Article Critique #2 – Due June 16, 2003 (10 points)
Jones, Patrick
& Dawn Cartwright Fiorelli. (February 2003). Overcoming the obstacle
course: Teenage boys and reading.
[Electronic version]. Teacher
Librarian, Vol. 30, 1-8.
Retrieved June 11,
2003 from
http://www.teacherlibrarian.com/pages/30-3-feature.html
Synopsis: This
article summarizes studies that have been done to pinpoint the reading and
non-reading habits of boys, and then suggests ways that librarians, teachers
and parents can encourage boys to read.
Among some of their findings, Jones and Fiorelli claim that boys are
more likely to enjoy newspapers, magazines and graphic novels rather than
fiction or self-help books. They say
that the majority of libraries are biased toward girls, and that librarians
should supplement the popular “teen
problem novels” with graphic novels, magazines, nonfiction books and newspapers
– all on display so boys can easily find them.
This article offers some great ideas for promoting books for boys,
including planning a program/booktalk geared specifically toward a male
audience, purchasing more periodicals, recruiting athletes to read to younger
children and building a “guy-friendly” collection.
Opinions: Most
of the 10 suggestions for enticing boys to read more were practical and would
probably work well with minimal effort.
I am not entirely sure that asking coaches to “read-aloud on the bus to
away games” would be very popular, but otherwise I could easily see
implementing many of the ideas. The
article also provided a list of “twenty great fiction books for Grade 7 boys,”
many of which I am familiar with.
However, at least one or two of these books are definitely a bit
advanced for 7th graders (Monster by Myers is probably best
for an older teen due to its violent content and prison setting). Included in the article is also a list with
nonfiction titles and reference materials for librarians interested in exploring
this topic further; my favorite recommendation was Michael Smith’s Reading
don’t fix no Chevys!
Recommended
Resources from this article: