Gender specific titles?
Often I hear, "that is a a girl book," or "that is a boy book." Do you think books are gender specific? If so, what are some characterisitics of girl and boy books? Do you think giving them such a classification would inhibit students from reading a specific title?
posted by Mrs. Boccuzzi-Reichert @ 8:16 AM
4 Comments:
I don't think it's a bad thing, but I'm not working with kids all the time in that context. I agree with Christy on the types of books that typically are thought of as girl books and boy books.
I think it's just important to help kids find books that they'll be interested in, no matter what "type" of book it is. I hated reading as a kid because of the books we were forced to read. If we had ELA teachers (although they were English teachers then), or curriculum, like they do today, I'm sure many more kids would've enjoyed reading.
Boy or girl book...I'm going both ways on this one. On one hand, I think that if you label a book for a certain gender, the tendency might be for a girl to avoid a "boy book", if it is labeled as such. But then again, some girls would prefer the "girl book", so we are actually helping them by identifying books that they might enjoy.
I just watched the movie "Joyeux Noel", and all I could think of was that it was a "boy film". It's not that girls couldn't appreciate it or enjoy it, but that the boys would definitely be able to relate to it.
Here’s a question for the group: Do you feel that girls are more willing to read “boy books”, where the boys aren’t as open to the “girl books”?
To repond to "Nat's" question- "Do you feel that girls are more willing to read “boy books”, where the boys aren’t as open to the “girl books”? Yes, I do feel this is the case now-a-days, however, there are always exceptions. It seems girls can be into "boy-things" and look cool to their peers, like they know about sports etc. It seems to have stemed from the women liberation movement, that girls can do things previously regulated to boys. With middle-schoolers being so image-conscious this is important. On the other hand, boys reading too many "girl books" could fall into the critical eye of middle schoolers as seeing them doing something that is not considered "normal." Unfortunatley so much is still all about appearances and we as teachers can just continue to foster an attitude of tolerance and acceptance.
Labeling books as "boy" or "girl" books could be helpful to those students who really are turned off by reading. If it's suggested that one or the other gender might like the book, for example, some kids may be drawn to it. There could always be a caveat saying that it's both. Maybe an ivitation for students to classify the book on their own would get them interested, or even a tally somewhere.
As an invitation to read a book, there might be a sign posted in the library that says, "Is this book more interesting to boys or to girsl. Waht do you think?" When the book is returned the "vote" could be cast and posted.
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