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Cindy, I did my research project on high school boys and reading, which, of course, touched upon boys' reading in general, too. One of the most important points to remember with boys and reading is that most boys are labeled non-readers because what they do read is not valued by educators. Now this fact does not mean that we don't have a serious problem with boys and reading. It simply means that if we are to reach boys through reading, we must first examine what boys are interested in (not reading, just interests in life-for example, music, hunting, gaming, whatever) and just what it is that they already read. I did a survey with junior class boys in which I first asked about their everyday interests and then asked about what they had read or were reading (all reading materials were considered, from instruction manuals to magazines to books). The majority of boys did read something, just not what is considered reading material by too many educators. I guess what I want to emphasi! ze here is that we must meet the boys where they live and acknowledge their reading choices as valid if we are to succeed in putting boys and books together on a married basis. (Yes, even though I believe we need to value the reading of magazines and other reading materials, I do desire the end result to be that we can interest boys in book selections, too--not excluding other reading material, but including books.) There is a growing field of professional literature on boys and reading, as well as online resources. Some of the print resources I used in my research project and paper were the following: To Be a Boy, To Be a Reader by William G. Brozo; Connecting Boys With Books, What Libraries Can Do by Michael Sullivan; "Reading Don't Fix No Chevys" by Michael W. Smith and Jeffrey D. Wilhelm; Teenage Boys and High School English by Bruce Pirie; and Even Hockey Players Read by David Booth. I also used articles from many sources. I feel that it is the responsibility of every library media specialist to become familiar with these resources on boys and reading in order to effectively deal with the problem of boys drifting away from the wonderful world of lifelong reading, not to mention the problem of boys scoring lower and lower than girls on reading tests every year. Jon Scieszka has become involved with this issue of boys and reading. His Web site, Guys Read at guysread.com, is an excel! lent source of information on what guys like to read. Scieszka's book Guys Write for Guys Read is a collection of stories, poems, drawings, and more by authors boys gravitate towards. Another book, Every Man for Himself: Ten Short Stories About Being a Guy edited by Nancy Mercado, is a great book for high school boys in particular. I realize that I haven't provided any activities here or programs, but I think it is essential that we understand boys and their relationship to reading before we can do anything about improving it. Kathy Reel Former English/Writing Teacher New Librarian Looking for Job Owensboro, KY -----Original Message----- From: CEB700@AOL.COM To: LM_NET@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU Sent: Mon, 12 Feb 2007 8:43 PM Subject: Motivating Boys to Read I'm interested in hearing about any programs/activities that any of you have used to motivate boys (middle school age) to read. As a MLS graduate school student, I've been investigating boys' lack of interest in reading and wondered if I could gather any ideas from you all -- the creative people in the field! Thanks for sharing any of the successful things that you have used. Cindy Brittain, MLS Graduate Student East Carolina University ceb700@aol.com -------------------------------------------------------------------- Please note: All LM_NET postings are protected by copyright law. You can prevent most e-mail filters from deleting LM_NET postings by adding LM_NET@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU to your e-mail address book. To change your LM_NET status, e-mail to: listserv@listserv.syr.edu In the message write EITHER: 1) SIGNOFF LM_NET 2) SET LM_NET NOMAIL 3) SET LM_NET MAIL 4) SET LM_NET DIGEST * Allow for confirmation. * LM_NET Help & Information: http://www.eduref.org/lm_net/ * LM_NET Archive: http://www.eduref.org/lm_net/archive/ * EL-Announce with LM_NET Select: http://elann.biglist.com/sub/ * LM_NET Supporters: http://www.eduref.org/lm_net/ven.html -------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________________________________________________________________ Check out the new AOL. 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