Boys and Books
Is There Really a Difference?
The Eye Roll

Up until past few years, boys have been
“ignored” in Book World. Why?
◦ Perceptions and Stereotypes:
Energy Level
Disruption/mess
Reading Choices
“Lost cause”
…Boys aren’t (often) “ideal” reader

Recent years, Renewed interest
Boys’ Thoughts

A 2001 YALSA Teen Read Week Survey asked
boys, “If you don’t read much or don’t like
reading, why?”
◦ Boring /not fun (39.3%)
◦ No time/too busy (29.8%)
◦ Like other activities better (11.1%)
◦ Can’t get into the stories (7.7%)
◦ I’m not good at it (4.3%)
◦ Makes me tired/causes headaches (2.5%)
◦ Too much school work (1.4%)
◦ Books are too long (.09%)
Librarian/Teacher/Parent Hang-ups

What are some hesitancies that you’ve
had or heard from these areas on
focusing “tailored” attention on boys?

Generalizations about boys vs. girls, but
there are developmental differences
Waffles and Spaghetti

Boy Brain vs. Girl Brain
◦ Can be “generalized”/stereotypical, but helpful to
understand
◦ Over 100 biological differences between male and female
brain
 Corpus Callosum (bridge between hemispheres) less
developed at 5 years old
 15-20% more neural activity in girls brain at any given time
 Girls have greater number of nerve fibers (feel more pain)
Waffles and Spaghetti, cont.

Boy Brain vs. Girl Brain
◦ Over 100 biological differences between male and
female brain
 Girls have more white matter, which is what constantly
networks brain activity to different parts of brain; boys
have more gray matter, which keeps brain activity in a
single place.
 Boys’ brains “shut off” (enter “rest state”) more times per
day than girls’
Waffles and Spaghetti, cont.

Boy Brain vs. Girl Brain
◦ Over 100 biological differences between male and female
brain
 Boys have more neural centers that focus on how objects
move around physical space
 Boys process more through amygdala (the
aggression/emotion center)
Waffles and Spaghetti, cont.

Boy Brain vs. Girl Brain
◦ Over 100 biological differences between male and female
brain
 Boys’ hippocampus (major memory center) is generally less
active than a girl’s, especially during emotional/relational
experiences
 Chemical differences: 10-20% more testosterone (risktaking/aggression), less oxytocin (bonding chemical), less
serotonin (calms us down)… especially in frontal lobe
(decision making center)

What does it all mean?
Practical Implications
Boys need to be led to
emotional/motivational/purposeful experiences by
mentors to learn how to function purposefully
 Boys do before talk, so boyhood experiences often
based on trial and error
 Many parts of brain are set after first few years, but
hippocampus (memory center) is constantly creating
new neurons
 How does it affect us as librarians? We need to engage
boys in reading, which requires AND encourages “fuller
usage of brain”

Boys and Books

Reader’s Advisory
◦ Preferences in formats and genres
Programming
 Gaining Allies
 WELCOMING ENVIRONMENT

Boy-friendly Formats
Pictures: picture books, graphic novels,
comics, manga, hybrids
 Audio: books on tape/cd, podcasts
 Online content
 Newspapers and magazines

Boy-friendly Genres
Adventure
 Fantasy
 Humor
 Non-fiction
 Science fiction
 Sports

Adventure
39 Clues series
 Eoin Colfer
 Charles Higson (Young Bond series)
 Will Hobbs
 Anthony Horowitz (Alex Rider)
 Gary Paulsen
 Rick Riordan

Fantasy
Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson
 Eoin Colfer
 Chris D’Lacey
 Cornelia Funke
 Derek Landy
 Brandon Mull
 Philip Reeve
 J.K. Rowling

Humor
Mac Barnett
Andrew Clements
Dan Gutman
Gordon Korman
Josh Lieb

Pseudonymous Bosch

Dav Pilkey
 Louis Sacher
 Jordan Sonnenblick

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Jack Gantos
Jeff Kinney
Jarrett Krosoczka
David Lubar
Daniel Pinkwater
Jon Scieszka

Eric Wight

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Non-fiction
Learning how to do anything they’re
interested in
 Learning history/facts behind something
 Autobiographies/biographies
 How to make things
 Gross-out

Science Fiction
Orson Scott Card
 James Patterson (Maximum Ride series)
 Star Trek
 Star Wars

Sports
Tiki and Ronde Barber
 Matt Christopher
 John Coy
 Tim Green
 Dan Gutman
 Mike Lupica
 James Preller
 John Ritter

Programming

What can you do in a school?
◦ Boy friendly topics, instruction styles
◦ Guys Read/Boys Only,
◦ Male teachers/staff
Gaining Allies
Parents
 Teachers
 Administration
 PUBLIC LIBRARY

Welcoming Environment
Easier said than done… take a look at your
space, your response… roll eyes?
 Boys AND fathers

Boy-friendly Programming at LML
Daddy and Me storytimes quarterly
 Daddy Catcher Days
 Incorporate active/boy friendly topics into
programming schedule
 Use non-fiction in storytimes
 Be welcoming of boys and dads
 Information source/anxiety ease-r for
parents

Boy-friendly Activities
Chess
 Scavenger hunts
 Make a desktop catapult
 Gross out special effects
 Create-a-sport
 Magic tricks
 Joke-telling/creating

Guys Read Groups

Guys Read website: www.guysread.com
Guys Read Groups
Contacted schools in East Penn for initial
interest of male teachers
 Display, collected interest from patrons
 Started in spring and ran for four months

◦ We saw a HUGE difference in attitudes toward
reading and the library right away
◦ Moms emails
Emails from Parents
Emails began to pour in from parents before
9am the next morning
 Responses to reminders were “wouldn’t miss
it!!”, “my son’s been asking me non-stop when
the next club meeting was”, and if they couldn’t
make it because of something coming up,
parents were saying their sons were “mad” at
them!

“You’re Not Alone”
Resource for parents
 Offer reading lists in library
 Also talk to teachers

Resources
Bronzo, William: To Be a Boy, To Be a Reader: Engaging Teen and Preteens in Active
Literacy
 Eliot, Lise: Pink Brain, Blue Brain: How Small Differences Grow into Troublesome
Gaps– and What We Can Do About It
 Gurian, Michael:
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◦
Boys and Girls Learn Differently: A Guide for Teachers and Parents;
◦
The Purpose of Boys: Helping our Sons Find Meaning, Significance and Direction in Their Lives;
◦
The Wonder of Boys: What Parents, Mentors, and Educators Can Do to Shape Boys into Exceptional
Men;
◦
What Stories Does My Son Need? A Guide to Books and Movies that Build Character in Boys
Knowles, Elizabeth: Boys and Literacy: Practical Strategies for Libraries, Teachers
and Parents
 Smith, Michael: Reading Don’t Fix No Chevys: Literacy in the Lives of Young Men
 Sullivan, Michael:
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Connecting Boys with Books: What Libraries Can Do;
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Connecting Boys with Books 2: Closing the Reading Gap;
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Serving Boys Through Readers Advisory
http://www.literacycouncilofalaska.org/guysread.html - Has a link to Fairbanks
North Star Borough Public Libraries GR Manual (with info for school)