Overcoming the Obstacle Course: Teenage boys and Reading

"Overcoming the Obstacle Course: Teenage boys and reading." Patrick Jones & Dawn Cartwright Fiorelli. Teacher Librarian. Volume 30, Number 3, February 2003
http://www.teacherlibrarian.com/tlmag/v_30/v_30_3_feature.html

I read this article tonight and found it full of good information and advice.

"One more statistic: in the United States, one in 32 people is in or has been in the criminal justice system. One in 32 people in the United States according to the Justice Department is currently in jail, in prison, on probation, on parole or has been one of these things. The majority of these people are male. The majority of the male prison population has limited education; many are high school dropouts. The limits of education are almost always related to reading problems. If we want young men to have their hands clutching a graduation diploma rather than the bars of cell, then it is time to start overcoming the obstacles course we've set up in school and public libraries in order to ensure that guys read."

Topics in this article include: What boys see as obstacles, What the Teacher Librarian can do, Building a Guy-Friendly Collection, Twenty great fiction books for Grade 7 boys, and Nonfiction areas of interest to guys, in Dewey order.

Gotcha for Guys! by K. Baxter and M. Kochel

Gotcha for Guys! Nonfiction Books to Get Boys Excited about Reading by Kathleen A. Baxter and Marcia Agness Kochel. Libraries Unlimited. 2007.

Be sure to read the introduction which provides good tips on connecting boys with books. The authors offer topics of interest to boys, most of which are fairly obvious - Prehistoric Creatures, Science, Creepy-Crawly Creatures- and lists of new and not so new titles. Other topics that should really attract boys are All Things Gross, Disasters and Unsolved Mysteries, and Hot Topics: Magic, Riddles, Games, etc. Books cover grades K-12 so you have to sort out those appropriate for your students. Several complete booktalks are included in each chapter with plenty of other titles and short annotations. Some of the chapters include a list of the authors' favorite books to booktalk on that topic. If you are new to the idea of promoting books especially for boys, this book is a good resource to get you started. I would have liked some catchier titles for some of the topics (Animals, Science, American History) that I could have used for display purposes since I'm not very creative.

If you are searching for display topics and catchy titles, look at Chapter 10 in Merchandising Library Materials to Young Adults by Mary Anne Nichols. Although Nichols' lists are not aimed at just boys, there are several that would appeal to the guys in particular, such as "Go to Jail. . .Go Directly to Jail," "Got Guts?", "This is War!" and "And You Think You Have It Bad." She includes a suggested booklist (mainly high school and middle school titles) for each topic.

Student Hobby Survey

This tip from Annie Miers, librarian at Riser Middle School, West Monroe, LA:
Providing an information rich environment with books and magazines about hobbies is another way to get guys and reluctant readers into the library and reading. How current is your hobby collection? Try surveying your students and then use the information to update the school library's hobby collection of magazines and books.

Hobby Survey
Stamp collecting is out- music videos are in. Which hobbies are hot? Which hobbies are not?

Please check all hobbies that interest you.

_____ Digital photography _____ Beads and Beading
_____ Music video _____ NASCAR
_____ Drawing _____ Bicycling_____ Web site design _____ ATVs
_____ Origami _____ Guitars_____ Cooking _____ Scrapbooking and cards _____ Camping _____ Crocheting
_____ Fishing _____ Knitting_____ Hunting _____ Hair styling______Gaming (video/computer) List systems used, such as PS3, Xbox, online, etc.______________________________________________

______Sports – List your favorites (golf, basketball, football, soccer, etc.) _____________________________________________________

______Water Sports – List your favorite (skiing, jet skiing, etc) _____________________________________________________________

______ History - List the time period that interests you, such as WWII, Civil War, etc. ____________________________________________
Please list your favorite hobby (hobbies) if not listed above.
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________

__________ Girl __________ Boy __________ Grade
Any suggestions about books or magazines you would like to have in our library?

Any suggestions or changes you would like to have made in our library? Why?
Thank you.

This document can be viewed at http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dcvhpwnm_0g3smhn