Junior School Pupils Rejection of School Library Books

Young people and books: a review of the research into young people's reading habits

“…Furthermore, girls' greater relative preference for fiction was already evident amongst the 6-9-year-olds studied by Cooper (18), girls being found to be four times more likely to choose fiction than were boys. Fenwick (19) found a similar situation amongst those of 9-10 years old, as did Bird (20) amongst those of 11-15 participating in the Bookmaster library scheme. Heather (7) found that non-fiction was read by 70 per cent of the boys in her study of 13-15-year-olds, but by only 17 per cent of the girls, and 'the majority of non-fiction books mentioned ... were read by boys' (7, p. 124).…”

“…Both Wyse (32) and Brinton and Ingham (33) found that the appearance of a book was the most important factor at junior school level; and Fenwick (19) discovered that the length of a book and proportion of illustrative content (approximately 10-20 per cent favoured) were the most significant factors in book selection. Hanson (34) reported that both 'middle'-and 'working'-class 9-10-year-olds intentionally chose middle~upper-class stories and illustrations; whilst Blackwell (35) found that books with characters of both sexes were most popular with 7-9-year-old children.…”

Evaluating junior reading books generally and some “Wide Range Readers” in particular

“…The majority of the pictures in the editions under consideration are fully illustrated in colour. Bearing in mind therefore, that Fenwick (1975) noted that popular library books with top Juniors tended to have 10-20% of their content taken up with pictures, it would appear that the quality and quantity of the illustrations in the "Readers" would be satisfactory for the children concerned.…”