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Re: Boys and Genres and Covers
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From: Maggi <librarymaggi_at_gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 22 Apr 2010 17:30:20 -0400
On Apr 22, 2010, at 10:44 AM, Nancy Bo Flood wrote: Nonfiction is the more frequent book choice by boys, beginning in middle grade, and is a preference that continues into adulthood. Boys prefer information and action. Females usually prefer fiction. Who chooses poetry? Or what kind of poetry? I haven't seen any research about poetry preferences.
I've been introducing poetic novels to my 5th graders this year, and overall, the girls are the ones who are more interested. I chose to introduce novels with an equal mix of boys and girls and people from various cultures. Even the nonfiction style books (World Afire, Ringside 1925) were still preferred by girls over boys. Perhaps this is because the poetic novel seems to be mostly about feelings.
On the other hand, I did address epic poems and the boys were more interested. I'm not sure if they would actually be willing to read the poetic forms of the novels, but the stories (Beowulf, the Iliad) were interesting to them.
-Maggi Idzikowski Media Specialist Allen Elementary School, Ann Arbor MI librarymaggi_at_gmail.com Blogging with my 4-year-old at http://mamalibrarian.blogspot.com/
Received on Thu 22 Apr 2010 05:30:20 PM CDT
Date: Thu, 22 Apr 2010 17:30:20 -0400
On Apr 22, 2010, at 10:44 AM, Nancy Bo Flood wrote: Nonfiction is the more frequent book choice by boys, beginning in middle grade, and is a preference that continues into adulthood. Boys prefer information and action. Females usually prefer fiction. Who chooses poetry? Or what kind of poetry? I haven't seen any research about poetry preferences.
I've been introducing poetic novels to my 5th graders this year, and overall, the girls are the ones who are more interested. I chose to introduce novels with an equal mix of boys and girls and people from various cultures. Even the nonfiction style books (World Afire, Ringside 1925) were still preferred by girls over boys. Perhaps this is because the poetic novel seems to be mostly about feelings.
On the other hand, I did address epic poems and the boys were more interested. I'm not sure if they would actually be willing to read the poetic forms of the novels, but the stories (Beowulf, the Iliad) were interesting to them.
-Maggi Idzikowski Media Specialist Allen Elementary School, Ann Arbor MI librarymaggi_at_gmail.com Blogging with my 4-year-old at http://mamalibrarian.blogspot.com/
Received on Thu 22 Apr 2010 05:30:20 PM CDT
