'I´m just the kind of person who likes to read' : a study of boys worlds of reading in an upper grammar school in Southern Stockholm

Every now and then, in media research studies and in various newspaper articles, schoolboys´ issues reading habits are discussed. Much of what is written concerns boys decreasing marks in the field of literature, in the Swedish language and also their negative attitude towards reading books. Some scholars claim that boys do not read because they consider reading books as a women´s duty. Other people believe that underlying causes for boys negative attitude towards reading is biological, that it´s genetic and consequently physical, and that male and female brains are functionally different. Another theory of today is that boys actually reads, but not that kind of texts and literature that they are exposed to in school. Based on a selection of these opinions and theories, and my own experience and interest for questions concerning school and gender, the aim of this studie was to examine boys worlds of reading. In other words to find out what boys habits of reading looks like, what they read in school and in their spare time, if they think the school library could supply them with books that appeal to their taste, and also when they read and how they choose what to read. Other questions were what their habits of reading are at home, if their parents reads books, if they have a morning paper and if someone read to them when they were younger. The overall question for the studie was: What do boys´ worlds of reading look like? The method of investigation was using quantitative questionnaires with one hundred boys from an upper grammar school in a well-off area, and four qualitative interviews by phone with boys from the same school. All pupils were of age thirteen or fourteen. The result of this study made it obvious that these boys like to read, not just books but also other kinds of texts like, for example, computer game instructions, chat or sms. It´s also clear that when they choose fictious books to read, they have a taste for thrilling and dramatic adventures. The genre of literature is very important when it comes to boys´ interest of reading, and fantasy is without doubt the most attractive genre.