Date Approved

5-31-1996

Embargo Period

9-7-2016

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

M.A. in School and Public Librarianship

Department

Special Educational Services/Instruction

College

College of Education

Advisor

Pauly, Regina

Subject(s)

Children--Books and reading; Reading interests

Disciplines

Library and Information Science

Abstract

Fifth and sixth grade boys were studied to determine their reading interests for the purpose of developing a bibliography of books that the boys had read and enjoyed to use for collection development for the school library. One class of fifth grade students and one class of sixth grade students were surveyed to determine their reading attitudes, habits, and interests. Reading logs were kept during a three month period recording books that the students read during that time and enjoyed. Both boys and girls participated in the data collection portion of the study.

Major findings reinforced the author's perceptions that reading attitude declines as the children progress to the upper elementary grades, and that girls enjoy reading more than boys at this age. While the survey showed that even the reading attitude of the girls declined in the sixth grade, overall the attitude of the girls was more positive than the attitude of the boys. When asked if they enjoyed reading, only 36% of the filth and sixth grade boys responded positively compared with 70% of the fifth and sixth grade girls. Despite the professed decline in reading attitude, the students did complete reading logs and a bibliography of books of interest for boys in fifth and sixth grade was developed. The fifth grade boys recommended 36 books, and the sixth grade boys recommended 37 books.

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