I recently attended a workshop on the topic of boys and reading. The presenter, Michael Sullivan is a former children’s librarian and library director. He shared with the group many of the studies that have been done comparing boys and girls reading – both in choices and abilities. The audience was made up of public librarians, school librarians as well as teachers and prinicipals. Everyone is searching for ideas and answers about why it seems for a majority of boys that reading comes so difficultly or even though they can read very well they choose not to. He didn’t have cut and dried answers, but he shared many insights and gave us some fabulous resources. He talked about the sense of humor and inquisitiveness about how things work that engages many boys. Nonfiction is often their genre of choice although we as adults seem to be stuck on insisting that they read fiction. One of my favorite suggestions was that you try to pair an activity and a book. We have pushed this in several activities we have provided – explore a subject in a book and then go and try to experience it in another fashion. This is a quote that hit home for me having three brothers and a father that did very little reading as I was growing up; “Engage a boy’s hands and his mind will follow.” In the next few weeks I will be putting together a list of some of his suggestions. I have already ordered some additional titles. Unfortunately, some of his suggestions are out of print but the good news is they are available through our Prairie Cat system.
Be sure to stop in the library to pick up a list or have a conversation with one of the youth services staff members. We’ll be happy to help you locate some great choices for your child.
