I complete agree with Atwell on her assessment of "Who are these guys? I don't recognize them." Our September 8th grade boys may come in scoffing at "some" books -after all, there is still gender bias in the publishing industry, ie; "girls are the ones who buy all the books so we're going to publish more books espcially for girls vs. boys". After a few weeks in our classroom, most of the gender bias falls away and books become fairly gender-less. I've had boys pick up "Twilight" and "Nineteen Minutes" and at first they may not be as receptive to reading, but after awhile, in a safe environment that encourages reading based on interest and not gender, they loosen up and are willing to try a number of books which may or may not be deemed feminine or masculine.
Wow! I am amazed that Nancie's boys read an average of 40 books per year (and that's at the low end, she states). Think about how many books that is - at least 1 a week for the entire year. I know that I don't have averages that high - I have some higher and many more lower than that, but what we've done is to create a passionate reading environment for boys and for girls - all done in 15 minutes a day! Kudos to my collegues, that's something to brag about.
Kelly
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