CCBC-Net Archives
Re: Boys and Books
- Contemporary messages sorted: [ by date ] [ by subject ] [ by author ]
From: maggie_bo_at_comcast.net
Date: Tue, 20 Apr 2010 23:12:19 +0000 (UTC)
This is a topic that fascinates me!В I am a middle school librarian, a nd I've found that, if anything, I have more avid boy readers than avid gir l readers, or at least, they talk to me more than the girls do.В В The boys seem to be especially drawn to series, more so than the girls.В My completely unscientific theory:В В the boys have less patien ceВ withВ "shopping" for books, picking upВ one after another В andВ weighingВ their relative merits.В With a series, th ey don't have to think about what the next book they're going to read will be.В Fortunately, there are a lot of excellent series out there these days . . . Ranger's Apprentice is hot right now.В I'd also say I get m ore boys than girls asking for recommendations.В Might be for the same reason:В that the boysВ don't want to spend the time looking for something themselves.В In addition, and again, I could be wrong, but I think the girls do a better job of recommending books to each other than t he boys.В The boys don't seem to be as comfortable talking to friends about books.
I've also noticed thatВ the boys who are reluctant readersВ like to talk about how nerdy reading is, and brag about how much they hate to read .В В Reluctant girl readersВ don't do that nearly as much.В В However, В it certainly isn't just theВ quiet, less social В boys who read.В В В There's plenty of "popular" boys who read, and while they don't make a big deal about it, they certainly don't h ave any problem pulling out their books and reading in public.В And I can't say I've ever seen any kid, boy or girl,В picked on for liking bo oks or choosing to read.
I definitely have boys that will not read books with female protagonists an d/or books with "girly"-looking covers of any sort.В One boy in partic ular, an athlete who reads voraciously, refuses to read The Hunger Games be cause the protagonist is a girl, even though it is just his sort of book! В I would guess this might be a problem at the middle school level mor e than at either the high school or elementary school level.В Having s aid that, though, I do have a number of boys who've read the Twilight serie s.В
I have to admit that, at least to an extent, I recommend different books to boys than I do to girls . . . but I think a lot of that is due to my askin g the kids what types of books they like, and then going from there.В However, I always have a lot of go-to recommendations thatВ I use for b oth boys and girls. В As Dean pointed out, there are great books that s eem to totally cross gender lines . . . as I've tried to tellВ the kid В who won't read The Hunger Games!
Maggie Bokelman
Librarian
Eagle View Middle School
Mechanicsburg, PA
В
Received on Tue 20 Apr 2010 11:12:19 PM CDT
Date: Tue, 20 Apr 2010 23:12:19 +0000 (UTC)
This is a topic that fascinates me!В I am a middle school librarian, a nd I've found that, if anything, I have more avid boy readers than avid gir l readers, or at least, they talk to me more than the girls do.В В The boys seem to be especially drawn to series, more so than the girls.В My completely unscientific theory:В В the boys have less patien ceВ withВ "shopping" for books, picking upВ one after another В andВ weighingВ their relative merits.В With a series, th ey don't have to think about what the next book they're going to read will be.В Fortunately, there are a lot of excellent series out there these days . . . Ranger's Apprentice is hot right now.В I'd also say I get m ore boys than girls asking for recommendations.В Might be for the same reason:В that the boysВ don't want to spend the time looking for something themselves.В In addition, and again, I could be wrong, but I think the girls do a better job of recommending books to each other than t he boys.В The boys don't seem to be as comfortable talking to friends about books.
I've also noticed thatВ the boys who are reluctant readersВ like to talk about how nerdy reading is, and brag about how much they hate to read .В В Reluctant girl readersВ don't do that nearly as much.В В However, В it certainly isn't just theВ quiet, less social В boys who read.В В В There's plenty of "popular" boys who read, and while they don't make a big deal about it, they certainly don't h ave any problem pulling out their books and reading in public.В And I can't say I've ever seen any kid, boy or girl,В picked on for liking bo oks or choosing to read.
I definitely have boys that will not read books with female protagonists an d/or books with "girly"-looking covers of any sort.В One boy in partic ular, an athlete who reads voraciously, refuses to read The Hunger Games be cause the protagonist is a girl, even though it is just his sort of book! В I would guess this might be a problem at the middle school level mor e than at either the high school or elementary school level.В Having s aid that, though, I do have a number of boys who've read the Twilight serie s.В
I have to admit that, at least to an extent, I recommend different books to boys than I do to girls . . . but I think a lot of that is due to my askin g the kids what types of books they like, and then going from there.В However, I always have a lot of go-to recommendations thatВ I use for b oth boys and girls. В As Dean pointed out, there are great books that s eem to totally cross gender lines . . . as I've tried to tellВ the kid В who won't read The Hunger Games!
Maggie Bokelman
Librarian
Eagle View Middle School
Mechanicsburg, PA
В
Received on Tue 20 Apr 2010 11:12:19 PM CDT
