I Got Posted 7

Another fun one to illustrate! To see a larger version, click here.

The article, written by screenwriter and children's author Don Truckey, touches upon a very much discussed subject these days – the conundrum of boys and reading. According to various statistics, boys just don't read as much as girls. As adults, sadly those statistics are the same. Every year the ratio of girls to boys in university increases in the girls' favour. So what gives?

According to Mr. Truckey, the problem isn't so much the boys, as it is the methods of teaching in our schools. Boys do read. They just read in a different way, and what they read is often quite different from what the girls are reading. Problem is, standard literacy teaching methods in school often don't recognize this fact.

Boys' reading is directed. They need a reason to read. Professors Heather Blair of the University of Alberta and Kathy Sanford, University of Victoria, concluded the same thing in their provocative study of the subject (www.education.ualberta.ca/boysandliteracy/). For two years, they followed groups of boys in grades three to six, snooping with permission in the boys' lockers and backpacks, and examining any and all reading materials they found. It became clear that boys actually read a great deal, and to great effect, but not always in ways valued or even measured in school. The researchers found that boys obtain basic reading skills from a variety of non-academic sources, and then adapt them into their own custom-made, boy-honed literacies. Blair and Sanford call it "morphing" literacy. Boys' reading is often aimed at improving their knowledge or skill in specialized interest areas. It might mean poring over the sports page to relive last night's games. Or studying a videogame instruction manual to learn obscure strategies and tips. It is certainly there in Web surfing and Internet chat rooms, in devouring comic books and analyzing the data and biographical information on sports cards.

To educators, building literacy typically means school texts and high-brow children's library books. That approach works far better for girls than for boys. It's not literacy boys reject, but rather school literacy. Blair and Sanford found that boys want reading that delivers in five areas: personal interest, action, success, fun and purpose. It's almost always about "finding stuff out" and "relating to their friends." If boys don't get this in school, they create a literacy of their own that comes in under the radar of standardized testing, school instruction and rigid teaching curricula. But the researchers pushed their conclusions further. This "morphed" literacy is actually more valuable to boys when they leave school than the conventional reading (novels, poetry, stories) favoured by girls, Blair and Sanford say. "The abilities to navigate the Internet, experiment with alternate [media], and read multiple texts simultaneously are more useful workplace skills than is the ability to analyse a work of fiction or write a narrative account," they concluded.

Interesting ideas. From a completely unscientific and personal perspective, I will agree that as kids, most boys I come across are much more interested in computers and computer games, and the girls are drawn to fiction. Case in point: not too long ago I had some of my family over for a visit. My two nephews hi-tailed it to the computer to play games, and my two nieces cuddled up in my library to explore all my books.

Comments

[Jordan]

I love the illustration!

[sandra lundy]

>>It's not literacy boys reject, but rather school literacy.<<
Yes...I'd agree with that. I recall, in grade two, my son had a lot of trouble with creative writing. That grade is big on writing stories. He wanted to write about swords and war and blood and guts. That wasn't considered appropriate...and maybe it's not for school. However, that's what most little boys are interested in, not writing about kittens and whatever. So, his well was dry when it came to creative writing. The new librarian at our school is promoting comics and graphic novels to get kids interested in reading and I think she's a smart lady to do that. She's bringing in books like Jeff Smith's "Bone" and my son is first in a long line on the waiting list to get it.

[Arethusa]

Interesting study although I balk and furrow my brow in resignation at the "morphing literacy" being more "valuable" in the workplace than "novels". I could be a nasty little girl and point out that the boys will be able to work a computer but less able to analyze an essay from some govt. head backing a law to tap it for "security" reasons--and I could go on--buuuuuut the rest of it does sound interesting.

It's also intriguing that for so long (rich, white) males and education were like two peas in a pod and now that females have been in the system for a substantial period, all these faults are showing up.

I really really like your art for this one. I'm gonna hafta get my own copy!

[Sylvia]

"Boys' reading is directed. They need a reason to read."

So, girls read for no reason? Nice.

"This "morphed" literacy is actually more valuable to boys when they leave school than the conventional reading (novels, poetry, stories) favoured by girls..."'

How nice of Trucky to put down the apparently pointless reading done by girls and women in order to defend the lack of reading done by boys. Implying that literature is not "valuable" is a sure way of stopping boys from reading it! And he has an extremely narrow view of the reasons for and benefits from reading. He also makes it sound like women never read instruction manuals. Experience suggests otherwise!! Grrr...

[donna]

My boys were perpetually pissed off that the teachers wouldn't let them read all their science fiction books for credit. Pissed me off, too, since that's a lot of what we read around our house. They could plow through 600 pages of a fine science fiction novel, but the teachers wouldn't accept that for their reading assignments. I had to have words with some of them....

[callie]

Love the illustration! The boys vs. girl reading is always an interesting concept to me...for many of the reasons posted in the article that accompanies your illo. I agree that boys read a great deal -- just not what is considered "proper literature" by which so many students are measured in schools today. I don't know what the solution is -- but thank you for highlighting this article. I has inspired some research and now I'm off and hunting....I'll share any good nuggets I find!

[Anne]

Such an interesting topic. Our younger son, now 13, was a voracious reader of actual books through approximately grade 5. Beginning in grade 2, he read the entire Boxcar Children series, then read many of them again. He loved the "Hank the Cowdog" series, and a lot of the Matt Christopher sports novels. He also devoured the Harry Potter books (and still does each time one comes out), the Tolkien trilogy, and a lot of other fiction.

Yet now, I worry. He's a teenager, and his attention is all over the place. The Web captivates him. He adores good comics (he has the complete Calvin and Hobbes collection) and creates comic strips himself, some of which are extremely clever, with a dry wit. But losing himself in an actual BOOK happens more and more rarely. I will comfort myself by acknowledging that Kevin is very literate, if not always literary. He inherited an ability to write fluidly and with near-perfect grammar and clarity. That alone will take him a long way in school. (Worked for me!)

I just want to entice him to read more, as he once did! Sigh.

[Leslea]

I love your work. I've seen some of the greeting cards before--with three sons, I've received about every "baby boy" card on the market, and the one about the revisited classics is one I've given before, as well--it's nice to stumble upon your blog like this.

I love the illustration above.

Someday perhaps I'll pursue publication for the children's books I've written. I've always read that the publisher chooses the illustrator. Is that your experience?