Entering Book World
How do We Help Both Boys and Girls in Class Read-Alouds?
Susan Stevens
EDU 600: Teacher as Leader
Module 8 Assignment
June 20th, 2011
Entering Book World: How Do We Best Reach Boys and Girls in Class Read-Alouds?
Entering Book World: How Do We Best Reach Boys and Girls in Class Read-Alouds?
When teaching reading, I want to help my students enter Book World, which is that magical
place where you are so immersed in what you read that you enter the story and lose track of time.
To create life-long readers, I need to help my students enter Book World, or what Jeffrey
Wilhelm calls “flow. . . a total immersion in the immediate experience of reading. Indeed this
kind of immersion is the basic fact of engaged reading” (Boltz, 2007, para. 3). Boltz also makes
the point that boys tend to enter the flow through different types of literature than girls—
literature which generally don’t make it to the teacher’s preferred reading material list (2007).
Therefore, book choice is the key to entering Book World.
I can learn about my students and make book suggestions that lead them to Book World
individually; I can give literature circles preference choices that usually lead them to Book
World—but what about class read-alouds? What can the literature tell me about how I can I
better select books that will help me hook both boys and girls at the same time, helping them
enter Book World, while at the same time providing strong role models for them? This is
important, because if we don’t hook readers early, our students may develop a life-long aversion
to reading (Merisuo-Storm, 2006).
The “Boy Crisis” and Book Choice
There is a lot of literature about the “boy crisis” in reading. It seems that boys test lower in
reading almost universally (Boltz, 2007; Charles, 2007; Sadowski, 2010; Schwartz, 2002;
Sullivan, 2004), especially in the area of comprehending narrative text (Schwartz, 2002), and this
lower reading level affects their performance in all subjects (Sadowski, 2010). There’s evidence
that boys read less than girls which directly connects to their level of reading fluency (Boltz,
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Entering Book World: How Do We Best Reach Boys and Girls in Class Read-Alouds?
2007; Merisuo-Storm, 2006; Sadowski, 2010; Sullivan, 2004). Boys also tend to see themselves
as poor readers (Boltz, 2007). A number of reasons are given for the “boy crisis” in reading:

There is negative peer pressure as boys struggle to be viewed as masculine (MerisuoStorm, 2006; Watson, et.al., 2010).

Negative attitudes are contagious (Merisuo-Storm, 2006), which makes it important to
identify and hook those students with negative attitudes first, before the disease spreads.

Boys do not have enough male models which is highly important as attitudes about
reading develop early (Merisuo-Storm, 2006; Schwartz, 2002; Sullivan, 2004), especially
in the area of viewing reading as recreation (Boltz, 2007).

Boys tend to read brief, informative texts (Boltz, 2007; Schwartz, 2002; Sullivan, 2004),
where classroom read-alouds tend to be narrative.

Boys prefer non-fiction, comics, how-to manuals, graphic novels, sports, adventure,
fantasy, humor, horror, and series books (Boltz, 2007; Merisuo-Storm, 2006; Schwartz,
2002; Sullivan, 2004). Part of the appeal of series books is that boys can guarantee that
they don’t accidentally pick out a “girl book” (Merisuo-Storm, 2006). This is
information that we can use. If we can hook boys on a series they’ve got a reading plan
laid out for a while.

Some studies show that boys are hard-wired to enjoy action books because they have less
cross-hemispheric activity, thus needing an extra “jolt” in their reading (Boltz, 2007;
Sullivan, 2004).

Teachers and librarians tend to treat “boy books” as sub-standard literature; we need to
promote them in book talks (Sullivan, 2004).
General Gleanings From the Research
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Entering Book World: How Do We Best Reach Boys and Girls in Class Read-Alouds?
We need to hook boys [and girls] on reading first and then move them toward “better”
quality literature (Merisuo-Storm, 2006; Sadowski, 2010; Sullivan, 2004). At the same time, we
need to teach students that they may prefer a lighter book when they have a cold, when they’re
upset about something, or just when they’re feeling tired. Their reading doesn’t need to march
relentlessly uphill as that does not reflect real-world reading.
Since girls tend to dominate class discussions, we need to involve boys in class
discussions to help them comprehend and think analytically about what they read (Schwartz,
2002). One way to promote participation is through written discussion, either in pairs or small
groups and either on paper or on the computer.
We teachers must broaden our genre repertoire if boys are to be pulled in, as reading
instruction most often takes place with narrative fiction and boys more often prefer to read for
practical purposes (Boltz, 2007). As an aside, students also need to be taught to read multidirectionally, a skill used when they read electronically with hypertext and multi-media (Boltz,
2007), a skill that many teachers ignore.
Storytelling appeals to struggling readers and since boys make up 70% of the students in
remedial reading classes (Sullivan, 2004), storytelling is a worthwhile addition to the teacher
toolkit as both a teaching technique and an assessment technique.
Even more than girls, boys need read-alouds (Boltz, 2007; Sullivan, 2004). That’s good
news to me as I use read-alouds for my strategic teaching via “think-alouds.” This year we read
twelve full-length chapter books, but the question still remains--which books will best engage
both boys and girls.
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Entering Book World: How Do We Best Reach Boys and Girls in Class Read-Alouds?
It seems that boys read more genres than girls (Schwartz, 2002), but are more selective
(Merrisuo-Storm, 2006) generally in terms of whether a book is a boy book or not. Girls tend to
cross gender lines more easily (Merisuo-Storm, 2006). One study showed that the top three
choices of boys and girls are the same three genres—comics, humor, and adventure—just in a
different order (Merisuo-Storm, 2006). It would seem logical, then, to start the school year with
one of these genres.
Although girls read more than boys, and are more interested in books that have to do with
internal reflection and that emphasize emotions and interpersonal relationships (Boltz, 2007;
Sullivan, 2004), it seems that much of what interests girls is superficial in nature like fanzines
(Boltz, 2007) and romance (Charles, 2007). Little of this reading provides role models for girls
that are self-determinate, flexible, responsible, and/or empowered (Charles, 2007). In the same
way that I mentioned about boys, girls need to be hooked on reading first, and then moved
toward better quality reading material.
As teachers, we need to be aware that preferences and interests are not always the same
(Boltz, 2007; Merisuo-Storm, 2006). A student may prefer reading humor to science fiction, but
not be interested in either. Thus, our highest priority must be uncovering the interests of each of
our students. I model my love of reading by bringing in my reading stack and show my students
the variety of reading. I often import men as positive reading role models for my students.
These men give book talks and read with my most resistant readers for a class period a week
during the school year.
On the whole, we need to provide real choice (Boltz, 2007; Merisuo-Storm, 2006;
Sullivan, 2004), a well-stocked classroom library (Boltz, 2007; Schwartz, 2002), and have
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Entering Book World: How Do We Best Reach Boys and Girls in Class Read-Alouds?
students organize the library which encourages greater use of the library (Boltz, 2007). Also,
time for free voluntary reading is the key to a successful reading program (Boltz, 2007).
Applying the Research
One suggestion that I appreciate is to think and act locally (Sadowski, 2010). Since every
school and every class in that school is different, and what works for one may not work for
another, we need to be reading detectives in our classrooms. To that end, I used the current
Measurement of Academic Progress® (MAP®) testing data for our school and broke it down into
male and female categories to take a look at gender differences. The students tested are upper
income, and from 40 different countries, although Ecuadorians, U.S. citizens, and Koreans
predominate. Students have widely varying proficiency in English, many students are trilingual,
and so may be proficient in their maternal tongue, but not in English.
Student Performance by Gender in Reading According to RIT Score: Grade 2 - 10 MAP Testing
RIT
band
161-170
171-180
181-190
M
Total
201-210
211-220
221-230
231-240
241-250
M
M
M
Number of students per grade in RIT band
Class
2nd
grade
3rd
grade
4th
grade
5th
grade
6th
grade
7th
grade
8th
grade
9th
grade
10th
grade
191-200
F
1
1
M
F
M
F
M
F
M
F
2
2
2
3
1
4
1
2
1
2
1
2
2
5
2
2
2
1
3
7
5
9
6
7
F
F
Total
18
1
Total
14
5
3
2
1
Total
24
4
2
3
1
1
Total
12
1
2
2
3
2
Total
11
1
2
3
Total
11
Total
6
Total
15
1
2
F
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
2
2
5
2
1
2
1
3
4
2
2
1
Total
16
12
11
13
14
5
4
2
Total
127
1
1
F
1
2
1
M
15
5
8
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Entering Book World: How Do We Best Reach Boys and Girls in Class Read-Alouds?
As far as the school is concerned, 18% of the students test below grade level—about
70% of which are boys. With such a small sample size, I’m not sure how statistically important
these figures are. Thinking even more locally, the “boy crisis” is not evident in my upcoming
class which has six boys and seven girls below grade level, five boys at grade level, and four
boys and two girls above grade level. Instead, I can anticipate a general reading crisis as my
upcoming class has several students with severe learning disabilities and a number of students in
their first year learning English.
The research validates a lot of how I structure my reading: lots of read-alouds and
storytelling, and time for free voluntary reading. Guided reading is designed to move students
toward more difficult and/or more literary reading. Even in guided reading, I try to include a
preference choice so students are empowered.
As a result of this study, I will make sure to purchase and publicize a wider variety of
“boy books” and “girl books” in my classroom library. I’m also going to look into the growing
genre of narrative non-fiction and more books of the slightly gross humor variety. Yes, I even
found myself purchasing a book about the Jonas Brothers for one of my female readers who
needs to be hooked.
From what I’ve read, I need to hook my boys first, and I believe the fantasy genre has a
lot to offer both boys and girls. Specifically, I’ll begin the year with a fantasy unit with
components designed to hook all students. I’ll choose something like Harry Potter, with strong
male and female characters who fight evil. Using these books, I can read a chapter and then
show a portion of the movie with subtitles to help my ELL students build background knowledge
and also help those students who have trouble visualizing. I’ll do single-gender guided reading
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Entering Book World: How Do We Best Reach Boys and Girls in Class Read-Alouds?
groups with “girl fantasy books” that may have a bit more romance and “boy fantasy books” that
may have a bit more action. Discussion will take place on Edmodo and on paper for guided
reading groups and be whole group for the group read aloud.
The literature confirmed gut feelings that I’ve had about boys and girls preference and
validated some practices I tried last school year such as focusing more on hooking the boys in
the class at the beginning of the school year as girls tend to cross over gender lines with their
reading. It also is pushing me to broaden my classroom library.
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Entering Book World: How Do We Best Reach Boys and Girls in Class Read-Alouds?
References
Boltz, R. H. (2007). What we want: Boys and girls talk about reading. School Library Media
Research, 10, (no page numbers given) Retrieved from EBSCO host.
Charles, C. (2007). Exploring "girl power": Gender, literacy and the textual practices of young
women attending an elite school. English Teaching: Practice and Critique, 6(2), 72-88.
Retrieved from EBSCO host.
Merisuo-Storm, T. (2006). Girls and boys like to read and write different texts. Scandinavian
Journal of Educational Research, 50(2), 111-125. doi:10.1080/00313830600576039
Sadowski, M. (2010). Putting the "boy crisis" in context. Education Digest: Essential Readings
Condensed for Quick Review, 76(3), 10-13. Retrieved from EBSCO host.
Schwartz, W., & ERIC Clearinghouse on Urban Education, N. Y. (2002). Helping
underachieving boys read well and often. ERIC Digest. Retrieved from EBSCO host.
Sullivan, M. (2004). Why Johnny won’t read. School Library Journal, 50(8), 36-39. Retrieved
May 29, 2011, from ABI/INFORM Global.
Watson, A., Kehler, M., & Martino, W. (2010). The problem of boys' literacy underachievement:
Raising some questions. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 53(5), 356-361.
Retrieved from EBSCO host.
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