ABSTRACT
This study is an attempt to determine the literature preferences of fourth grade boys and girls. The purpose of the study is to assist teachers in promoting reading by selecting literature that these children prefer to read. A fictitious-annotated-titles survey was used to determine reading preferences in ten fiction and eleven nonfiction categories, and to determine the effect of gender of main characters on reading preference. A sample stratified by type of school district was randomly selected from the elementary schools in Ohio. The final sample included 211 girls and 194 boys. Both boys and girls were found to prefer fiction more strongly than nonfiction. The girls preferred fiction more strongly than the boys, and the boys preferred nonfiction more strongly than the girls. The boys preferred male main characters more strongly than the girls. The girls preferred female main characters more strongly than the boys.
From Reading Research and Instruction, 36, 325–339. Copyright © 1997 by The College Reading Association. Reprinted with permission.
