“Just don't call it a book club”: boys' reading experiences and motivation in school and in an after school book club

Much has been written about the “boy crisis” in the last two decades in regards to achievement in school and the struggles boys face in literacy learning. The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) data demonstrate that girls consistently outperform boys in reading and writing (Educational Alliance, 2006). Therefore, the importance of reading engagement and wide reading cannot be undervalued. It is commonly accepted that frequent and wide reading leads to increases in student achievement (Guthrie & Alvermann, 1999). The purpose of this study was to capture and understand how an informal book club for boys might lead to insights about their reading motivation and engagement in order to inform literacy instruction, to obtain the perspectives of middle school boys in what may motivate them to read widely outside of school-based assignments, and to understand how social interactions influence their desire to read. A purposeful sample of seven middle school boys who demonstrated a range of resistance to reading was the basis for selection. Book club meetings were based on three novels of the boys’ choosing which were read and discussed. Observations were used to note changes in attitudes and spontaneous comments about reading and school. Three focus group interviews were conducted to provide data on boys’ perspectives on reading experience in school and the book club. Additional data was obtained through individual interviews reflecting on the book club experience approximately a month after the book club stopped meeting. The data suggest that the boys in the study may reject reading because of the pressure they feel as a result of the various tasks, in particular writing tasks, which are attached to their personal choice reading. The boys found it difficult to get lost in books even of their own choosing because of these tasks. They were also unable to share their reading in school and felt disconnected from their teachers. The book club model allowed the boys to forge relationships, build competence, and find enjoyment in reading through the autonomy of free flowing deep discussions and humor about a shared text.Ed. D.Includes bibliographical referencesby James A. Lattanzi, Jr