about reading and how to help others find books they might enjoy. Recently I looked through Michael Sullivan's reference book Serving Boys Through Readers Advisory, and found it to be kind of an interesting little read and handy guide for thinking about how boys read.

I've always been quite interested in gender differences and reading preferences*, to the point where I have actually wandered around Barnes and Noble on a regular basis specifically to see what sections men and women are browsing in, so this book spoke to a longstanding interest in readers and readers' advisory. Also, now that I have a little boy, it's personal.**

The first finding in this book that I found very interesting was Sullivan's citing the finding that "boys read, on average, a year and a half below girls throughout their school years, with a small gap from the first day of school and the widest gap later on." (p. 15.) That's pretty significant, and makes me snort with indignation when I think about "reading levels," "lexile" numbers, and Accelerated Reader programs that make no distinction between boy and girl readers. I also enjoyed the findings that boys read and enjoy nonfiction from an early age, and that they often pick books far ahead of their abilities (including a wide variety of adult books). Sullivan points out that this can actually be just fine--even if the boy doesn't know what five or more words per page mean (a standard distinction for finding whether a book is at a child's level or not, evidently), he can often get what he needs out of the text anyway by just reading and accepting what he DOES understand. I can see, then, why nonfiction appeals--it's easier to skim, and to read in stops and starts.

I also love the section on working with parents and kids--pointing out that a good first question for dads (and, to a lesser extent, mothers and other family members) looking for books for their boys is "what has the boy seen YOU reading?" I have long believed that public libraries in particular are very good about running programs to encourage kids to read, but do not do enough to support adult readers--primarily because I believe that if kids saw their parents reading, they'd be interested in reading too.

The book concludes with chapters of nice sample book talks and booklists for elementary, middle school, and high school age boys; and book lists in a variety of genres, including nonfiction, humor, fantasy, sf, gothic horror, sports, and realistic.

*Much more so than, say, age differences, although I suppose that will change as I age.

**I've been very nervous about and relieved to check off CRjr's various developmental milestones, but the physical skill that made me cry with joy was when he first started flipping the pages of his board books by himself. Oh, and feeding himself. I LOVE watching him feed himself--with both hands, unceasingly, until his food is gone. He's got his mother's appetite.

Comments

[Kerry]

I loved it when my niece first started noting that some of her books had stories with beginnings, middles and ends at about 18 months. It made reading to her much easier than just having her flip pages and point at things.

[Citizen Reader]

Kerry,
Isn't it fun to share books with kids? I know I should get on board with an e-reader but somehow, that just seems unsatisfying, physically, particularly with kids. So much nicer to have a pile to push around, open, crawl over, and otherwise engage with.

I'll look forward to 18 months (or however much later boys are) and the learning of narrative. For now it's just making me laugh as he crawls over to the bookshelf, pulls down all my books, and then flips through them while on his tummy. He looks for all the world like a teenager sprawled, just reading his books. I hope when he's a teenager he still does it.

[Sarah]

Just wait until he starts making up his own stories to go with the book. That, I've been told, is known as "pre-reading". It's also important in reading graphic novels. I have been to too many workshops.

And the feeding thing - if he's anything like me, he never knows when he will next eat, so he's got to be prepared.

[Katharine]

Just wait until he reads a book to you, I started to cry alittle when my niece did it for the first time. I love the comment "what has your child seen you reading lately?" can't wait to sneak into a patron conversation...

[rick]

I always thought the girls were smarter and I had to study harder to do as well. I never realized that it was because they were better readers. As an adult, I started reading a lot to keep up with the women I knew. I'm holding my own now but I still have to burn the midnight oil to keep up.

[Citizen Reader]

Sarah,
Thanks for sharing your workshop knowledge so I don't have to attend one! :) Very interesting re: the pre-reading.
Yup, always good to be prepared by eating big, healthy meals.

Katharine,
I would LOVE it if you snuck the "what have you been reading?" question in--but you have to promise to report back to me on how it goes. So glad your niece made your day--I can't imagine how lucky your niece is, having YOU for an auntie!

Rick,
Girls aren't smarter?
You know I had to say it.
I'm pretty sure you've read lots and lots more biographies than me, regardless of what speed you read them at!

[Alex]

Our library is quite devious. We run our adult and kid summer reading programs concurrently as many do, but with our adult program, we have a game set out that only those who sign up can play. It's a ring/bean bag toss, or plinko, or bozo buckets or whatever. But the kids LOVE it. And when they're told they can't play until their folks sign up? They turn into our biggest promoters.

Many parents do sign up just so their kids can play, but many filled out a reading log or two as well over the next few weeks.

We also have a family read night, a program promoted by our youth department. The family fills out a sheet listing what they're interested in and the staff pulls 2-3 items that each member might enjoy. Even for dad who doesn't like to read, we include a golf magazine or family handyman or something along those lines. Then on family read night, the TV goes off while reading goes on.

[Citizen Reader]

Alex,
Most excellent. Sneaky, but excellent. Anything that gets the parents reading, though, is so great. I fully believe that if kids just SEE adults reading, the battle is more than half-won, without even "forcing" the kids to read.
Now we just somehow need all adults to have more time to read. I think we all need to agitate for more vacation time, although the way labor rights are going in this country, I'm sure that isn't going to happen any time soon.

Thanks for the insight on how to run a strong reading program for adults!