Gender and Reading Preferences

In a survey of Arizona high school students that was repeated in 1982, 1990, and 1997, Hale and Crowe (2001) found that, while contemporary boys’ favorite books are about adventure, sports, science fiction, and mystery, contemporary girls rank mystery and romance/love stories as their favorites. The lowest-rated categories of books for both boys and girls were historical, western, and biography/autobiography. Although humor books were favorites in 1982, they dropped significantly in popularity by 1997. It should be noted there was no category for realistic fiction on the survey and that the top pleasure reading titles in 1997 were from the genres of fantasy/science fiction/horror, mystery, contemporary realistic fiction, and historical fiction.

While these findings cannot be applied across the board to all adolescents, it is necessary to keep them in mind when selecting young adult literature. Reading takes practice. A coach would never say to a basketball player, “You know how to shoot a basket so you don’t need to practice anymore.” Instead, both the coach and the player know that practice improves performance. The same holds true with reading. Von Drasek (2002) notes that “skilled readers read an average of 11 pages a day” (p. 72). However, if teachers and library media specialists are not providing the kinds of materials that boys and/or girls enjoy reading, there is a lower probability that adolescents will spend time practicing their reading skills and thus developing reading proficiency.

To encourage boys to read, Allison Haupt (2003), coordinator of Children’s and Young Adults’ Services at the North Vancouver District Public Library, declared: “I’ve decided to be overtly and blatantly sexist in everything from the way I approach storytelling to the books I promote. It’s not that I don’t think that boys and girls...can’t read and enjoy the same books...But [I am convinced]...that our ability to promote reading can be greatly enhanced by recognizing biological and developmental differences between the guys and the gals” (p. 20). Both boys and girls need to see that reading is important and that it can blend with their academic or professional goals. For boys, if “reading is identified as being ‘soft’ or feminine, then reading would diminish rather than develop...[a boy’s] fragile sense of self and growing masculinity” (Haupt, 2003, p. 21). Connecting Adolescents and Their Literature 2–2 has some suggestions for encouraging boys to read.