Being 'cool' and  a reader © 2002

 

Article taken from Boys in Schools, Rollo Browne and Richard Fletcher (Eds), Finch Publishing, Sydney, 1995.

Available in most bookshops

 

Gwenda Sanderson, a leading specialist in literacy and learning, explores a range of successful approaches which develop a love of reading in boys and helps them redefine their views of acceptable male behaviour.

 

Words of advice from an eleven-year-old boy

(who is 'cool' and a reader)

 

If you really want your son to read Get him the sort of book Some parents don't seem to see. It's all about image and being cool And a lot depends on what you read at school.   Bugulugs Bum Thief Goosebumps Point Crime Paul Jennings The list goes on. At least they are not glued To a Nintendo playing Donkey Kong.   So take my advice And you'll feel quite proud Please don't make them read aloud If you do  They'll quit reading like a flash And your reading scheme Will fall down with a crash.   So if you take my tips And do everything right Your son could be reading By tonight!   Robert Chaseling, Aged 10

 

Boys who are not reading

Evan, ten-year-old school captain and sports champion, was referred to me because he was falling behind his peers at school.  He was an intelligent, friendly, responsible boy.  He was well liked by his peers and had excelled in swimming and soccer.  He admitted he was more interested in sport than school.

 

Evan had read scarcely any full novels by himself.  Most of the books he had 'read' had been read to him by a teacher or his mother.  He was reading hesitantly several years below his age level, and his writing was full of invented spellings.  He was afraid to take risks in either  his reading or his writing.  Evan was classified as 'learning disabled'.

 

I administer and teach at a private educational centre where children attend weekly lessons after school to receive extra support with their learning.  Eighty five percent of these students are boys.  Evan's story is not unique.  Nearly every day I have calls from a teacher or a parent who describes the problems a boy is having with his English and, without my prompting, the line will just come into the conversation, ‘Of course, I can't get him to read’, or ‘he really doesn't enjoy reading’.

 

My observation of the reading habits of the hundreds of Year 6 students (10 to 12 year olds) I've taught over the past twenty years, is that the average  boy reads half to one novel a week (i.e.  a 28 000- 45 000 word book, such as 'Boy' by Roald Dahl, 'Unbearable' by Paul Jennings or 'Redwall' by Brian Jacques), whereas the average girl reads one to two novels. 

 

The top quarter of the class, who are mainly girls, are reading two to ten novels a week, and the lowest quarter of Year 6, who are mainly boys, are not reading novels at all.  When these boys choose to read by themselves, they are reading bridging books of 400-1000 words such as the 'Jets'  or 'Skinny'  series.  These books are designed for readers who are reading at the level between picture books and novels.  They may read books of 3 000-5 000 words such as Paul Jennings' 'Gismo' or 'The Paw Thing', comics or joke books.  Some of this group now read one of the popular Goosebumps  titles over several weeks.

 

This increasing difference in the quantity of reading done by boys and girls then significantly impacts on the educational levels of both groups.

 

Inexperienced readers, not constitutionally deficient

The boys I work with are as smart and capable as any girl.  They are, in most cases, inexperienced readers.  A ten-year-old boy, such as Evan, had probably read a fraction of the amount that his sister or the girl who sits beside him in class had read at the same age.  I believe this experiential gap reflects in the educational levels of boys in comparison with girls. 

 

The pattern is that the parents of a boy like Evan notice their son resisting or having difficulty in reading and writing, particularly if they have older children.  They may liaise with the teacher, who also expresses concern about the boy's progress.  The parent may then look for an outside 'expert' opinion to find out why their boy is not performing to expectation. 

 

Commonly, boys who are more than several years behind at school, and who are uninterested and reluctant readers, are labelled by school counsellors or psychologists as having a 'learning difficulty' or a 'learning disability', 'dyslexia' or an 'attention deficit disorder.'  When practitioners start with the assumptions behind the labelling, they are necessarily constrained by a set of traditional remedial practices.  In my experience these programs do not help boys in the long term.  In the short term, such approaches quickly bore most boys and further consolidate their view that reading is not for them.

 

By focusing on the pathology of boys, we situate the problem in a physical-cognitive abnormality, or as a difference between girls and boys.  Thus the current explanations of literacy-learning failure and  lack of interest have not sufficiently focussed on boys' gender expectations and the stigma attached to being seen as a keen reader.  I believe that reading provides a source of tension for boys, and that this becomes the most significant factor in their decreased reading, and their consequent underachievement.

 

Reading changes boys' lives

Reading books is of paramount importance for boys, not simply in terms of school achievement, but because books and reading enhance their lives.  Reading literature affects the way we think, what we understand about the world, and the way we 'nurture our soul'.  Books can inspire us and expand our horizons.  Boys need books for inspiration. for images to think with.  With books, boys can explore the diversity, complexity and strangeness of human experience.  

 

I have seen boys write in their reading response journals that a book such as Tim Winton's 'Lockie Leonard Scumbuster' or Christobel Mattingley's 'No Gun for Asmir' or Murray Heasley's 'Shuz' has had such an impact on them that they will never be the same after reading that book.  They saw life through another person's experience and that vicarious experience changed them.  They see other boys in stories coping with adversity, resolving interpersonal conflict or acting against stereotypes that are embedded in popular culture.  Most profoundly, from an academic perspective, reading books accelerates a student's academic levels.  Boys who read little, risk underachievement in most areas of the school curriculum.

 

Teachers' views About boys' resistance to reading

I recently asked a group of primary teachers to write what they saw as the reasons why boys read less than girls.  All explanations revolved around boys' active nature ('boys do  things, girls are content to sit and read'), boys' greater obsession with sport, or a criticism of existing literature as not meeting boys' interests.  One teacher stated that there were few books suited to boys.  These beliefs are commonly expressed, but in my view they are limited.

 

Boys 'do' things

The first explanation reflects the reality of the playground environment where boys are to be seen taking up the larger physical area at school, chasing each other or playing sport.  In contrast, girls often sit around the edge of the play area, engaging in quieter pursuits, frequently reading a book.  To this extent, boys and girls are play-acting out the powerful metaphors of what it means to be male or female in our society.  It is almost as if the passive act of reading and physical activity are mutually exclusive domains.

 

Boys' interest in sport and other things

This is also true.  Outside school, boys have a great many other interests that books must compete with, such as sport practices and events, computers, videos, TV , bike riding, skateboarding and just 'mucking around outside'. 

 

Involvement in organised sport can become an obstacle to school success for boys, both by the few who are winners and the large majority who are not winners.  Sport is seen by many parents as the pathway to achieving male identity and self worth.  Some parents identify their son's sporting prowess and success as the sole source of his self-esteem.

 

Limited boys' books

In reality, there are more books for boys than for girls.  The research in this field continues to show that stories generally contain more boys than girls, that central characters are mainly boys, and that stereotyped versions of 'boys' interests' - eg. sport, wars, adventure - predominate.

 

As teachers, we need to expand our understanding around boys' resistance to reading, beyond boys choosing to do other things.  By exploring boys' gendered notions about the act of reading, we can support boys to become readers.

 

Boys' views about themselves as readers

When I asked Mark, aged 10, about boys and reading, he said, "Boys are always doing what they want.  Boys, when they have something to do, they just do it.  Girls take more time and they just sit around.  Boys are always active.  I only read a book when I'm made to.  When I'm bored I just sit there and do nothing, like watch TV, whereas Sarah (his sister) always reads.  I don't think my friends read much."

 

Recently I asked eight eleven-year-old boys to give me a profile on a boy their age who is 'cool' and one who they would see as a 'wuss'.  (I had been increasingly aware of their use of the opposing terms.) 

 

The boys gave me a list of synonyms for 'wuss' which included loser, a dweeb, an idiot, a dork, a drip, a  moron, posh, a pussie, a douche, a girl, a girl lover, a wimp, a wanker, queer, gay, happy, gay farts, weird, a donkey brain, and twinkle  toes.  The boys chose whichever synonym they wanted and gave me a written list of what a boy in either category wears, says, how he behaves, what he reads for pleasure, what girls think of him, how many there are in their class, and which category they wanted to be in.

 

 A 'wuss' wears 'posh' clothes like a white shirt, black trousers and black polished shoes.  His speech is normal.  He doesn't get into trouble at school, and he's a ‘goodie-goodie’.  He reads all the time, everywhere, and reads books that are thick or 'for adults' and magazines such as CSIRO’s Double Helix.  They thought girls saw them as 'wusses', as 'geeks', 'stupid', 'losers', 'queer', or as 'a mirror of themselves'.  There were between zero and four in their classes at school.  And, uniformly the boys all wanted to be 'cool'.

 

So what does a 'cool' guy look like to these boys?  The replies included wearing homeboy pants or board shorts, surf brand name clothes and basketball boots.  A 'cool guy' may muck up at times, get into fights and get himself into trouble.  The 'cool' guy doesn't read or seldom reads.  When he does read, it's horror or murder stories, magazines, comics, cereal boxes or 'good books'.  This guy is considered 'the best' by the girls.  Most of the boys saw the majority of the boys in their class as 'cool'. 

 

My concern is that many boys perceive reading as both passive and feminine, and are therefore alienated from what reading is about.  It seems to me that their concept of masculinity is easily thrown by ‘doing’ literacy, and being like a 'female'.  To see the cause of boys' resistance as inadequate or different cognitive processing of linguistic information, ie. pathological, or to blame current reading material as not meeting boys' needs, is to obscure the social reality of their lives and the set of values these boys hold about maintaining their maleness.

 

Boys limited involvement in reading and their consequent underachievement will continue unless we actively encourage boys, as well as girls, to move beyond gender stereotypes and the continued denigration and inferiorisation of anything female.  Reading and maleness are not incompatible entities.

 

Girls' views about boys as readers

The boys' explanation of and identification with 'cool' really opened my eyes.  I was keen to get the views of a group of six ten to eleven-year-old girls that I work with.  (I know how  boys of this age want to impress the girls.) 

 

Katie suggested that, ‘Girls read more.  Boys just don't like reading.  They'd rather do other things like play chess or have thumb wars.  Only the posh ones read.  The cool ones don't read.’ 

 

I was dumbfounded to hear the same categories 'posh' and 'cool' used by girls.  Monique's older brother had been my student for three years and has subsequently been placed in the top year eight class at high school.  Monique volunteered, ‘Yeah, my brother reads all the time.  He's posh.  He just likes reading.’

 

So I asked the girls who they'd prefer - a 'cool' boy or a 'poshie'.  No votes for 'posh'.  Without hesitation all votes were for 'cool'.  Madeleine qualified her selection, ‘Well I'd want cool and  honest and caring,’ as if those two qualities weren't necessarily part of the make-up of the regular 'cool' guy.  Tanya added, "Yeah that's what I want too.  You know, boys don't read proper books.  They read sports magazines and stuff like that.  The girls in our class are always reading novels.’  Kara's view was that, ‘The boys just aren't interested.  They play up in reading.  They get out of doing it.’

 

Boys value girls' opinions, so when I realised that the girls placed a similar value on 'coolness', I began to see why this problem is so difficult to resolve.  It is framed by such a persuasive set of values, held by both boys and girls.

 

Fathers' involvement in their sons' reading

There are conflicting messages about males and reading in the public and private arena.  While encouraged to read at school, boys may have significant males in their lives who do not value reading.  Boys often refer to the females in their homes as readers.  They say that their fathers and other brothers spend their free time involved in sporting events, watching sport on TV or in other active nonreading pursuits.  This conflicting information about what being masculine or literate looks like, challenges boys and creates a tension.

 

Many fathers speak with pride and interest of their boys' sporting involvements and accomplishments.  In social settings there is less spoken enthusiasm for their sons' academic achievement and,in particular, their involvement in reading.  In some cases, reading is directly opposed to the masculine identity.  At a parent-teacher meeting, a kindergarten teacher was encouraging parents to foster their child's reading at home.  During the coffee break, she overheard some father's comment: ‘As long as he can chuck a ball around the field, he'll be right’ and ‘I don't want my son to be a sissy’.  For these fathers, who undoubtedly wanted their sons to do well at school, reading books was seen as a potential threat to their son's masculine identity, represented by achievement in sport. 

 

I have contact in person or by phone with about five percent of the fathers at my centre.  Mothers predominantly initiate the first contact and subsequent phone calls concerning their boys’ ongoing progress and any organisation changes.  They deliver and pick up their children.  Most of these mothers work full-time, so it is not that the mother has more time.  It is simply seen as 'the wife's domain' and reflects the gendered division of labour and responsibilities in the home. 

 

Fathers' distancing and estrangement from such an important area of boys' lives have to be addressed.  The echo of fathers' physical and psychological absence is sometimes apparent in the stories shared by boys and their mothers.  Often this distancing is because of the ongoing financial constraints of 'outside' work.  I've heard fathers lament their lack of involvement with their sons on the basis of working so hard to provide adequately for their family.  This is an unenviable position, but it still needs to be addressed by fathers.  It is too easy for fathers to forfeit an intimate knowledge of their sons’ schooling, and thereby miss out on an opportunity to support their boys.

 

We need to target increased father-involvement in school literacy projects, such as parent tutoring.  When I was teaching in a school setting, I was always so delighted to have dads come to evening school meetings where literacy was the topic of discussion.  I'm sure these fathers were very influential in their son's learning.  When I look back over my years of teaching, at the boys whose fathers were physically and emotionally involved in supporting their son's education, my observation is that these boys took off more dramatically, when given the extra learning support.

 

We need to encourage mothers to see reading materials other than books as being legitimate reading.  Sometimes the scope and quantity of a father's personal reading may be dismissed, when in fact, he may read three major papers over the weekend, his weekly Bulletin cover to cover, and spends hours at the computer composing and reading documents.  All of this may be outside the considerable volume of reading he does in his work away from the home. 

 

It is important that mothers don't set fathers up to be seen in front of the children as 'nonreaders'.  It is also possible that men do not see personal novel reading as an option for leisure because of the stigma of it being seen as a 'passive' and therefore female activity.

 

I've seen boys really act on  their father's suggestion about a good book.  I once had a dad who used to love reading his son's books.  He'd often read them the very night they came home, and his son, Jason would say next week when I saw him, ‘Dad loved that book, so I read that one first’, and ‘Dad said that one wasn't as good as X author's first book, so I left that one till last night to read’.  It meant such a lot to him, to think he was choosing books for him and  his Dad to read.

 

Challenging boys' resistance

(I should add to this heading: ‘and supporting them to become readers who are also “cool”’.)

So how can we acknowledge a boy's desire to be 'cool' and, at the same time, involve him in a pursuit that may conflict with his resistance to reading and his personal interests, as well as his very notion of what constitutes maleness? 

 

When I work with boys like Evan, I utilise some of the following principles and practical strategies.

 

Be a reader yourself

I read widely for my own pleasure.  I read the books I want them to read.  I constantly look for and read the books that might get them reading.  I scour magazines such as Magpies, Rippa Reading and Reading Time looking for new titles which may appeal.  I frequently ask boys what they are reading and what other boys are reading, hoping to hear of new authors or titles that they are enjoying.    It is important to hear what they like to read and not to place my adult values about 'quality' books on them.  At first I was not comfortable with stories that seemed weird or even on the gory side, but I soon realised that I couldn't reach boys unless I had an open mind.

 

I let my boys see me reading during silent reading times during our small group lessons.  I show them the book I’m reading at the time and talk about why I chose it.  It may be R. L. Stine’s latest Goosebumps  title or Fear Street  title.  They see my excitement, my pleasure at ‘settling in for a good read’.  My modelling is vital.  I believe we can't expect boys to do something that we aren't doing ourselves.

 

Talk about your own process as a reader     

I share what I do when I choose books to read, lose the plot, or come across words I don’t know.  We call this ‘literate talk’.  I focus on reading habits  and not on reading skills.  Many boys who have got behind at school have had extra skills-based remedial teaching in the reading area which has placed the emphasis on errorless word recall, and not made the enjoyment of the story the focus.  I believe such an approach, which is heavily practised in some educational contexts, destroys any possible long term interest in books and reading.

 

Share ‘the cream’ of the books

Here I am considering only those books that appeal to boys.  I look for books that are funny, that show emotion, that are connected to their own life experience and that are accessible, i.e. written in an authentic, natural easy style of writing, where the author’s presence is felt, and where the stories are full of action and surprises.  Reluctant boy readers are very choosy about what they like to read. 

 

Parents sometimes regale me with lists of books that they have at home ‘and he still won't read’.  And they tell me titles of books at home that their daughters loved, or that they have from their childhood, or even books that were award winners.  However these guidelines for choosing books for their sons may not be appropriate. 

 

In Australia, some of the most well known book awards are chosen by adult childrens book specialists, and the choice is based on factors other than whether the book is a ‘good read’ or not.  These judges have to take into account not only the 'literary excellence' of the book, but the way the publisher has produced the book, the appeal of the illustrations, as well as the quality of the editorial work on the book itself. 

 

With the KOALA, KROC, and COOL Awards, where children vote for their favourite book each year, the all-time favourite author is Paul Jennings.  Yet our most popular children's writer has never won even one major award in the annual prestigious Children's Book Council of Australia Book of the Year Awards, given to books of 'outstanding quality'.

 

Paul Jennings is often not taken seriously by the children's literature establishment.  His humorous, 'lightweight' short-story form, has such enduring appeal to boys because it is manageable.  This factor is seemingly not valued when 'literary excellence' is to be judged.

 

Boys absolutely love the risqué things that happen in Paul's stories.  I've seen boys literally howl with laughter on a first reading of one of his stories.  When they suddenly come across a boy character who accidentally 'browneyes' a principal, or a boy who has to retrieve his own expensive false tooth from a smelly sewage treatment plant, or a boy, without a stitch of clothing who has to flee from a group of girls, they are hooked ! 

 

Books with short paragraphs and short chapters appeal.  Most Paul Jennings, Morris Gleitzman and R. L Stine paragraphs are one to three sentences in length.  This is the trend in popular children's fiction, which is to the advantage of boys who are put off by long solid paragraphs covering the page.

 

When I ask boys how they would help a younger boy having problems with his reading, their main approach is to ensure that the book that they share with such a boy is wildly funny or of the horror/scary vein, such as one of R. L. Stine’s. 

 

Robert, aged eleven said, ‘You retain your image of being 'in' by reading books like Goosebumps.  Even if you find them scary in some parts, you don't admit it.  You might even pretend in front of other guys that they are not scary at all!’. 

 

In Robert's case - he's currently reading The Hobbit, having just read the 336-page The Bellmaker, by Brian Jacques'.  He's now moving to authors he's never tried before, such as Elizabeth Hutchins and James Howie.  As with most boys, Robert's springboard into books was humorous or scary books.  They opened the way for him to get into a wide range of reading.  This happens when boys get started into books they can relate to and that they enjoy. 

 

Boys are influenced by the covers of books and when they are selecting new books to read, they seldom look inside the book.  For this reason Paul Jennings' amazingly weird covers have appeal, as do the Goosebumps  titles that look scary.  According to the boys I speak with, it's simply 'uncool' to read a book about girls, or a book that has a girl on the cover or even a pink covered book. 

 

'Walk’ with the boys into books

I read aloud to my students - sometimes a few pages, sometimes the first chapter, sometimes the whole book.  I want them to 'hear' good writing.  I read aloud enthusiastically, sometimes dramatically.  I show my own involvement in the story.  I laugh; I cry.  The only complete books I read aloud to my students are ones by authors whom they have not read before.  I also ensure that each boy in a group has his own copy of the book as I read.  I am the ‘human tie’ between them and the author. 

 

I have connected boys with authors in real life or by mail.  Having time to actually meet Paul Jennings, Morris Gleitzman, Michael Stephens, and Richard Tulloch in the context of our own space, was a turning point for the boys I was working with at the time.  The boys who spent the day as ushers at a Morris Gleitzman author event in my city, and who sat down to lunch with him, later read every book he'd written.  I've had boys write to authors such Roald Dahl (when he was alive) and Murray Heasley, and both authors replied.  The letters that came back were extremely important to them.  They were treasures that they planned to keep all their lives!

 

I also act as a mediator for learning about literature and becoming literate.  If you like, I am their stockbroker.  Boys are handicapped when there is no adult in their life who acts as mediator around books.  They need somebody who knows the stock well. 

 

I hope that our friendship, and the warm and mutually respectful relationship we have, allows each boy to relax enough to unselfconsciously get involved in books that hook him in.  My role is to be that important connection between the boy and the book.  Once he is in  the book, an author has a chance to win him over.

 

Discourage reading aloud

No student reads to me or to others unless he explicitly wants to.  I encourage them to read at home to themselves, and only  to their family, if they choose to.  Most boys hate reading to a parent, as Robert's poem attests.  They feel quite set up and it can so easily become a time of considerable tension between parent and son.  I see no educational benefit in making reluctant readers read to their parents.  Marcus, aged eleven, informed me that 'a lot of boys get turned off by being made to read to their parents’.

 

Boys need time to read their own books.  They may need support in setting up a home timetable to allow time for their personal reading. This time will give them an opportunity to relax, to be entertained by the book, and to form intimate relationships with the characters in their books.  They learn to read by reading.  And, the more they read, the more they want to read for their own pleasure.

 

Encourage parents and other care-givers

Parents need to read to their sons and to read some of their sons’ books themselves.

 

I encourage both parents to see themselves as important role models as readers, to become more book aware, and to talk with their sons about their own personal reading.  As I mentioned earlier, I've seen many breakthroughs with previously reluctant readers, when a parent has read one of their son's books.

 

I send home lists of favourite and recommended books.  I also suggest using the local library and / or giving books or book vouchers as gifts.  It's really important that boys know that their parents see books as being valuable enough to spend money on.  A lot of the boys I work with have hundreds of dollars worth of video games, and get to see most major feature films, so they see the money being spent on their entertainment and sporting pursuits.  They also need to see that their parents place value on book ownership as well.

 

Encourage them to enthuse each other

Reading is both private and social.  Students ‘own’ their reading when they have the opportunity to share it with others.  I'm aware that the first thing I want to do when I finish a good book is to share it with someone else, and encourage them to read it.  I provide settings for students to share their reading with their peers.  They are ‘experts’ on the books they’ve read. 

 

I realise the power of peer influence.  I work with the boys in 'boys only' groups.  When a boy comes into his lesson on fire about a book he has loved, the others almost 'fight' over it.  They are probably more persuaded by each other's recommendations, than mine!

 

A father told me recently, ‘I started reading when I met a friend who was a 'man's man'  (at this point he flexed his biceps to show that he meant a real, macho man)  who would read three to four books in a day.  He'd sit out the back of our flat with the cool tinnies beside him and no-one would bother him.  That's when I realised it was 'cool'.  It was cool to read!’

 

Help them challenge the limited male stereotypes in stories

I try to enlighten my students - boys and girls - about the value systems in books.  Books are not 'innocent' or 'neutral' windows on real life.  I support them in challenging or arguing for the versions of themselves and their worlds that are constructed in the stories.  Because the socially constructed roles for males and females in books are often severely limited, I try to encourage their awareness of books where there are alternative and more expansive versions of masculinity, i.e. males who act beyond traditional stereotypes. 

 

In Shuz for example, the boys in the urban art posse who are the heroes of the story, learn that they don't have to retaliate by beating up the Year 9 gang of thugs to prove their masculinity.  A truer test of their personal strength is demonstrated in other, non-violent ways, such as when they initiate a competition to see which gang can run faster, throw straighter or spell better.  The females in this story are not 'bothered' by the male world.  They stand up to males physically and verbally.  This book absolutely 'hooked' the boys and provided the stimulus for challenging and lively debate about the stereotypes that were maintained or changed by the author.  The female characters in this book also expanded the boys' notions of femininity.  One of the boys wrote in his journal, ‘The author shows that you aren't a girl if you're good at art or if you decide not to fight to fix up your problems’.  In this way, fiction can provide a setting to demonstrate that things termed 'feminine' are not necessarily in opposition to their masculinity.

 

In conclusion

Evan is now fourteen and in an ‘A’ stream at school.  He reads all the time and he's still popular amongst his peers.  He is a living example that boys' resistance to reading can be turned around. 

 

What made the difference?  I believe that it was by ignoring the labelling and just getting on with the task of encouraging Evan to love books and reading, and helping him to see that reading, as a free-time pursuit, was 'cool' and not a contradiction to his concept of what males do.  Evan has expanded his notions of masculinity to include the act of reading for his own enjoyment.

 

As Robert says in his poem, ‘It's all about image and being cool’.  When the context and the attitudes are right, boys will give reading and what books have to offer a chance.  Then the books themselves and good authors will take over! 

 

And to paraphrase Robert:

So if you take our tips

And do everything right

Your boys could be reading

By tonight!

 

Gwenda Sanderson is the Director of Arrendell Primary education Centre in Newcastle (a facility established to provide extra learning support for students).  She has also been a lecturer in Children’s Literature and Literacy at the University of Newcastle.  During her twenty-seven year career Gwenda has worked mainly with boys and is committed to finding ways to help them become lifelong readers.  Gwenda has shared her work with teachers and parents locally, nationally and internationally in workshops, conferences, presentations and various writings.