Grant Highlight - Blazing Books for Boys
Getting Boys to Read More
Julie Hembree, librarian at A.G. Bell Elementary is doing her part to address the fact that boys lag behind girls in reading comprehension by 4th grade. One reason, she theorizes, is that many of the traditional library books are oriented towards girls. Her solution? Get more books in the library that are of interest to boys. With a $1500 grant from the Lake Washington Schools Foundation, she purchased books, created READ posters (local teachers and administrators pictured with their favorite book), and conducted before school reading programs.
What’s a”boy” book? Well, here’s a sample—Ripley’s Believe it or Not, Zombies on the Loose, Magic Pickle and the Creature from the Black Legume, Dracula, and Sardine in Outer Space. Does is matter what kind of books kids read for pleasure? According to the experts, reading is what is important, not necessarily the actual book or type of publication (magazines, on-line articles, etc.) Did the grant encourage boys to read more? Of the top 50 books checked out at the library, 26% were books purchased with funds from this grant. Among 6th grade students (the grade that checks out the fewest books), there was a jump in the number of books checked out in 2010 compared to 2009, about 510 books were checked out by 6th graders in 2010 compared to about 410 in 2009—with about equal numbers of boys and girls checking out books in 2010.
Ms. Hembree also conducted morning sessions called ‘Boys Read’ and ‘Girls Read’ where students could come in and read anything that they wanted the half hour before school started. Girls and boys participated in these sessions at nearly the same rates. Ms. Hembree reports this as a major success.
In elementary school, students are exposed more to women readers—teachers, parent volunteers, other staff. Because of the focus on boys and reading, Ms. Hembree invited only men to come and read to classrooms on Guest Reader Day. This year dads, grandfathers, husbands, uncles, and special friends were invited, including LWSD Superintendent Dr. Chip Kimball.
In order to spread the knowledge, Ms. Hembree also attended a workshop on Boys and Learning. When she returned to school, she presented a 60-minutes workshop to staff on the topic of boys and reading. Her conclusion is that targeted efforts to increase reading among boys was successful and she’ll continue her efforts.