REACHING BOYS WITH BOOKS Gender Trends in Literature Suzy Howard Woodstock MS
In the dark ages… STEREOTYPICAL MALE CHARACTERS DESCRIPTION OF MALE FIGURES IN WRITING MORE COMPLEX AND ACTIVE THAN FOR FEMALES MALE CHOICE OF LITERATURE THAT REAFFIRMS HETEROSEXUALITY
Research about boys LESS FICTION COMPREHENSION THAN GIRLS LESS LEISURE READING ENJOY INFORMATIONAL TEXTS LIKE NONFICTION AND GRAPHIC NOVELS/COMICS LIKE THESE GENRES: HOBBIES, SPORTS, SCIENCE FICTION, HUMOR LOWER LITERACY THAN FEMALES
Research about boys** CHOOSE BOOKS BASED ON MALE PROTAGONIST BOOK COVER IS IMPORTANT ½ BOYS CALL THEMSELVES NON-READERS BY HIGH SCHOOL THINK THEY ARE BAD READERS AVOID READING IF IT IS SEEN AS FEMININE **ADAPTED FROM READING DON’T FIX NO CHEVYS
It must be that y- chromosome! 1 IN EVERY 32 AMERICANS HAS BEEN INVOLVED IN THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM. THE MAJORITY OF THIS STATISTIC ARE MALE. OUT OF THOSE MALES, THE MAJORITY ARE HIGH SCHOOL DROPOUTS, THOSE WITH POOR EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES.
WE DON’T NEED NO EDUCATION
Movin’ on up! USE THE TEN COMMON ARCHETYPES TO FOSTER POSITIVE MALE IMAGES USE SCAFFOLDING TO BRIDGE TO MORE DIFFICULT WORKS MAKE READABILITY ACCESSIBLE MAKE WORKS CULTURALLY RELEVANT PUT MORE MONEY INTO MAGAZINES INSTEAD OF NOVELS PUT ON “BOYINTEREST” PROGRAMS THAT INCORPORATE READING HIRE TEEN MALES TO WORK IN LIBRARY
GUY-FRIENDLY NONFICTION s World records, computers, Bigfoot, UFOs 300s Scary Stories, True Crime, Military 500s Dinosaurs, Snakes, Sharks, Natural Disasters, Space 600s Anything with Wheels, Sex 700s Sports, Music, Cartoons, Magic, Cheat Codes 800s Jokes, Riddles, Poetry 900s War, Biographies of athletes, actors
WHERE’S THE 411? READING DON’T FIX NO CHEVYS BY MICHAEL SMITH & JEFF WILHELM BOOKTALKING THAT WORKS BY JENNIFER BROMANN