[OPLINLIST] NOVELIST NOTES: Boys and Reading (November 05)

Tue Nov 22 11:59:39 EST 2005

NOVELIST NOTES           November 2005
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BOYS AND READING

Boys and reading is a much-discussed topic in education circles. If you are
in a school media center, you face this challenge every day. If you are in a
public library, you may be faced with a concerned parent who is looking for
the book that will magically turn their son into a reader. This issue is not
just a local one, however. USA TODAY devoted its August 29, 2003 "Today's
Debate" column to the growing educational gap that exists between boys and
girls. This article states that on federal tests only 28% of boys in the
12th grade rate as proficient readers.  

David Booth provides an insightful discussion of this issue in his book Even
Hockey Players Read: Boys, Literacy and Learning (Pembroke Publishers, CA,
2002). Booth is an internationally recognized professor of education at the
University of Toronto and an award-winning children's picture book author.
His book is not only filled with insights: it is also filled with concrete
strategies and interventions that will help all of us help more boys become
readers.

These include:
1. Giving boys choice and ownership in their reading by letting them pick
their reading material.
2. Acknowledging the impact of computer technology on boys' literacy and
using their interest in technology to reinforce reading skills.

NoveList should be an important part of your strategy to connect boys and
books. With over 36,000 subject headings and searchable full-text reviews,
NoveList is the perfect resource for empowering boys to find fiction that
relates to their interests.

When you are providing reading guidance to boys, Booth suggests that you use
questions that help boys identify their interests and help them discover all
the varied topics that can be explored in fiction.

We all know some of the typical questions to ask that will address a boy's
interests such as sports, hobbies, or other ways they like to spend their
time. We might not think to ask about whether a young person's parents or
siblings read, if they have friends who read, or ask them to speculate about
what kinds of books their "heroes" would read. These questions also provide
you with a way to develop a young reader's brainstorming skills-turning this
reading guidance interaction into an instructional opportunity.

Let's take a look at how NoveList can be used to help boys find books that
will provide them with positive fiction reading experiences.

MATCHING INTERESTS WITH BOOKS: DESCRIBE A PLOT

One of the ways NoveList can help you support boys in becoming readers is by
helping you locate titles that reflect a reader's interests. NoveList's
Describe a Plot search [in NoveList K-8, Describe a Plot, Topic, or Unit]
lets a reader enter their own words to find books that relate to those
interests.  For example, if you were working with a boy who enjoyed sports,
you could ask him to list all of the sports he likes to play or even ask
about sports he would like to be involved in but has never tried. The second
question lets you introduce boys to the concept of using stories to
experience sports that they have not participated in.

Boys interested in sports could find books on baseball, basketball,
football, hockey, soccer, tennis and more.  Each of these sports has a
number of associated subject headings such as baseball players, basketball
camps, football coaching, or hockey teams.

BUILDING ON BOYS' INTEREST IN TECHNOLOGY

Using NoveList to help link books and readers also gives you an opportunity
to build on boys' interest in technology by introducing NoveList (i.e. the
computer) as a way to find books. Media center specialists could also use
this opportunity to reinforce the information literacy or searching skills
that they have been introducing to students.  

NoveList's Personal Lists also offer an opportunity to combine boys' choice
of their own reading material with their interest in technology.  For
example, boys can use Describe a Plot to search NoveList for "comics,"
"graphic novels," "action-adventure," "humor", or "science fiction," and
browse through the results for titles of their own choosing.  They can then
save selected titles to their own personal reading lists they can edit and
update anytime.  Show them how to do this using the instructions found here:

http://novelist.epnet.com/NovApp/NoveList/nlc/Optimizing/PersonalLists.htm
<http://novelist.epnet.com/NovApp/NoveList/nlc/Optimizing/PersonalLists.htm>

FIND SIMILAR BOOKS

One of the ways that boys become readers is by having successful reading
experiences. Booth discusses several strategies that boys use to ensure
successful reading experiences-these include reading books by the same
author, books in a series or books on similar topics so that the reader can
transfer word knowledge and concepts knowledge learned in one book to
another-thereby making the next book easier (and probably more fun) to read.

Let's say a young reluctant reader has just read Hatchet as part of a school
assignment and discovered that he really liked it.  He would like to find
some more books like it.  Try this search: 

1. Launch NoveList and click on the Search Our Database tab.
2. Select the Find a Favorite Title link and type "hatchet" in the Find box.
Click on the Search button.
3. At the list of selections that have "hatchet" in the title, select the
link to "Hatchet" by Gary Paulsen.
4. Click on the Find Similar Books button at the top of the record.
5. You could have your reader select the subject headings that are most
interesting to him or you could just click on the Search button with all of
the subject headings selected.
6. Browse through the list with the young reader or let him explore it
alone.  Show him how he can select the Next button to move through the list
and read reviews to find a book that interests him.

SUMMARY

Boys can be a challenge when trying to engage them in reading.  According to
David Booth, a key strategy is to provide them with choices and a way to
feel ownership in their decisions.  Booth also suggests that we take
advantage of their interest in technology as part of the process to engage
boys in their reading selections.  NoveList provides a smooth computer
interface and offers several different ways to select books, thereby
allowing choice and ownership on the part of the young reader.  Describe a
Plot and Find Similar Books are just two of the many ways that NoveList can
help boys find a book that they can get excited about!

Lynne Rohweder 
Manager, Marketing & Editorial Services -  NoveList 
919-489-9412 x203 
lrohweder at epnet.com 

NoveList is a product of EBSCO Publishing 

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