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The Importance of Reading
The Secret to Boys and Reading
Photographs by Marc and Melanie Chartrand Guys Read Guy BooksBy Mary Jacobs
What's the secret to boys and reading? Give them books about things they like: adventure, biography, science fiction, sports, and yes, even gross humor. Jon Scieszka, author of The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales, can picture his reading audience quite precisely. "It's those knuckleheaded boys who are sitting in the back of the classroom," he says with a laugh. "I want to engage them and make them sit up." Scieszka, recently appointed the National Ambassador for Young People's Literature by the Library of Congress, isn't the only one thinking about boy readers. Studies show boys aren't reading as much as girls, and it's affecting their success in school. Why? The short answer, says Scieszka: "Boys often have to read books they don't really like. They don't get to choose what they want to read."
Reluctant readers In 1955, Time magazine published a groundbreaking article titled "Why Johnny Can't Read" that argued the reading curricula in American schools wasn't working. Now, more than 55 years later, the issue isn't so much "why Johnny can't read" as "why Johnny won't read." According to a study published in the book Reading Don't Fix No Chevys, researchers Michael W. Smith and Jeffrey D. Wilhem reported that boys read less and are less enthusiastic about reading than girls. Some researchers point to differences in the way boys' brains are wired, which makes reading a bigger challenge. But a study conducted by the Young Adult Library Services Association highlights another issue-many boys just don't like to read. The study polled boys with an average age of 14 about why they don't read. Their answers included "boring/no fun" (39 percent); "no time/too busy" (30 percent); "like other activities better" (11 percent); "can't get into the stories" (8 percent); and "I'm not good at it" (4 percent).
The problem seems to begin with a fourth-grade slump. Evidence indicates that's when boys tend to lose interest in reading, says William Brozo, professor of literacy at George Mason University's graduate school of education. "Around the middle-school years, motivation to read and learn and actual reading achievement tend to decline among boys." Brozo adds that those are the years when masculine identity becomes paramount for boys-and many boys see reading as a "girl thing." "They see that mom reads to them most of the time, that mom is the only one at home reading a book, that most all of their teachers in the first several years of school are women, telling them that they should be readers," he says. "And publishers know that most buyers of books are women."
Another factor: Reading assignments often change during the middle-school years, when students begin to tackle thicker books with fewer illustrations. "Middle school is the point at which students are expected to read ‘more serious' stuff,'" Scieszka says. "And that turns boys off." Fear of failure also may turn off some boys. Boys typically lag behind girls in verbal skills, and their reading performance trails girls' by about 1.5 years. "Incompetence is a big fear for boys," says Paul Mullen, Ph.D., an author and literacy advocate. "If they're feeling inferior about reading, they'll downplay it."
What a boy likes The bottom line: Boys need more exposure to the kinds of books that excite them. "We know a great deal about the reading interests of teen and preteen boys," says Brozo.
Surveys and studies show that boys prefer topics and genres such as humor, horror, adventure, informational books, science fiction, crime and detective, ghost stories, sports, war, biography, historical novels, and graphic novels. These kinds of books "appeal to boys because the fun overtakes the challenge of reading," says Brozo. "Boys can overcome the challenges of what might otherwise be a difficult read, if the material appeals to them." Boys are more likely to read informational texts and magazine or newspaper articles. They like comic books and graphic novels. Many boys are collectors and will collect series of books.
Boys read less fiction than girls but tend to enjoy escapism and humor. Many boys are passionate about science fiction and fantasy. They like to read stories about their interests such as those related to hobbies or sports. Also, boys tend to resist reading books about female characters, whereas girls aren't so bothered by books about boys. Much of that material doesn't fit under the label of "literature," but reading experts say that keeping boys engaged is more important than insisting on quality.
Even the literary Brits are starting to expand their definition of what makes good reading to include more boy-friendly topics. Alan Johnson, England's former education secretary, recently urged every secondary school "to provide a bookshelf packed with spy novels and action stories to help boys catch up with girls." School libraries need "not just Jane Austen, but a necessary dose of Anthony Horowitz as well."
Horowitz has written a series of books, starting with Stormbreaker in 2001, that feature a 14-year-old spy named Alex Rider, who's something of a teenage James Bond. The books have sold four million copies in the United States alone. Unwillingly recruited to spy for the British secret service, young Alex uses his intelligence and creativity-along with an arsenal of cool gadgets-to fight the enemy. "It's the world of a boy's dream," Horowitz says. "Boys find it very easy to empathize with the character. Boys ‘are' Alex Rider when they are reading my books." Even though he doesn't aim for a male-only readership, Horowitz says, "I'm the writer for boys who don't want to read. Over and over again, I meet parents who tell me that, somehow, Alex Rider has got their kids reading."
The cringe factor Horowitz says that he relies on the judgment of his 17-year-old son, Cassian, to read drafts of his novels and to catch passages that won't work with young readers. "If a text is embarrassing, he'll mark it with the word ‘Cringe.'" But many teachers and librarians aren't attuned to what makes boys "cringe"or to asking about what turns them on to reading. Often, teachers or librarians are more likely to dismiss, or even forbid, books that interest boys.
"I liked to read funny stuff when I was a kid," Scieszka recalls. "But I had to readt hat stuff on the sly. "If you really like sharks or World War II bombers, and you want to read about them, teachers tend to say, ‘You can't just read those. It's not a book,'" Scieszka says.
Brozo cites Katherine Paterson's Bridge to Terabithia as a good book that's popular but doesn't appeal to most boys. "It's not simply because the main character is a girl who is more athletic and more clever than the main character in the story, but because the psychological and emotional context of the story makes it less accessible to most preteen boys. "Is it a flawed novel? Not by any means. Is it a novel chosen by teachers with boys in mind? I doubt it."
To engage reluctant-reader boys, experts urge educators to expand their definition of reading. Graphic novels, comics, and manga (a Japanese comic-book style) appeal to boys-and though they rely heavily on pictures, they still boost reading skills. In fact, Kaplan Test Prep publishes manga novels featuring SAT vocabulary words as a way of helping high school-age readers, especially boys, absorb the words more quickly than conventional methods like flash cards. These books may make parents cringe, but if they're getting boys to read, they're keeping them in the game and making them likely to tackle more serious material later.
Boy vs. girl themes Scieszka recalled an instance when he met an 8-year-old boy who was reading Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House on the Prairie with his class and thought the book was "just awful." Scieszka says he understood the boy's attitude. "Little House on the Prairie might be a wonderful book," he says. "But if you're an 8-year-old boy, it's not the book that's going to light your fire and get you reading."
Scieszka says he knows what most boys don't like: "dreary problem novels, where everyone dies and the men are complete snakes." Girls tend to veer more toward novels that highlight relationships, and teachers-most of whom are female and many of them English majors-tend to assign those books. "Boys typically don't like books about relationships, unless they're hero-based," explains Paul Mullen, an author and literacy advocate. "If a book's central theme is based on relationships, boys will easily become disenchanted."
Horowitz also notes that male readers are sensitive about the age of the characters in books. "My hero is 14, and the age of my readership goes up to age 15. Older boys don't want to read about younger boys," he says.
Scieszka cites Gary Paulsen, the author of Hatchet and other boy-friendly books and a frequent contributor of short fiction to Boys' Life magazine, as the epitome of "testosterone-soaked literature." "He gets that guy mentality," says Scieszka. "He understands that, for a good book, you need weaponry and vehicles. Or you need to be out in the middle of nowhere and just have your hatchet to survive."
Reading starts at home Helmer Duverge, a family literacy trainer and an assistant Scoutmaster in Louisville, Ky., says encouraging boys to read should start at home. Parents can model reading by incorporating it into daily activities such as making a shopping list or discussing newspaper articles at the dinner table. And don't limit your definition of "reading" to books, Duverge adds. Kids are reading on the Internet, and "as long as they're reading, as long as you're talking about it and having a dialogue, it's all good," he says.
"It doesn't help to force books down boys' throats or to say that a book is ‘good for them,'" Horowitz says. "It's got to be a shared enthusiasm." Scieszka targets the "boy gap" in reading as he speaks to educators across the country. "The first thing I recommend to teachers and librarians is to expand their definition of what reading is. Any reading is good reading. Let your boys choose stuff." Scieszka has created a Web site, www.guysread.com, to encourage families and schools to build their own "Guys Read" collections.
Reading opportunities in Scouting Scieszka, who attended the 1969 jamboree as a Scout, says the BSA can provide a jumping-off point to engage boys. Scouting offers "all that great boy stuff" in ways that are often not encouraged in other school or extracurricular activities. "You get to learn how to do things like sharpen a knife." But elsewhere, he says, "you can't even say the word knife anymore."
"Scout leaders are in an ideal position to influence boys' reading habits," says Brozo. And they don't need highbrow taste to do so, Scieszka says. "If you're reading an autobiography of Dale Earnhardt or a tractor manual, that's great. Talk about it with your Scouts."
Duverge also touts Boys' Life as a useful tool for getting boys to read. "It's an incredible magazine," he says. "What I enjoy are the real stories of heroic acts. I read those and talk about them with my sons. I ask questions like, ‘What would you do?' ‘Would you risk your life like that?' It shows the way Scouting can influence and affect others in a vital, nonfiction way." It's little surprise that reader surveys reveal the comic-style of "A True Story of Scouts in Action" is one of Boys' Life's most popular features. "What we try to do is to engage our readers," says J.D. Owen, editor-in-chief of Boys' Life. "We try to make the material entertaining enough that they won't know it's educational."
The aim: Don't confine reading to schoolwork; instead, make it a lifelong habit. "Remove the stress of reading as an academic pursuit. Make it enjoyable first," says Duverge.
Writer Mary Jacobs lives in Dallas, Tex.
Reading a Book Stimulates Your Brain More Than Electronic Media
Put down the remote control, log off YouTube and exercise your brain! The following article, reprinted from O, The Oprah Magazine outlines the neurological benefits of reading. Watch This. No. Read It!By Lauren Duzbow Photo: Ben Goldstein In our high-speed-connection world, why bother to read when you can get it all electronically? We make the case for not closing the book. When you can see Atonement in two hours and 10 minutes (enacted by the very appealing James McAvoy, no less) or listen to it on audiotape, why bother working through the 371-page novel? For that matter, why trudge through the newspaper when you can turn on CNN? Why puzzle over a manual when you can YouTube the instructions? Everyone knows the book is always better than the movie, but is there any real advantage to getting your information by reading it? Yes, according to neuroscience-your mind will most definitely thank you. Just like muscles, the brain benefits from a good workout.
And reading is more neurobiologically demanding than processing images or speech. As you're absorbing, say, this article, "parts of the brain that have evolved for other functions-such as vision, language, and associative learning-connect in a specific neural circuit for reading, which is very challenging," says Ken Pugh, PhD, president and director of research of Haskins Laboratories, which is devoted to the science of language and affiliated with Yale. "A sentence is shorthand for a lot of information that must be inferred by the brain." In general, your intelligence is called to action, as is greater concentration. "We are forced to construct, to produce narrative, to imagine," says Maryanne Wolf, director of the Center for Reading and Language Research at Tufts University and author of Proust and the Squid: The Story and Science of the Reading Brain. "Typically, when you read, you have more time to think. Reading gives you a unique pause button for comprehension and insight. By and large, with oral language-when you watch a film or listen to a tape-you don't press pause." The benefits of all this mental activity include keeping your memory sharp, your learning capacity nimble, and your mind basically hardier as you age. No one's advising that you toss the DVD player-or books on tape, which, Pugh says, provide more work for your brain than seeing a movie-but print should take up part of your life too. A literate mind is a more complex one. "There's a richness that reading gives you," Wolf says, "an opportunity to probe more than any other medium I know of. Reading is about not being content with the surface." Even when it is superficial (what's a plane ride without a little celebrity gossip?), indulging in a tabloid beats watching TV-just processing the words boosts the brain. "If you had your druthers," Pugh says, "you'd rather be reading."
From O,The Oprah Magazine
Why Should You Read to Your Child
Experts agree that reading aloud to your child is one of the most advantageous social and academic activities you can share. The following articles outline some of the most important benefits.
The Benefits of Reading to Children July 25, 2007 by Umm Yusuf (southernmuslimah.wordpress.com)
I fondly remember spending my childhood propped up on my older sisters lap listening to her exaggerated tone as she read to me. I remember my mother never failing to read me a bedtime story. Then, as I turned into a pre-teen I remember reading The Baby Sitters Club, Goosbumps, and other similar books. My love of reading has continued to this day. I can say one thing. I aced literature in school. I was far above most of the class in reading comprehension. I sincerely believe that my success was due to the love of reading instilled into me as a child.
Sadly, today, many children would rather sit in front of the television all day watching their favorite programs or playing video games. While I see nothing wrong with watching television from time to time or playing video games once in awhile, I find it disturbing that some parents allow their children to spend all their free time in this manner. It's best to be well rounded. Some television programs certainly promote learning and reading. However, I believe it makes a greater impact on the child when his/her parent(s) actually sit down and read together.
Here are some benefits of reading with children. Hopefully they will inspire us to try to set aside some time to read with our children. It could make a huge difference in their lives and ours!
Some Benefits of Reading Aloud By: ERIC Clearinghouse on Rural Education and Small Schools. (1999)
Reading aloud to children in any language prepares them to learn to read English. Learn about the benefits in this article.
Young children learn a great deal when books are read aloud to them.
They learn about the internal structure of stories - how they begin, different types of conflicts, and possible solutions. They sometimes learn empathy for others and see other sides to a story, such as understanding what the main character is going through (whether person or animal), be it fear, anger, or humility.
Reading aloud provides opportunities for students to view persons not in their immediate environment, for example the elderly, wise persons, or people from different ethnic backgrounds or social status. And through books, children can travel to far away lands and learn about life in the jungle or on a cattle ranch.
In reading books, children learn what is considered proper or appropriate behavior for their culture or that of others. Depending on the story, they could learn about the need to respect the elderly, how to ask for forgiveness, or how to show you're sorry.
Finally, when reading fairy tales or modern fantasy, children learn how to use their imagination, to view situations from various perspectives, and to know that events can be seen from different viewpoints. Adapted and excerpted from "Reading Children's Books: There's More to it than Meets the Eye" (1999). ERIC Clearinghouse on Rural Education and Small Schools.
The Value of Audio Books
Why One English Teacher Values the Audiobook
I’ve long enjoyed listening to audiobooks. Most often I listen to them when I’m in the car, but I also like to listen to them at night as I’m falling asleep. Perhaps that’s a carryover from the very-long-gone days of my childhood when my parents read to me at night. But whatever the reason, I’ve enjoyed listening to stories for a long time.
I have to admit, though, that for years I have—in varying degrees—accepted society’s prejudice against the audiobook, thinking it not quite of the same caliber as the experience of “reading” a written text. I haven’t been nearly as prejudiced as some people, some…Ah-hummm, English teachers. But still, it’s hard to overcome the kind of preference for written text that’s been long embedded in our educational institutions.
I taught a class this past year, though, which pushed through those final barriers of prejudice for me. I had a group of remedial tenth graders who informed me that they hated to read. They had always hated to read. There was nothing they hated more than reading. If they’d had the words “loath” and “detest” in their somewhat limited lexicons, I’m sure they’d have emerged among that class’ loud assertions about the evils of reading.
This group of students was also one of the most difficult groups I had ever had when it came to controlling their impulses. They had very little understanding of what a classroom was supposed to be, why it was set up the way it was, or what the purpose of schooling was period. At least for them.
And I discovered that the ONLY tool I had in my teacher toolbox that could calm these students down and get them to stop hurting themselves and others was…to read to them. I’ve often had to read to groups of remedial students over the years. It’s something I love doing. But this group was different. For the survival of everyone in that classroom, I had to do far more reading aloud than usual.
Amazing things happened when I read to this group. They didn’t just listen, although they did do that. They asked questions. They clarified text. They made predictions. They commented on the choices characters were making. They connected what characters were doing with the choices they made in their own lives.
In short, they were doing everything that “readers” do. Everything that English teachers hope “readers” will do. Even when it got hard.
Toward the end of the year, I finally said to this group, “You know, you guys are readers. You truly are.”
So loud were their angry protestations at being so “misread” by me after ten months of our being together that I thought they would shout me right out the door. I calmed them down enough to explain what readers do when reading. And to point out that they did everyone of those things whenever I read to them.
“Yeah, but that’s not reading,” one of them protested. “We can only do that if you read to us.”
“So what?” I said. “That’s still reading. You guys love stories. You love hearing them. So listen to them. Read audiobooks. I bet you’ll turn in to lifelong readers.”
“That’s not reading,” they continued to assert.
So strenuously did I have to argue with them about this that the last vestiges of my own prejudice began to disintegrate. I knew I’d obliterated it completely when, in the course of the argument, I said, “Hey, you guys, my sister-in-law is blind. The only access she has to books is audiobooks. She listens to them regularly. All the time. Loves them. We talk about books with each other because she listens to them and I run my eyeballs over the pages. Are you going to tell me that she’s not a ‘reader’?”
They were stumped.
So was I. I’d just argued myself into a whole new way of thinking.
I’m going to work harder at getting all my students to realize that audiobooking is ‘reading’. Maybe I need a new word for the other process—that one where the eyeball scans the page. Maybe that will help break down the walls of prejudice that remain against audiobooking. As a society, we need to allow the word “reading” to apply as much to listening to text as to using our eyes to take it in. We need to abolish that prejudice that says, “Yeah, but when someone else reads the text to you, they’re interpreting it, so you’re not really having the true reading experience.” Seriously? How did written text get so much status? We don’t hold that prejudice when it comes to attending a play. What’s that if not an interpretation of written text? Did Homer’s listeners think, “Yeah, but he’s interpreting our mythology for us, so this is less valid than if he’d just write it out and let us read it”?
Audiobooking is reading. I want students to read. I want students to have the words “detest” and “loath” in their vocabularies so they can apply it as much to narrow definitions of reading as to anything else they want to. And if they get that from reading audiobooks…
Wonderful.
© Amy Huntley, 2009
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