Edited by Myra Barrs and Sue Pidgeon
Carol Fox, Times Educational Supplement
There is growing awareness of a different pattern in boys' and girls' achievement in reading, and a search for possible explanations and solutions. What strategies are schools using in addressing the question of boys' underachievement? And is it true that for children, as for adults, questions of gender and reading are always intertwined?
This book considers these issues and makes practical suggestions for helping boys to develop as readers.
What reviewers have said about Boys and Reading
ISBN 1-872267-14-9
Paperback £8.00 / £6.00 (lower price for CLPE Schools Network)
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Reviews for Boys and Reading
“This collection of reports by primary and secondary teachers into boys' reading has an authentic, chalk-face quality. The introduction establishes that the perceived gap between boys and girls' literacy is nothing new and shows the complexity of the issues involved: from the kinds of text on offer, to gender expectations and social class, peer-group pressure, role models, and gendered ways of reading. None of these factors is seen as amounting to an explanation.
The authors resist gender stereotyping; they do not assume that boys prefer information texts, or are incapable of getting “inside” books empathetically, or cannot reveal their feelings about characters and situations. What links their ideas is an emphasis on imaginative practices to help boys articulate their thoughts about books…
The activities described here are not new, but they remind us that knowledge of children's literature and understanding its potential to develop children's sense of who they are can produce reading that will both stimulate boys' enthusiasm and raise their reading scores.”
Carol Fox, Senior Lecturer in Education, University of Brighton
Times Education Supplement, 19 May 1999
“Myra Barrs and Sue Pidgeon were two of the first scholars to raise issues related to boys and literacy. It was their insights as long ago as 1986 which drew attention to the gendered nature of literacy learning. The previous ten years had been devoted to examining texts, often counting male and female characters. This was useful, in that it sometimes indicated how girls and boys might relate to the books they were reading, though later work indicated that, whatever adults might read into texts, children drew their own conclusions…
Work with children and teachers at CLPE convinced Barrs and Pidgeon that there were large gaps in our knowledge of how girls and boys approached literacy learning. These gaps (and they were most definitely plural) included how children related to the books they were reading, and how teachers and parents influenced children's view of literacy.
In 1993, the same editors published Reading the Difference which began to unravel the issues. The present volume follows many of the threads, but in an entirely practical way… The work of the Boys and Reading Working Party is reported in a series of articles which bear testimony to the thoughtfulness and detailed work of its members…
Equal opportunities issues may be out of fashion, part of the “soft” approaches of the 1970s and 1980s. It is a case that boys have always under-achieved in literacy, and so present concerns are nothing new. We should have been worried about it for a long time. Those of us who worked for equal opportunities for girls, and saw some success, recognise that it may be time to look at this area of boys' under-achievement. The strategies described will not harm the literacy of girls. Some of them need help too. For those who share this view, this book could be a valuable aid.”
Julian Hodgeon
English in Education, Volume 34 No 2, 2000
“This book is well set out with clear photographs and significant sentences from the text quoted and highlighted as in a newspaper report. I liked the clear chapter heading and brief resume of the questions raised in each chapter, which readily arouse the reader's interest. The inclusion of children's writing from reading journals and diaries will be recognisable to everyone involved with children and reading in schools…
This is an interesting book which raises important, though not new, issues and tries to answer some difficult questions. It is a positive first step towards helping schools to foster an interest and love of books in boys of all ages. Ideally this would become a habit carried into adulthood and thus make it less problematic for males in future to be seen to be enjoying books.”
Joan Yarker, Assessment and KSI English Coordinator, class teacher
Education 3-13, March 2000
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