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Patterns of reading among teenage boys: the reading habits and book preferences of 13‐15‐year‐old boys

Jonathan Wicks (Librarian for Special Services with Essex County Council Libraries at Braintree Library, Braintree, UK.)

New Library World

ISSN: 0307-4803

Article publication date: 1 September 1995

2843

Abstract

What do teenage boys read, and why? Little study has been done specifically of boys′ reading habits, leading to the suspicion that much public library selection for this group has been based on guesswork and intuition. This study sought to fill this gap in our knowledge through 60 one‐to‐one structured interviews of a stratified sample of 13‐15‐year‐old boys, approached through four Essex secondary schools. Discovers that reading compares favourably with other leisure pursuits, most boys reading regularly for 40 minutes per day on average, or one book per fortnight. Selecting fiction by genre, author and series, but chiefly by the blurb, boys are diverse in their tastes. Fifteen‐year‐olds read predominantly adult novels or have effectively ceased reading. The boys read reflectively, and are equally divided between those who imagine the story unfolding in their imaginations, those who imagine their own involvement, and those who do neither. Finds that the use of non‐fiction is lower and less important to teenage boys than had been believed. Draws implications for library provision for this group.

Keywords

Citation

Wicks, J. (1995), "Patterns of reading among teenage boys: the reading habits and book preferences of 13‐15‐year‐old boys", New Library World, Vol. 96 No. 5, pp. 10-16. https://doi.org/10.1108/03074809510090248

Publisher

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MCB UP Ltd

Copyright © 1995, MCB UP Limited

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