Telegraph Article on Boys and "Long Books"

"Teachers are giving up trying to make boys read long books because they cannot get past 100 pages, new research as found."

That's the lead sentence to this article from the British newspaper, anyway. Apparently some research suggests that boys are turned off by long books -- defined in the article as 200+ pages -- simply because they are long.

It's more of the "boys can't sit still" stuff, but there are some good points about motivation and interest that come from the article as well.

The whole things reminds me of that body of "comics as a conduit" research that suggests that comics readers go on to read more and more varied literature than non-readers. The article does mention comics as a means of helping boys develop a love a reading.

Bill Zimmerman's _Your Life in Comics: 100 Things for Guys to Write and Draw_ Now Available!

Bill Zimmerman continues his quest to blend comics and literacy for the sake of youth everywhere. With this particular effort, he's targeting those reluctant or hard-to-inspire boys who have been at the center of many a blog post here lately.

"The book has pages of situations in which readers fill in the characters' thought and talk balloons and point of view. Other activities encourage boys to draw full pages of comic strips with help from word and picture prompts. The book is geared for reluctant writers ages 9-13 and is part of my body of work over the years to help young people find their writers' voices," says Zimmerman.

Click this post's title to see more and to print sample pages that you can use with your youngsters!

Seriously, the samples are pretty cool, and the price of the book is just right at under ten bucks!

The book can be ordered from Amazon.com or at www.barnesandnoble.com or directly from the publisher, Free Spirit Publishing, at www.freespirit.com or by calling their toll-free number: 1-800-735-7323.

School Library Journal Article Tackles Ways to Make Libraries More Boy-Friendly

Another article mentioning comics as a means of getting boys interested in reading and hanging out in places full of books.

It's interesting to note that there is a "boy crisis" in terms of literacy and libraries that some feel comics can help resolve, whereas in the industry, especially in the comics shop, there is a "girl crisis" regarding how to get female readers to feel comfortable in places full of comic books.

An analysis of the two arguments and their nuances would be highly intriguing and enlightening, in my opinion. That'd make one hell of a thesis or dissertation or article or book.

Partly so, I think, because there would be evidence to suggest "it really has come to this," i.e. the gender perceptions are that high-brow reading and places that support literacy have become girly and female-centric and places considered, even if wrongly, to be bastions of low brow reading have become equated with boys or an adolescent version of masculinity.

What are the ramifications for such gender-intwined notions of reading and literature and literacy?

Harvard Weighs in on "Boy Crisis"/Comics

Here's a great article on the literacy "crisis" facing young boys. Thanks to Mr.M for drawing it to my attention.

It's very thorough and hits all the main points about fiction, nonfiction, curriculum, choice, etc. and how boys respond to them.

Among the points is this gem:

"'Nontraditional materials such as comic books and sports-themed materials can provide an important “hook” to get boys more involved in reading,' [William]Pollack [of Harvard Medical School] says, 'and serve as a helpful bridge to more advanced types of reading later on.'"

So, we get a little but of pro-comics stance. In the next paragraph, though, we get:

"If there are kids out there who are, for whatever reason, really reluctant readers or low-level readers, then anything that gets them hooked into spending time on reading is a good thing,” [Catherine]Snow [of Harvard Graduate School of Education] says. “But the problem is that whereas those can be great places to start, they don’t get you where you need to be to succeed academically. You’ve got to be able to access serious academic texts.”

I'm not sure if Snow is referring directly to comics, since Pollack was the one who mentioned them. If so, we've got another example of folks not realizing that some comics are very sophisticated texts, but I think this might be an example of the writer of the article merging concepts for story flow rather than a blanket statement from Snow, especially since we're talking about two different people's statements here.

But, if a representative from Harvard is acknowledging comics' role in facilitating literacy, I ain't gonna complain.

Oh, Canada (Council of Learning)!

Another paper has picked up the CCL report on comics and male literacy. This article from Epoch Times follows an article from the Vancouver Star that made the rounds a few days ago.

Thank You, Canada!

...and thanks to Frank W. Baker for drawing my attention to this study about comics, literacy, and their potential intersections among male readers.

The Beat Posts on Boys and Literacy

Got quotes and everything. Neat article exploring gender, gendered readings, boys, literacy, and how comics should/shouldn't fit in with those constructd.