After our discussion about boys and reading I decided to do some further research. I agree that tween boys aren't reading as much as girls and I think that there are many things that go into that. For one, they aren't as interested. They would rather be doing other things and many times at that age reading isn't considered "cool". Another reason is that not as many books are aimed at boys and since boys aren't going to the library as much many displays are aimed at girls. Boys also are limiting in the genres they will read so that further restriction their choices.
The article I found presented an interesting way to increase reading in boys and is definitely something I will keep in mind once I start my career as a librarian. In the article, the librarian (Chris Gustafson) had a yearlong project in which she would create a reading list. Once students read the book, they were required to answer a few short questions and then their name could be entered into a drawing for a prize. After looking at the state reading scores Chris decided to look at the results of her project by gender and found that surprisingly only 28% of the entries were from boys. After reviewing some possible solutions she decided to instill the spirit of competition and pinned the girls against the boys. In the new reading competition if more boys than girls read and entered their names in the coffee can then six names were drawn for the monthly prizes and vice versa. The change she made to her project has greatly increased the number of boys participating each year. By adding an additional element that appealed to boys she was able to get a greater amount to start reading. As librarians we have to look for creative ways to engage boys in reading otherwise they will continue to lag behind girls.
Gustafson, C. (2008). Reading Motivation Through Competition: Boys as Readers. Library Media Connection, 26(5), 16-17. Retrieved from Library, Information Science & Technology Abstracts with Full Text database.
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