How attentive are PA libraries to “best books for boys” in collection development?
Meghan Evans
Introduction
My son won’t read. It’s impossible to find something my son will enjoy reading. Can you
recommend something other than “Captain Underpants” for my son to read? My boy won’t read
the books his sister reads; do you have something he would like? Anyone who has worked in a
children’s library for any length of time has heard these comments and questions. A look at the
literature available concerning boys’ and reading indicates a decline in the reading levels of boys
compared to girls of the same age. Is it that boys can’t find the kind of books they enjoy reading?
How are public libraries serving this population? Are they providing enough access to books that
are interesting to young male readers?
For years public libraries have been using “Best Book” lists to help choose books for
their collections. The American Library Association (ALA) and its affiliates publish lists each
year naming the best books in several categories, including the well known Caldecott and
Newbery medals. Numerous other lists, published by various organizations and businesses, exist
to help libraries choose the best books for their patrons.
This study examined the collections in Pennsylvania’s public libraries, focusing on the
presence of “best books for boys” in those collections. In particular, it compared the holdings
found in a random sample of Pennsylvania public libraries against a standard list of books
suggested for boys, grades 1-5.
Literature Review
A review of the literature shows documentation of lower literacy rates for boys,
differences in reading preferences by gender, and the existence of “best books for boys” lists.
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The Gender Gap: Boys’ and Girls’ Reading Levels & Reading Preferences
“According to the National Assessment of Education Progress (2009), female students
consistently score higher than boys on average in both reading and writing.”1 Many studies had
similar findings and are often used as the basis of concern when considering boys and their
reading level, “determined by vocabulary, sentence structure, length of text, and difficulty of
context” and “usually defined in reference to a specific grade level.”2 Michael Sullivan points
out that “according to the U.S. Department of Education, school-age boys tend to read a grade
and a half lower than girls.”3 Of course there are many other factors, beyond gender, that play
into a person’s ability to read at a certain level, including “various social, cultural and
institutional factors,”4 but those reasons are for another study. Boys’ lower reading levels are
among the reasons to create lists of books specifically for boys, in hopes that books with
appropriate reading levels will encourage boys to read more and thereby improve their reading
skills.
The other concern when creating boys’ reading lists is the difference in reading
preferences between girls and boys. Studies consistently show that boys tend to prefer books
with action and adventure, while girls tend to prefer books with inner dialog and emotional
psychology. As Richie Partington explains, librarians “must seek to understand the differences
between male and female reader preferences, then utilize this understanding to tailor services to
1
Kehler A. Watson, and W. Martino, “The problem of boys’ literacy underachievement: raising some questions”
Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 53: 356-361,
http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=47875755&site=ehost-live&scope=site .
2
Online Dictionary for Library and Information Science, accessed October 16, 2010
3
Michael Sullivan, “Why Jonny won’t read” School Library Journal, 50: 36-39,
http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=14072668&site=ehost-live&scope=site .
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Watson and Martino, “The problem of boys’ literacy underachievement: raising some questions”.
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serve better each gender.”5 As with reading levels, the reasons for different reading preferences
are multiple, and are the basis for many other studies. For this study it is enough to acknowledge
that these differences exist, and that getting boys to read requires books that they enjoy.
The Lists: Creating Boys’ Reading Lists
Anyone can create a list. So, what makes a good list? And, for the purposes of this study,
what makes a good boys’ reading list? According to Farris, Werderich, Nelson and Fuhler, boys
tend to pick out books with the following characteristics:
●
Books that look good [according to cover art or print styles]
●
Books that are part of a series or by a favorite author
●
Books with a character who goes through a number of situations or years
●
Informational books with short passages supported by photographs and illustrations
●
Graphic novels and graphic non-fiction6
Overall, the literature agrees that boys are behind girls in their reading levels and that
their reading preferences vary from that of girls. These facts have prompted the creation of lists
specifically aimed at boys with the objective of getting boys to read more and, in the process,
increase their reading levels. When considering collection development, a casual observer might
assume that those individuals responsible for managing a collection would consider such lists
important to their decision making process. While this study realizes that other factors also
contribute to collection management decisions, not the least of which are budgetary concerns, it
5
Richie Partington, “Why boy books”, CSLA Journal, 30: 15-16,
http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=22885746&site=ehost-live&scope=site
P.J. Farris, D.E. Werderich, P.A. Nelson, and C.J. Fuhler, “Male Call: fifth-grade boys’ reading preferences”,
Reading Teacher, 63: 180-188,
http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=44993785&site=ehost-live&scope=site.
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will try to better understand how libraries are using recommendation lists of books for boys in
their collection development.
Methodology
The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) provided reports based on the
Public Library Survey of 2007, from which a list of 629 stationary outlets, central and branch
libraries but not bookmobiles, were acquired7. A random flip of a coin, heads for even and tales
for odd, decided how to start the list. From one, and following every other library, a list of 307
libraries was created. This allowed for a 95% confidence level and a confidence interval of 4. All
libraries needed online catalogs; if a library did not have an online catalog the next library on the
list was chosen. The chosen libraries and their holdings were then entered into an excel
spreadsheet for data collection. Libraries who did not report holdings to IMLS for 2007 were
eliminated from comparisons.
The book list was selected based on: a review of the collection development literature,
“best books” lists by ALA and other affiliates, and high recommendations with positive journal
reviews. In researching “best book” lists, especially for boys, the author Michael Sullivan, an
experienced and knowledgeable advocate of boys and reading, was discovered to have particular
expertise. His books, published by ALA, include Connecting Boys with Books: what libraries
can do, Connecting Boys with Books 2: closing the reading gap, Serving Boys through Readers’
Advisory and Fundamentals of Children’s Services. His website, Tales Told Tall, is updated with
recommended books for boys. The lists can be searched by grade level, subject area and genre.
For this study, Michael Sulivan’s website list of 240 titles for boys in grades 1-5 (elementary
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Institute of Museum and Library Services, Public Libraries in the United States: Fiscal Year 2007, retrieved
November 22, 2010 from http://harvester.census.gov/imls/pubs/pls/pub_detail.asp?id=122
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grades) was used. The list is organized according to the following genres:
action/adventure/mystery, comics/manga/graphic novels, fantasy, gothic horror, historical
fiction, humor, nonfiction, picture books, sci-fi, and sports–lists with all of the characteristics
which boys find appealing according to Farris, et al. Bibliographic information recorded on the
Excel spreadsheet included title, author, publisher, the year the item was published, and the
series title when appropriate. Utilizing an excel sheet with the library names and the book titles, a
yes or no was entered depending on the holdings found through a search of each library’s online
catalog.
Results
On average, the libraries had 94 of the 240 titles available, approximately 39 percent of
the listed titles. The library with the fewest titles had 36 items available, and the library with the
most titles had 168 titles available; a range of 132. Findings per title showed one title, “Deep
Space Disco,” with zero holdings while the most popular title, “Captain Underpants and the
Perilous Plight of the Purple Potty People,” was available in 289, or 94 percent, of the libraries.
These are both in the comic/manga/graphic novel genre, the third most popular genre in the
libraries’ holdings. As shown in Figure 1, of the 11 genres, fantasy and picture books were the
most popular and gothic horror was the least.
On average a title was available in 120 libraries. Most libraries held on average 39
percent of the titles, less than half of the titles recommended by Michael Sullivan’s books for
boys list. The top ten most commonly held titles were all from two series written by two authors,
Dav Pilkey and Jon Scieszka. Pilkey is the author of the Captain Underpants series and Scieszka
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is the author of the Time Warp Trio series. On the other hand, the least popular titles are a less
homogenized group of titles, authors and genres.
Fig.1 The percentage of titles per genre held by libraries.
One of the most difficult areas of this study is the determination of what is an
“acceptable” number of books in a library. How do we draw the proverbial “line in the sand” in
regards to a good collection or a bad collection? The answer to this is as varied as the number of
different libraries. Each library, according to the size of its collection and budget, should
examine their holdings with an eye to a well rounded collection.
Overall size of the libraries’ holdings was determined from the IMLS 2007 report. A look
at the number of items held by a library does not indicate a strong correlation between the
availability of the best books for boys titles and collection size. The two smallest libraries, with
roughly 6,000 items cataloged, averaged 98 titles, while the two largest libraries, each with over
two million cataloged items, averaged 106 titles from the list–a difference of only eight titles.
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Conclusion
This study gives an overview of the collections of best books for boys currently held by
public libraries in Pennsylvania. It is intended to be a starting point for further studies, a look at
where these libraries are now with respect to books recommended for boys. Anecdotal evidence
suggests that librarians use a multitude of factors to decide what books they will add to their
collections. Patron requests, book reviews, award winners, and not least, cost can affect which
books are chosen for collections.
Further studies may include a look at how these holdings compare to other “List”
holdings, such as Caldecott or other Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC)
recommended books. An in depth look at how collection development decisions are made and
the factors that affect decision making processes relating to the selection of boys’ reading
materials would also be an interesting follow up to this study. Were any lists used to help in the
decision making process? How does the budget allotment of a library affect the development of
the collection? A closer look at collections may also be required to know if some items were
once available but were lost/stolen/discarded and never replaced, perhaps because of budgetary
restraints.
In retrospect the data shows that overall collection size is not necessarily a major
deciding factor in guaranteeing access to certain books. Most libraries will have some of the
books from the books for boys list, usually about 30 or 40 percent. Perhaps the next question is,
how are libraries utilizing and displaying these books in ways that entice boys to read?
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Appendix
Least Popular Titles
# holdings
available
0
Title
Author
Deep Space Disco
Craddock, Eric
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Please Don’t Eat the
Children
12
Genre
Publisher
Greenburg, Dan
Comic/manga/ graphic
novel
Gothic Horror
Random House for
Young Readers
Harcourt Children's
Books
Grossology and You
Branzei, Sylvia
Nonfiction
Price Stern Sloan
12
Pirate Palooza
Craddock, Eric
13
Yikes! It’s Alive!
Peter, Lerangis
Comic/manga/ graphic
novel
Action, Adventure,
Mystery
Random House for
Young Readers
Scholastic Paperbacks
13
Whoa! Amusement
Park Gone Wild.
Peter, Lerangis
Action, Adventure,
Mystery
Scholastic Paperbacks
13
Mummy
Duey, Kathleen
Comics/Manga/Graphic
Novels
Big Guy Books
14
Samurai
Duey, Kathleen
Comics/Manga/Graphic
Novels
Big Guy Books
18
Escapade Johnson and
the Phantom of the
Science Fair
Sullivan, Michael
Humor
Publishing Works
18
The Buffalo Train Ride
Webber, Desiree
Nonfiction
Eakin Press
Table 1. Top ten titles with the least holdings available per library
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Most Popular Titles
# holdings
available
Title
Author
Genre
Publisher
289
Captain Underpants and the
Preposterous Plight of the
Purple Potty People
Pilkey, Dav
Comics/Manga/Graphic
Novels
Blue Sky Press
288
Captain Underpants and the
Wrath of the Wicked Wedgie
Woman
The Adventures of Captain
Underpants: an Epic Novel
Pilkey, Dav
Comics/Manga/Graphic
Novels
Blue Sky Press
Pilkey, Dav
Comics/Manga/Graphic
Novels
Blue Sky Press
280
Captain Underpants and the
Attack of the Talking Toilets
Pilkey, Dav
Comics/Manga/Graphic
Novels
Blue Sky Press
276
Captain Underpants and the
Perilous Plot of Professor
Poopypants
Pilkey, Dav
Comics/Manga/Graphic
Novels
Blue Sky Press
275
Captain Underpants and the
Invasion of the Incredibly
Naughty Cafeteria Ladies
From Outer Space (and the
Subsequent Assault of
Equally Evil Lunchroom
Zombie Nerds)
Pilkey, Dav
Comics/Manga/Graphic
Novels
Blue Sky Press
268
Captain Underpants and the
Big, Bad Battle of the
Bionic Booger Boy, Part 1:
The Night of the Nasty
Nostril Nuggets
Pilkey, Dav
Comics/Manga/Graphic
Novels
Blue Sky Press
268
Summer Reading is Killing
Me
The Good, The Bad, and the
Goofy
Scieszka, Jon
Fantasy
Viking
Scieszka, Jon
Fantasy
Viking
2095
Scieszka, Jon
Fantasy
Viking
288
261
260
Table 2. Top ten titles with the most holdings available per library
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Watson, Anne, Michael Kehler, and Wayne Martino. "The Problem of Boys' Literacy
Underachievement: Raising Some Questions." Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy
53, no. 5 (February 2010): 356-361. Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost (accessed
October 13, 2010).
http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=47875755&site=ehost
-live&scope=site
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