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Xerox University Microfilms 300 North Zeeb Road Ann Arbor, Michigan 48106 i f,
76-9982
HOWARD, Mary V irginia Brown, 1929- THE RESPONSES OF FOURTH, FIFTH, AND SIXTH GRADE BLACK URBAN CHILDREN TO SELECTED STORIES.
The Ohio State U niversity, Ph.D., 1975 Education, elementary
j Xerox University Microfilms , Ann Arbor, Michigan 48106
0 1976
MARY VIRGINIA BROWN HOWARD
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
THIS DISSERTATION HAS BEEN MICROFILMED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED. THE RESPONSES OF FOURTH, FIFTH, AND SIXTH GRADE
BLACK URBAN CHILDREN TO SELECTED STORIES
Dissertation
Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for
the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate
School o f the Ohio State U n iversity
By
Mary V irg in ia Brown Howard, B .S ., M.A.
The Ohio S tate U n iversity
1975
Reading Committee: Approved by
Charlotte Huck Alexander Frazier Advi ser Martha King College of Education Arthur White ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I wish to express my sincere thanks to several persons vrfiose
guidance and encouragement helped in the development of this
di s s e rta tio n .
First of all to my Mother Dear, Mrs. A. Margaret Gibson,
whose love, strength and guidance has been a part of my total life .
She was always present when I needed her. My fondest thoughts are
of my husband, Hayden; my dear son, Lan; and my God-daughter,
Charlene B. H a ll. They helped to make i t a ll possible. The sincere
understanding they offered and their willingness to endure many
sacrifices were necessary to accomplish this goal.
My very special appreciation goes to Dr. Charlotte S. Huck,
Chairman of my committee whose thoughtful advice and wholehearted
support were invaluable during my graduate study.' Sincere thanks .
are also expressed to my doctoral advisory committee, Dr. Martha L.
King and Dr. Alexander Frazier. I also wish to acknowledge the
suggestions given to me by Dr. Arthur L. White, concerning the
s ta tis tic a l procedures used in th is in v e s tig a tio n .
To gain a friend through a dissertation is probably a miracle
and th a t m iracle happened in the frien d sh ip o ffe re d by Dr. Ojo E.
Arewa. I shall always be indebted to him.
i i Inspiration and support were offered by many friends, especially
Mrs. Melba G. Rucker and Mrs. Sally K. Byrd, whose continuous concern and keen insights contributed immeasurably to the completion of this p ro je c t.
To express my profound gratitude to a very dear friend,
Mrs. Barbara J. Fincher, is indeed unsurmontabie. She was always witling to listen and to offer a comforting ward, in addition to the typing and editing of this dissertation.
i i i VITA
A pril 3, 1929 ...... Born - Albany, Georgia
1947-1950 ...... B.S., Albany State College Albany, Georgia
1964-1969 ...... Elementary Teacher Fai r Avenue School Columbus, Ohio
1969-1970 ...... Reading Teacher Columbus Public School D is tr ic t Columbus, Ohio
1970-1974 ...... Teaching Associate The Ohio State U n iversity Columbus, Ohio
1974-Present ...... Research Associate Educational Research Council o f America Cleveland, Ohio
Fields of Study
Major Field: Early and Middle Childhood Education
Studies in Childrens Literature - Professor Charlotte Huck
Studies in Elementary Education - Professor Alexander Frazier
Studies in Language Arts and Reading - Professor Martha King
Iv TABLE OF CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ...... i i
VITA ...... iv
LIST OF TABLES ...... v lf
CHAPTER
I . BACKGROUND OF THE PROBLEM...... 1
Statement of the Problem ...... 7 Importance of the Study ...... 8 Scope and L im itatio n s o f the S tu d y ...... 19 Procedure of the Study .' ...... 21 D e fin itio n o f Terms ...... 22 Summary ...... 23 Organization of the Study ...... 2k
I I . REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE ...... 25
The General Reading Interests of Children ...... 25 The Factor o f Race in C h ild ren 's Reading In te re s t kO The Reading In terests o f Black Children ...... k] Summary . i ...... 69
I I I . PROCEDURES OF THE STUDY...... 72
Introduction ...... 72 Selection of Schools ...... 73 Description of Schools ...... 7k Selection of Teachers ...... 77 Description of Students ...... 81 Selection of Books ...... 84 Instructions to Teachers ...... 9^ D escription o f Response Instrument ...... Sk The F ie ld o f Study ...... 98 Delivery of Materials ...... 99 Scoring the Response Booklets ...... 101 The Analyses o f the Responses ...... 103 Coding Inform ation fo r the Computer From Response Booklets ...... 105 Statistical Treatment of Hypotheses ...... 105 Data Analysis ...... 107 Analysis of the Teacher Questionnaire ...... 108 Summary ...... 108
v TABLE OF CONTENTS (Continued)
CHAPTER
IV . ANALYSIS OF DATA ...... I l l
Books Enjoyed Most and L e a s t ...... 112 C ircled Responses ...... 114 W ritten Responses ...... 128 Responses R elating to Story Factors ...... 135 Statistical Testing of the Null Hypotheses ...... 139 Summa r y ...... 169
V. SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ...... 170
Purposes of the Investigation ...... 170 Methods o f Procedure ...... 171 Results of Tested Hypotheses ...... 173 Findings ...... 177 Conclusions ...... 180 Recommendations ...... 182 Suggestions for Further Research ...... 183
APPENDIX A ...... 185
APPENDIX B ...... 204
BIBLIOGRAPHY ...... 219
vi LIST OF TABLES
Table Page
1. Schools Identified By Location and Racial Identity of Student Enrollment ...... 76
2. Frequency and Percentage o f Responses to Teacher Questionnaire By Grade Level ...... 78
3. Composition of the Sample of Teachers By School and Grade Level ...... 79
4 . Composition o f Sample o f Students By School and Grade Level ...... 80
5. Composition of Sample of Students By Grade Level and S e x ...... 81
6. Reading Achievement Results of Intermediate Grade Students Reading a t o r Above Grade Level by Sub-Test, Grade Level and Percent of Students ...... 82
7. Socio-Economic Level of Students Identified By Incidence of ADC, School, and Total Enrollment ...... 84
8. Intraclass Correlation of Twenty Four Factors By Three Judges ...... 88
9. Fifteen Books Used in the Investigation By Type and T i t l e , Author's Name, and Grade Level ...... 93
10. Schools Participating In Field Study Identified By Location and Racial Identity of Student Enrollment .... 97
11. Composition of Samples of Students Participating In F ie ld Study By School, Grade Level, Sex and T i t l e o f Book Read ...... 98
12. Order of Books Read By School, Grade Level and T itle o f B o o k...... 100
vli LIST OF TABLES (Continued)
Table Page
13. Frequency o f Response By Type o f Story and Grade Level ...... 113
]Jf. Frequency o f Response to Question One: How Much Do You Like This Story? ...... 115
15. Frequency o f Response to Question Two: Would You Like to Hear This Story Again? ...... 117
16. Frequency of Response to Question Three: Could This Be One of Your Favorite Stories? ...... 119
17. Fifteen Stories Ranked In Order of Preference By Grade Level and Type o f Story - Question 1 ...... 122
18. Fifteen Stories Ranked In Order of Preference By Grade Level and Type o f Story - Question 2 ...... \2k
19. ‘ Fifteen Stories Ranked In Order of Preference By Grade Level and Type o f Story - Question 3 ...... 126
20. Frequency o f W ritten Response By Grade Level and Type of Story (N=798) ...... 129
21. Frequency o f W ritten Responses By Category to S tories Liked and Disliked (N=798) ...... 130
22. Frequency o f W ritten Responses By Type o f Story and Category of Response for Stories Enjoyed (N=685) ...... 132
23. Frequency o f W ritten Responses By Type o f Story and Category of Response for Stories Not Enjoyed (N**ii3) .. 13^
2k. Means and Standard Deviations of Each Preference Rating and Type o f Story (N=822) ...... 1^0
25. C o rrelatio n Between Preference Ratings and Type o f Story (Ns822) ...... \k\
vi i i LIST OF TABLES (Continued)
Table Page
26. C o rrelatio n s Between Preference Ratings and Id e n tity o f Character (N=822) ...... 143
27. Frequency and Percentage o f Responses When Black and Non-Black Characters are Present in the Story (N=822) . 144
28. Correlation of Preference Rating with Type of Story With Racial Identity Removed (N=822) ...... 146
29. Correlation of Preference Rating with Type of Story With the Setting of the Story Removed (N=822) ...... 148
30. Correlation of Preference Rating With Type of Story With the Age of the Story's.Character Removed (N=822) . 151
31. Correlation of Preference Rating With Type of Story With the Sex of the Story's Character Removed (N=822) . 154
32. Mean, Median, and Standard Deviation of Preference Ratings By Type o f Story, T it le o f Story and Grade Level (N=822) ...... 157
33. D ifferences Between Means o f the Preference Ratings By Grade Level and Type o f Story (N=822) ...... 159
34. Mean, Median, Standard D eviation and Range o f the Reading Achievement Scores for the Respondents By Type of Story, T itle of Story and Grade Level (N=822) ...... 161
35. Correlation of All Reading Achievement Scores With Preference Ratings fo r A ll Types o f S tories (N=822) . . . 163
36. Frequency and Percentage o f Responses to S tories By Type and Title of Book, School, and Incidence of ADC (N=822) 164
37. Correlation of Preference Rating With Type of Story With Socio-Economic Level Removed (N=8) ...... 168
38. Racial Identity of Characters In Stories ...... 187
39. Age and Sex of Major Characters in Stories ...... 188
ix CHAPTER I.
BACKGROUND OF THE PROBLEM
L ife Is more rap id ly paced and changing fa s te r fo r today's c h il
dren than ever before in the past. Books for children reflect this
change. The social problems - poverty, divorce, alcoholism, mental
illness, illegitim ate pregnancy, wars, sexism and racism - are
categorically presented in children's books. Young people are asked
to come to terms with "real life" - life as it is lived by many
people, in many different situations.
These changing views of life and contemporary problems are
included in books to inform and in s tru ct young people about societal
changes. The in ten tio n o f these books is to bridge an understanding
for children about themselves and the world they live in.
Writers of these "realistic" stories try to "tell it like it is."
Books are written with less restrictions on the language. The language used is more natural and expressive o f the c h ild 's language usage. In
some stories like John Steptoe's Stevie (1969), the written language
reflects typical oral patterns of a young Black child living in an urban area. There is also a new frankness in the use of words.
Freddy's Book (1973), by John Neufeld includes one word in the full length o f the book which would have been a "don't include" less than ten years ago.
I The inclusion o f m inority groups, long om itted from books fo r children, are also given attention in these contemporary stories.
Black m ilitant groups and civil rights advocates strongly voiced concerns for the inclusion of Black characters in stories for children.
Educators stressed the p a rtic u la r need fo r and value o f books more appropriate for Black children to read. They urged that books be written to include Black characters as real people in rea] situations.
Emphasis was placed on the importance o f s to ries w ith backgrounds, behaviors, and themes with which Black children would identify, it was, also, fe lt that Black children could possibly learn to read more easily through prompt identification with a character or a situation in a story.
It is a fact that young people want to understand themseives, to fu lfill themselves, and to see the view of the world they hold reflected in books written for themj Writers of realistic fiction are trying to provide these books which they feel important for such consciousness raising. Authors of contemporary, realistic stories attempt to re evaluate and re-define views of this dynamic changing society. It is hoped, however, that these books may also serve to "increase the social sensitivity of young people and extend their experiences, appreciations,
lEgoff, Sheila. "Percepts and Pleasures: Changing emphases in the writing and criticism of children's literature" in Egoff, Sheila, G.T. Stubbs and L.F. Ashley, (Eds.). Only Connect: Readings on Children's Literature. New York: Oxford University Press, 1969, p. 436. and understandings of their own life styles and the life styles of
o th e rs ." * More and more emphasis is placed on the need fo r books with
Black characters involved in situations that any child can relate to
regardless of race. Ann Herbert Scott's Sam, the story of a little
Black boy w ith nothing to do, is th is kind o f book. However,, s im ila r
books are limited especially for children in the upper elementary grades.
Black Americans have, also, shown much concern about their role in
society; They realize how important it is for young Black children to
develop a positive self-identity and a socio-cultural awareness. Good
literature is an effective way to help Black children see their heri
tage and become proud of their heritage. Therefore, it is extremely
important for children to have many experiences with books that deal
with all aspects of life that are cultural, social, and universal.
In view of the increased concern for positive identification and
social awareness of minority groups, and increased publishing of chil dren's books with Black characters, it is necessary to take another
look at the books Black urban children are being asked to read. To what extent are Black children able to identify with the characters of a story? Do they see themselves involved in the action of the story?
Are the experiences fam iliar ones with which they can identify?
*Reid, Virginia H. (Ed.). Reading Ladders for Human Relations. Fifth Edition. Washington, D.C.: American Council on Education, 1972, p. vii. H is to r ic a lly , the Black American has been presented in c h ild re n 's
literature as caricatures; as stereotypes; and as individuals with
racial problems. Many times the views presented in these books were overwhelmingly negative.^ in fact a review of research studies by
Pettigrew1* indicates that the following discriminating practices were discovered in books with Black characters read by c h ild re n :
... impairment of human relatedness ... impairment of the individual's acceptance and understanding o f him self . . . the re sulting confusion of self-identity and lowering of self-esteem ... a generalized perception of the world as a hostile, threatening place ... family disorganization.
These books did not provide the Black c h ild w ith s to rie s th a t were sincere, forthright and authentic.
Even though w riters' and illu s tr a to r s have attempted to respond to such problems, Broderick's^ critical analysis of books published as recent as 19f>7, asserts that the Black character was s till identified in the lowly status assigned to him within the past society.
Many of these books have been written for u tilitarian purposes.
They have been w ritte n fo r the Blacks who liv e in the c it ie s ' ghettos.
^Alexander, Rae. "What is a Racist Book?" in MacCann, Donnarae and Gloria Woodward, (Eds.). The Black American in Books for Children: Readings in Racism. Metuchen, N .J .: The Scarecrow Press, In c ., 1972, p. 59.
^Pettigrew, Thomas F. A Prof]ie of the Negro American. Princeton, N .J .: D. Van Nostrand Company, In c ., 196**. pp. 5-26.
5Broderick, Dorothy M. Images of the Black in Children's Fiction. New York: R.R. Bowker Company, 1973. These books contain mundane stories with fashionable ideas rather than
lasting ones. They do not present a variety of experiences and life styles concurrent with our changing-society. Nor do they provide the knowledge necessary for an appreciation and understanding of the culture of Black people.
There is a d is tin c t need to r e fle c t the permance o f a m in o rity c u ltu re in books fo r c h ild re n . A c u ltu re which re fle c ts more than the unrealistic, naive, negative or detrimental views of a group of people.
A culture which provides in the heritage of their people; a sense of human dignity; and a real purpose .for living. Authors of contemporary literature need to broaden the personal, social and political perspec tive of the Black American portrayed in books for children. Stories should be written to portray Black characters on many socio-economic levels; in a wide range of professional and vocational jobs; and inter acting in a v a rie ty o f ways.
The history of a culture is a basic body of knowledge, in addition, the day-to-day living is an Important aspect of a story. The usefulness of these two important features lies in the ability of the writer to take from the past what is needed, include aspects o f the present day, and reconstruct on contemporary terms.
The inclusion of Black Americans and other minorities in books for children to reflect a changing society is the desired goal. The ways of life must be interpreted so that the modern day child w ill respect his own life style, and the life style of others. Therefore, it is
Important for the Black character to maintain his unique cultural identi ty. He must, also, participate on all levels of social, and political relationships for a better understanding of these unique qualities. The responsiveness of writers to the emphasis placed on the in clusion of Black characters in books for children places an even great er responsibility on those persons concerned with what and why children read. The way in which books are selected and used w ith Black children should be o f m ajor concern. According to Huck and Kuhn** lite r a tu r e holds certain values for children. Books will appeal to children as they (1) provide enjoyment; (2) bring new perspectives; (3) present vicarious experiences; (k) develop insight into human behavior; (5) transmit the accumulated wisdom of mankind, and continue to ask uni versal questions about the meaning of life and man's relationships with nature and o th e r men; and (6) provide beauty and in s p ira tio n . Books can and do p lay a unique ro le in the liv e s o f c h ild re n . Therefore, the responsibility of a teacher Is to introduce a variety of books to the Black urban child so that his interests may be broadened.
Also, children w ill learn to read well only when they have books that they want to read. The goal of the Right to Read effort was
" ... that by the end of the 1970's no one shall be leaving our schools without the skill and the desire necessary to read to the full limits of his capabiIity."7 |f this goal Is to be achieved, we must discover what kinds o f books Black ch ild ren p re fe r to read.
&Huck, C h arlo tte S. and Doris Young Kuhn. C h ild ren 's L ite ra tu re in the Elementary School. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc., 1968, pp. 650-652.
7Huck, Charlotte S. "Meeting the Challenge of Literacy" in King, Martha L., Robert Emans and Patricia J. Cianciola, (Eds.). A Forum for Focus. Urbana, Illinois: National Council of Teachers of English, 1973, p. 73. 7
Since few or no inquiries have been made of the Black urban child with regard to what his reading interests are, it is necessary that consideration be given this matter in the elementary curriculum. We must discover and nurture the in te res ts th a t impel the urban c h ild to acquire the skill to read and also the desire to read. Interests do not grow in a vacuum. They are stim ulated by experience.
It is felt that a primary concern of a teacher is to bring children and books together. It is also felt that Black urban children, like ail c h ild re n , need to be and should be exposed to d iffe r e n t kinds o f li t e r a ture, depending upon experiences and interests. It is necessary then, to find out which books hold values for Black urban children. There fore, the purpose of this study was to survey the responses of fourth, fifth , and sixth grade Black urban children to selected children's books which represent a v a rie ty o f genre and content.
Statement o f the Problem
This investigation of the responses of fourth, fifth , and sixth grade Black urban children to selected children's books had three major purposes:
1. To determine which books selected for the investigation are
enjoyed most by fo u rth , f i f t h , and s ix th grade students.
2. To analyze the relationships between preferences for types
o f books and such c h a ra c te ris tic s as: a) the type of story
b) the characters
c) the setting 3 . To compare any relatio n sh ip s o r d ifferen ces in students'
preference of story and understanding of story with regard
to sex, grade level and socio-economic level.
More specifically, this investigation attempted to answer the following questions:
1. What types of books do Black urban children enjoy the most?
2. Would the preferences of stories be similar at all three
grade levels, or do fourth, fifth , and sixth grade children
prefer different types of stories?
3 . Wbuld boys and g ir ls in d icate the same preferences fo r
particular types of stories?
k. Do children prefer contemporary stories that reflect problems
which are similar to their life experiences?
5. Would the preferences of stories be different with respect
to socio-economic level of the student?
6. Would fourth, fifth , and sixth grade children enjoy listening
to s to ries read aloud each day?
Importance of the Study
For many years most children of the urban poor have been omitted from the mainstream of American society. In the late 1950's it became clear that minority children were not being successfully educated in urban schools. Consequently the demands of minority groups for equal educational opportunities created a greater awareness of and concern for the urban poor in the 1960's.® .
The Coleman Report (Equality of Educational Opportunities);9 the
Kerner Commission (National Advisory Commission on C iv il Oisorders) and numerous other opponents of inequalities in education pointed out facts of racism and prejudices found in educational programs for the disadvantaged.
Assessments of these educational situations identified many problems. According to one view, inappropriate materials were used to teach disadvantaged children. At the same time, it was critically conceded th at the content o f most reading books fa ile d to portray the life style which the under-privileged child was fam iliar and the reading material was not based on his background of understanding.
In order to counteract this criticism , teachers and publishers especially in the large cities, began projects to develop local read ing programs with appropriate content. The Detroit Public School
D is tr ic t was the f i r s t to develop the C ity School S eries. Josephine
®Doll, Russell C. "Urban Teachers' Problems" in Walberg, Herbert J. and Kopan, Andrew T ., (E d s .). Rethinking Urban Education. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, Inc., Publishers, 1972, pp. 12-22.
9Coleman, James S., et. a]_. Equality of Educational Opportunity. Washington, D .C ., U.S. Government P rin tin g O ffic e , 1966.
lOCampbell, James S. "Violence in America," in The New York Times Encyclopedic Almanac. New York: New York Times Book and Educational Division, 1971, pp. ^51-^52. 10
Benson11 described the books on the preprimer level in the follow ing
way:
The books show children o f m u lti-ra c ia l groups in urban settings to give the children an opportunity to identify themselves with characters that are fa m ilia r . The environment shown in these books ... is one to which culturally different children might reasonably aspire. The illustrations ... are large and colorful ... The stories are humorous or have a surprise ending to sustain interest. An evaluation of the first three pre primers showed the City Schools Series to be significantly more effective in stimulating interests in reading....
Various other reading programs, such as the Skyline Series,
Chandler Language-Experience Readers, and Bank Street Readers, were also developed to motivate and to interest the culturally different c h ild .12
Trade books, however, led the way in presenting Black characters
in literature for children. At the same time surveys were conducted to find out how many of the published trade books included Black characters.
It was discovered that they were included in a small percentage o f the books published. Nancy L a r r i c k 1 ^ surveyed seventy book- publisher members of the Children's Book Council who published trade
llBenson, Josephine T. "Teaching Reading to the Culturally Different Child." Readings on Reading. No. 25. Alfred R. Biner, John J. Diabal, Jr., and Leonard K. Ki se., eds. (Scranton, Pennsylvania: Intext Educational Publishers, 1969 ), p. 267.
1^1 bid. . p. 267.
l3Larrick, Nancy. 'The All White World of Children's Books," Saturday Review. Vol. 48 (September 11, 1965), pp. 63- 65, 84-85. u
books fo r c h ild ren in 1962, 1963, and 1964. She found th at the s ix ty -
three publishers who responded to her survey published 5,206 children's
trade books, but only 349 books included one o r more Black characters.
An upward s h ift in publishing did not change a great deal in the
next two years. Dorothy Sterling^ estimated that only one percent of roughly twelve thousand children's trade books published from I960
through 1966 included Black characters.
Criticisms have been rendered against many of these books.
Thompson and W o o d w a r d ^ observed th at "too many o f the integrated books or books for 'interracial harmony' tend to reinforce the very attitudes
they are trying to dispel." These stories relate problems of irresponsi b ility , pain, loneliness and hunger which tend to perpetuate a kind of
racial stereotyping of poor Blacks living in a tenement dwelling.
There were others who looked at the illustrations of Black characters seen in the s to rie s . Even though textbooks have been re vised and trade books have been w ritte n , B en n ett^ and B illin g to n ^
^Sterling, Dorothy. "The Soul of Learning." Engl ish Journal. Vol. 57 (February, 1968), p. 171.
^Thompson, Judith and G lo ria Woodard. "Black Perspective in Books for Children." Wilson Library Bulletin. Vol. 44, No. 4 (December, 1969). pp. 416-424.
l6B ennett, Lerone. "Reading, ' R itin g and Racism: The Negro in Textbooks." Ebony (March, 1967), pp. 130-138.
17b i11ington, Ray Allen. "History Is A Dangerous Subject," Saturday Review. Vol. 49 (January 15, 1966), pp. 59-61. 12
contend that oversimplifications, distortions, and omissions are s till
evident to a great degree.
In other words, analysts of children's literature with Black
characters are discovering that the major ideas and contributions of
Black Americans are s till ignored. In fact, much of the writing fails
to produce literature beyond the satisfaction of present day students.
The majority of Black urban children live in tightly segregated
communities. They have little opportunity to interact and become
acquainted with people of different groups. In many instances the
different groups may be a group of Black Americans who live in the
suburban communities. The Black urban c h ild needs more books to
provide many opportunities for the expansion of existing interests
and for discovering new interests.
In addition to concern for the inclusion of Blacks in books for children there is also much controversy about who should write chil dren's books about Black Americans. Studies of content analysis of children's books about Blacks revealed a long history of distorted
racial attitudes and many people are advocating that only Black authors and illustrators can portray the Black American in literature authentically. In fact, Albert V. Schwartz^® stated, "America needs the black experience. ... if the experience is related by blacks themselves."
^Granstrom, Jane and Anita Silvey. "A Call fcr Help: Exploring the Black Experience in Children's Books." The Horn Book Magazine. (August, 1972), pp. 395-^04. Some Black authors are supporting this same point of view. They
say th a t white authors have never known how i t fe e ls to be biack and
their writings w ill necessarily distort the experience of being black.
Black authors who support their point of view have spoken out
strongly and have given reasons for their views. Julius Lester'^
comments th a t:
It is the black writer's job to tell black people about themselves because ... only the black writer presents the black perspective accurately and relevant to black children.
Tom Feelings^ agrees because he feels that
... a story of the Black Experience must come directly from one who has lived it. Authenticity or syntheticness would hinge upon that life experience.
The supporters of this point of view feel that the only way to write about a "real Black experience" is when the experience has been a part of the author's heritage or life style.
L ib ra ria n s , however, have been more concerned with the Black child's reactions to books than the color of the author's skin. Some of the views of librarians were shared at the New England Round Table
O I o f C h ild ren 's L ib rarian s Annual Spring Festival in May, 1972, were
reported as follows:
^ L e s te r, J u liu s . "Black and White: An Exchange Between George Woods and Julius L e s te r." The New York Times Book Review (May 2k, 1970).
20peelings, Tom. Interracial Books for Children. Council on Interracial Books for Children, Spring, 1970.
2iGranstrom, Jane and A nita Si Ivey. "A C all fo r Help: Exploring the Black Experience in Children's Books," The Horn Book Magazine. (August, 1972). \k
M ildred G r if f it h , S ta ff Development P ro je c t, Boston Public
Schools, commented:
... I think that, generally speaking, their selection is not based on interest but on reading le v e ls . Kids select books th a t they are more comfortable with - books they are able to read, understand, and interpret.
In g rid Brown, C h ild ren ’ s L ib ra ria n , Mattapan Branch o f the Boston
Public Library, added:
... and they love funny stories, and friend ship stories ... something that's funny and lig h t. But sometimes they lik e serious th in g s .. . .
Jacquelyn Hogan, C hild ren 's L ib ra ria n , Mt. Pleasant Branch o f the
Boston Public Library, finds that her children are not reading much
fiction at a ll. Her comment is:
... they know where they stand wi th non- fiction. If they are reading about the moon, they know what the moon is; ... they read Steptoe - I c a n 't keep his books on the shelf - but of the others I don't push very many of them, and they don't take very many.
These librarians indicate that Black children select books for many reasons - reading level, the type of story or because they know
something about the subject.
As w ith most children the Black c h ild selects a book w ith which he can identify because of past experiences. However, the Black urban c h ild must depend on the teacher and the lib ra ria n more fo r his exposure to different types of books than many other children since he may come from a home lacking in reading m aterial. 15
Furthermore, Augusta Baker^ writes that there is room for stories on all levels, all facets of black life and that the characters in
these s to rie s should be ju s t people. Circumstances should be normal circumstances. Simply stated the books must be worth reading. There fo re , the Black urban c h ild w ill depend upon the teacher and the
librarian for the opportunity to be exposed to the wider world of
1i terature.
Thus, over the past fifte e n years some progress has been made regarding the content of books written about Black Americans. However, limited information is available to indicate what Black urban children read and to determine i f the content o f books read make a d iffe re n c e .
Is it who is in the story or the quality of the story that makes a di fference?
The findings of educators, Emans^ and Johns^ tend to contradict the notion that Black children prefer only so-called "relevant" books.
Emans found that when given a choice between stories with urban and suburban settings, Black children chose the suburban settings. Johns' findings indicated that inner-city children in the intermediate grades
220aker, Augusta. "Guidelines fo r Black Books: An Open L e tte r to Juvenile Editors," in Virginia Haviland. Children and Literature Views and Reviews. Glenview, Illin o is: Scott, Foresman and Company, 1973, pp. 110-115.
23Emans, Robert. "What Do Children in the Inner C ity Like to Read?" The Elementary School Journal. V o l. 69 (December, 1968), pp. 119 - 122.
2^johns, Jerry L. "What Do Inner City Children Prefer to Read?" The Reading Teacher. Vol. 26, No. 5 (February, 1973), pp. ^*62-^67. made similar choices. When given pairs of illustrations and descrip tions from books these students chose the p airs o f illu s tr a tio n s and descriptions which expressed reading preferences for stories or books which depicted middle class settings; characters who had positive self-concepts; and characters in positive group interactions.
No matter what the background of children might be, they w ill probably respond to more favorable situ atio n s when compared to known unpleasant experiences. There is a need for the Black urban child to read about the existence that he faces each day. There is a greater need, however, for this existence to be expressed honestly if the
Black urban child is expected to relate to it realistically. These expressions of daily existence - the hard times and the happy times - must be reflected in the content and the illustrations of children's books.
I t is important to engage Black urban ch ild ren in the wonders o f their own world, of their own group and of themselves. This should not suggest that the Black urban child must remain in a vacuum to read only about what he knows about already. It is also important for the Black urban child to engage with literature which presents experiences beyond his immediate life style.
According to Huck and K u h n , ^ 5 "teaching literature is the process of guiding children to enjoy, interpret and evaluate." Therefore, the
25Huck, Charlotte S. and Doris Young Kuhn. Children's Literature in the Elementary School. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc., 1968. teacher should assume a responsibility to introduce books in the class
room for Black urban children to read and enjoy. We must discover how
Black urban children react to books that provide insights into the
historical, ethnic and cultural characteristics of all human beings;
and at the same time provide opportunities for meaningful self-id entifi
cation. It is necessary for the Black urban child to move beyond his
boundaries. Through lite r a tu r e a f i r s t step can be taken as Black
urban children express their preferences for stories, if a child's
in te re s t in books is to be discovered and broadened, i f h is enjoyment
Is to be heightened and his understanding .to be deepened, then he
should not be limited to only those books which he is capable of reading
him self.
The stress on learning to read and the content o f what is read has
failed in many instances to recognize the preferences and interests of
Black urban children. Little consideration is given to the fact that children appreciate and enjoy stories they may be unable to read them selves. A story read aloud by the teacher will allow for the presenta tion of literature in a whole class situation thus generating a further
in te re s t in books o f a ll kinds.
Several studies were designed recently to determine the results of reading aloud to Black urban children. Literature for children was used
in each study. The findings of each study revealed different results.
Porter*s^6 study was a program designed for high school students to
^ P o r te r , Edith Jane. "The E ffe c t o f a Program o f Reading Aloud to Middle Grade Children in the inner City." The Ohio State University, Dissertation Abstracts. 1969. read aloud to fourth, fifth and sixth grade students in six elementary inner city schools. Results indicated an increase in reading achieve ment and interest in reading especially at the fourth grade level.
Sirota's^? planned daily reading program was designed for fifth grade pupils from six elementary schools in an eastern city. The findings of this study seem to indicate that a planned literature program of daily oral reading by the teacher can have a significant effect on the quantity and quality of children's voluntary reading. The results of each study suggested that Black students in the intermediate grades should be exposed to a wide range of reading materials.
Burgdorf^® assessed the ab ility of intermediate grade children, representing widely different socio-economic status, to draw inferences from reading and listening to literature. Results indicated that inference scores were significantly higher when children listened to s to rie s .
All of these studies provided students the opportunity to listen to stories and to respond as individuals and as members of a group.
And since "the act of listening is certainly a necessary art in the
2 7 s iro ta , Beverly S. "The E ffe c t o f a Planned L ite ra tu re Program of Daily Oral Reading by the Teacher on the Voluntary Reading of Fifth Grade Children." New York Uni versity, Dissertation Abstracts. 1971.
28j}urgdorf, Arlene Bernice. "A Study of the Ability of Inter filed iate-Grade Children to Draw Inferences from Selections of Children's Literature." Ball State University, Dissertation Abstracts. 1 96 6 . >9 reading of 1i terature,"2^ reading stories aloud was an excellent way to have Black urban children hear the language of fine literature.
Therefore, this study was important for the following reasons:
(1) to give Black urban children the opportunity to listen to a wide range of stories and state reasons for liking or disliking them; (2) to determine from an examination of student responses what kinds of s to ries they lik e and why; (3) to analyze the re su lts and determine i f inform ation can be used to help teachers to plan and guide Black urban children into valuable reading experiences; and (4) to determine if results from the study can be utilized to help schools to develop effective literature programs.
Scope and Limitations of the Study
This survey of fourth, fifth and sixth grade Black urban children's responses to selected books was subject to some limitations with regard to the sample and the procedures. A description of the restrictions and limitations inherent within this investigation is given in this section.
I. Size of sample: The survey was limited to 15 fourth, fifth
and sixth grade classrooms which were randomly selected from
the urban population o f Columbus, Ohio. Total population
size for the study was 422. Each student was expected to
29Taylor, Mark. "Realms of Reality" in Kosinski, Leonard V. (Ed.). Readings on C re a tiv i ty and Imagination in Li terature and Language. Champaign, I llin o is : National Council o f Teachers o f English, 1968, pp. 92 - 101. listen to only three of the five types of stories at a particular grade level. Therefore, the responses made to
In d ivid u al books w ith in each grade level depended upon the book read.
Teacher participants: Teachers volunteered to participate
in this study. Teachers were given no preparatory sugges tions for presentation, follow-up discussions or activities when the story was completed. They were asked to read the story prior to oral presentation to students.
S election o f books: The fifte e n books were selected from children's literature anthologies and recommended lists of children's books. Although some of the titles have been in existence for a long time, other titles were more current or new.
Availability of books: Books for middle grade children with
Black characters interacting in a variety of situations and sharing unusual experiences were limited.
Time and length o f survey: The length o f the survey was restricted to 12 weeks - March-June of the 1973-7^ school year. The time suggested for reading aloud was 30 minutes per day. However, some teachers read less than 30 minutes and others read more than 30 minutes per day. 21
6 . Number o f books and length o f books: The number o f books
read aloud to each class was three, however, the pages per
book varied in length and number. A to ta l o f fifte e n
different titles were tested.
Procedure of the Study
Fifteen books were selected for the study. Three titles, one each for the fourth, fifth and sixth grades, were selected representing five types of literature.
A panel of three judges, made a content analysis of each book recording those factors which middle grade children find most appealing.
The “Snoopy" instrument developed by Terry^O was used to gather responses from the students. Instructions for use were written and field tested for clarity in five classrooms in the urban school district o f Columbus, Ohio. One book from each type o f lite r a tu r e was read by either a fourth, fifth or sixth grade teacher. The field study was completed in two weeks.
All of the fourth, fifth and sixth grade teachers In the pre dominately Black urban area o f Columbus, Ohio's school d is t r ic t were invited to participate. A random sampling of fifteen teachers, (five each from fourth, fifth and sixth grades) were selected to participate.
30yerry, Carolyn Ann. "A National Survey of Children's Poetry Preferences in the Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Grades." Unpublished Ph.O. Dissertation, The Ohio State University, 1972, p. 18. 22
The books were randomly grouped Into sets o f three and d elivered
to each participating teacher by the investigator. The response sheets
were picked up at the completion Of each book.
The ch ild ren listen ed to three books over a period o f twelve weeks.
Upon the completion of each book, the students circled the picture and
“Snoopy" caption that best indicated their preference of the story. A
brief comment was written about each book giving specific reasons for
liking or disliking the story.
D efini tio n o f Terms
1. Inner city - the central core of the city, surrounding the
business d istrict, where the economically poor people usually
11 ve.
2. Urban - an area which has the essential c h a ra c te ris tic s o f a c it y
located at the peripheral of the inner city, usually inhabitated
by Blacks and whites from rural and small towns o f the South.
3. Interest - a concern for or a feeling of wanting to know, see, do,
own, share in or take part in that which arouses curiosity and
holds attention. k. Preference - the attitude of liking better and an opportunity to
make a choice.
5. Types of literature - refers to the five genres included in this
investigation - animal stories, fanciful stories, historical
fiction, mystery and adventure stories and realistic fiction.
6. Animal stories - stories in which animals are portrayed
objectively through the natural behavior of animals. 23
7. Fanciful stories - stories which contain non-existent creatures
or supernatural events which are contrary to the reality of the
everyday world.
8. Historical fiction - stories which revive the life and thoughts
of people, places and problems of a period of time other than the
present time.
9. Mystery and adventure stories - stories which contain elements of
suspense and surprise in an atmosphere o f actio n and excitem ent.
10. Realistic fiction stories - stories which tell about something
that could happen in the everyday life of real people living in a
contemporary society.
Summa rv
There is an urgent need for the Black urban child in the inter
mediate grades to become aware of a wide range of literature for chil
dren. Accepting the fact that children will respond to literature that
they enjoy and the fact that the enjoyment of literature need not always
depend on individual reading, the classroom teacher w ill have the major
responsibility to provide stories of interest for the students. Since
few studies indicate that Black urban children have expressed a prefer
ence for particular kinds of stories, this study surveyed the prefer
ences of students in the fourth, fifth and sixth grades to five types of stories read aloud by the classroom teacher. The primary objectives of the survey were to: (I) determine which books selected for the
investigation were enjoyed most by fourth, fifth and sixth grade stu dents; (2) analyze the responses given for book preferences considering
such characteristics as type of story, content of the story, characters, 24 and s e ttin g ; and (3) compare any relatio n sh ip s o r d ifferen ces in students' preference of story and understanding of story with regard to sex, grade level and socio-economic level.
Fifteen books were read in their entirety to fifteen classes of students in eight randomly selected public elementary schools in
Columbus, Ohio. A to ta l o f 422 fo u rth , f i f t h and s ix th grade students participated in the study. The responses of the students to the stories were analyzed and their preferences were determined.
Organization of the Study
Chapter I introduced the study. A survey of related research w ill be presented and summarized in Chapter I I . The research design w ill be described in Chapter I I I . The subjects o f the study and the in s tru ment used to collect data are included in this description. Procedures and techniques employed to c o lle c t, process, and analyze the data are also described in Chapter III. Chapter IV presents the findings of the study; while the interpretation of the data, the summary of the study; the conclusions, and recommendations fo r fu rth e r research are contained in Chapter V. CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE
This chapter will review the literature related to the stated
problem of this investigation. Many studies concerning the reading
interests of elementary school students have yielded considerable data.
However, few studies have analyzed elementary school students' re
sponses to lite r a tu r e and an even sm aller number o f these studies have
investigated interests or responses of different ethnic groups to
literature. Since this investigation is concerned with the responses
of Black urban children to literature, considerable attention has been
given to the discussion and clarification of issues relating to the
reading interests and preferences for stories of Black children.
The research studies covered in this chapter have been categorized
as follows: (1) studies measuring students' general reading interests;
(2) the effect of reading Black-oriented stories upon the reading
Interests and attitudes of Black children; and (3) the results of
some read-aloud literature programs.
The General Reading In terests o f ChiIdren
Although the search of the literature revealed few studies directly related to the problem of response of Black urban children
to literature, there have been numerous investigations to determine
the reading interests of children of different age levels, sex and mental abilities.
25 26
More than two hundred studies have been undertaken since 1893*
when M.B.C. True reported "What My Pupils Read," to the present time.3*
Throughout the years the investigations have attempted to provide use
ful information regarding the interest factor for planning experiences
with books which will foster interest and appreciation in literature.
Dunn^ conducted a study in 1921 to determine the elements found
in reading materials that arouse the interest of primary grade children.
T h irty-o n e selections o f prose and verse selected from 2^3 samples o f
primary reading materials were analyzed and ranked according to the
elemental qualities to be tested. The twenty qualities were as follows:
adultness, animalness, boyness, childness, conversation, fam iliar
experience, fancifulness, girlness, humor, imagery, moralness, narrative
ness, plot, poeticalness, realism, repetition, style, surprise, verse
form, and liv e lin e s s . These selections were paired and then read to
children in grades one, two and three, for them to compare and state a preference. The results from the expressed preferences were analyzed and Dunn concluded that the characteristics evidenced were:
Surprise and plot for both sexes, animal ness for boys and childness, fa m ilia r experiences, and to a lesser extent repetition and conversation for
3*Witty, Paul A. "The Role of Interest" in Development in and Through Reading. The 60th Yearbook of the National Society of the Study of Education. Edited by Nelson B. Henry. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1961.
32gunn, Fannie W. Interest Factors, in Primary Reading Material. Teachers College Contributions to Education. No. 113. New York: Bureau of Publications, Teachers College, Columbia University, 1921. 27
girls. Liveliness, fancifulness and verse form were found to add interest only when accompanied by such q u a litie s as surp rise, p lo t, childness, animalness, or fam iliar experience. Humor as the child sees it, and a few elemental qualities to which he is attracted and pi e a s e d .
W issler's^ study of 1,950 children in grades five through eight, was conducted by using stories from readers which were used for reading in s tru c tio n . The s to ries were c la s s ifie d by theme and rated according to students' preferences. Intermediate grade children preferred animal stories, stories of daily life and stories of moral percepts.
Jordan^ in a comprehensive study involving 3,598 students ages nine to sixteen, particularly emphasized the relation of instinctive forces to children's interests. These instinctive forces of inter mediate grade children include: love of sensory life, rivalry, fight ing, kindliness, self-assertion, to have friends, togetherness, maternal, approval, and shyness. The fighting and maternal instincts are the most potent causes o f d ifferen ces between the reading o f boys and g ir ls at this period. He further suggested that interest is "determined by training and education."3^
33|b id., pp. 45-70.
34v/issler, Clark. "Interests of Children in Reading in the Elementary School." Pedagogical Seminary. V, (1897-1898), pp. 523-540.
35jordan, Arthur M.• Children's Interest in Reading. Chapel Hill, North Carolina: The University of North Carolina Press, 1926.
36lb id ., p. 93. I
28
A survey of 607 children In grades four, five and six was con ducted by Humphreys^ in Wisconsin to discover their reading interest.
For two years prior to this investigation in 1938, the investigator provided a great number and a variety of books to these students. They were, also, given additional guidance in the selection and enjoyment of books. At the end of this two year period an informal inventory was given with the following directions:
1. Write the names of the last three books or stories that you have read.
2. Indicate with whom,' if anyone, the stories listed were discussed.
3. Write the name of a favorite book.
a) T ell how you happened to read i t . b) Tell what the story Is about. c) Tell why you liked it.38
From an analysis of the responses obtained from this survey, it was concluded that children of this age level liked the following types of books: general fiction; animal stories; fairy stories, myths, and
legends; history, historical fiction, and biography; science and nature; primitive man; and conduct and manners. A few years later in 1958,
Norvell39 reported the results of a study in regard to factors which
37Humphreys, Phi la . "The Reading In te res ts and Habits o f Six Hundred Children in the Interm ediate Grades," in Language A rts in the Elementary School. 20th Yearbook, The National Elementary Principal. V ol. XX, No. 6, (J u ly, 1941), pp. 421-428.
38ib id ., p. 421.
^ N o rv e l I , George W. What Boys and Gi rl s Li ke to Read. Morri stown, New Jersey: Silver Burdett Company, 1958. influenced children's reading interests. A total of 24,000 children in grades three through six, throughout the state of New York, were included in this investigation. From his findings it was concluded that boys preferred lively adventure, physical struggle, human characteristics, animals, humor, courage and heroism, mystery, and p a trio tis m and they disliked description, didacticism, fairies, romantic love, sentiment, women or girls as leading characters, and physical weakness in male characters. Girls preferred lively adventure, home and school life , human characters, domestic animals and pets, romantic love, sentiment, mystery, the supernatural, and patriotism. Girls rejected bloody or violent action, description, didactism, boys and girls younger than the reader (except babies), and fierce animals.
While the above studies have id e n tifie d a number o f facto rs and types of stories related to children's reading interest; other investi gations have been conducted to determine kind of interest children exhibit in particular topics and to identify specific books selected to read. Several techniques were used by Young**® to analyze the science interest of 129 intermediate grade children. These techniques made it possible for children to express individual interest which were not verbalized in the general inventories. She found that the uni verse, animals, earth, human growth and weather ranked high in interest
**®Young, Doris. "Identifying and Utilizing Children's Interests," Educational Leadership. (December, 1955), pp. 161—165. 30
among this group of children. She, also, stated that there was a wide
range of individual interests, even though peaks of interest were evi
dent at all age levels. Social studies interest of intermediate grade
children were identified by McAulay.^ Tape recordings of small group
sessions with 397 fourth, fifth and sixth grade students revealed:
Fourth-grade children have broad.. . interests in particular areas of the earth's surface.. ./and/ in the general process o f. . .geographic areas....
Fifth-grade children are interested in those geographic areas which dominate the current news.../and/ the historical reasons for large social problems that appear on the national and In tern atio n al scene.
Sixth-grade children have social studies interest similar to fifth-graders. However, the interests.. .are deeper.. ./and they/ Indicate an interest in ideas, their beginn ings and trends;....^
McAulay concludes that intermediate grade children displayed sophisti cated interests in current trends and events, and the national scene.
He indicated that the social studies topics studied in schools "under estimate the interest and information children have received from TV,
radio, movies, and travel.
^'McAulay, J.D. "Interests of Elementary School Children," Social Education. Vol. 25, No. 8 (December, 1961), pp. 407-409.
^ I b i d. , p. 409.
4 3 |b id ., p. 409. 31 Rankin4* studied the circulation of books in eight public
libraries varying in size in 19**. She found ten books of contemporary
fiction that were consistently appealing to adolescent or near
adolescent age children. These books were: Sue Barton. Senior Nurse:
The Good M aster; Caddie Woodlawn; S?1ver C hief to the Rescue; Mountain
Gi r i; The Jinx Ship; Si1ver Chief, Dog of the North; Who Rides in the
Dark; Peggy Covers the News; and Sue Barton. Student Nurse. Six of
these t i t l e s were g ir ls ' books and fo u r were boys' books and a ll were on approved lists for young people.
Scanlan^S recorded the books most frequently withdrawn from the pre-adolescent room of the St. Paul, Minnesota Public Library during the period from January 1, 19^7 to July 31, 19^+7• He examined only contemporary fiction (5,200 volumes) and kept a record of every book th a t had c irc u la te d seven o r more times during the year. I f more than one copy of a title was available, the circulation for each copy was recorded if the combination of copies had circulated seven times or more. One hundred books were id e n tifie d as most popular. The ten most popular books are id e n tifie d below.4* Two books were tie d fo r the fourth place and tenth place ratings.
^Rankin, Marie. Chi idren's Interests in Library Books of Fiction. New York: Bureau of Publications, Teachers College, Columbia University, 1 9 **.
^ S ca n la n , W illiam J. "One Hundred Most Popular Books o f C h ild ren 's Fiction Selected by Children." Elementary English. Vol. XXV, No. 2, (February, 19*+8), pp. 83-97.
**lbid., p. 85. n> d 3 O > — Rank Author T it le O 0. £ <5 z o < <->
1 Lovelace, Maud Betsy-Tacy 1940 141 9 15.6 2 Brink, Carol Magical Melons 1939 107 6 17-8 3 A tw ater, Mr. Popper's Penguins 1938 92 6 15.3 Rlchard *4.5 Twain, Mark The Adventures o f 1876 90 13 7.0 Tom Sawyer *4.5 Wilder, Laura L i t t l e House in the 1932 90 9 10.0 Big Woods 6 Lovelace, Maud Betsy-Tacy and Tib 1941 70 k 17.1 7 Lovelace, Maud Heaven to Betsy 19**5 66 6 11.0 8 DeAngeli, Bright ApriI 19*46 6k k 16.0 Margueri te 9 Deming, Ginger Lee, War Nurse 19*42 63 7 9 .0 Dorothy 10.5 Lenski, Lois Strawberry Gi rl 19*45 62 6 10.3 10.5 Montgomery, Anne o f Green Gables 1908 62 6 10.3 L.M.
Scanlan was also interested in the date of publication and the
number of books written by a single author. Sixty-four of the 100
most popular books were published during the period o f 1930 to 19**6.
Thirty-seven of these had been published in the forties and 29 were
published between 1930 and 1939* One author, Augusta Seaman, had ten
books lis te d on the 100 most popular book l i s t , w hile Laura In g a lls
Wilder had six books. Both Maud Hart Lovelace and Carol Ryrie Brink
were authors o f fiv e books each, appearing on the 100 most popular
book lis t. Several authors had written four, three and two copies
o f books lis te d . 33
Animal stories had been reported as popular reading among inter
mediate children in previous studies. Twenty-eight of the 100 most
popular books were id e n tifie d as animal s to rie s , and sixteen o f the 28
had been published during the period 1930-19^+6.
I t was concluded th at the most popular books o f contemporary
fic tio n were the most recently published since most o f the books
appearing on this list of 100 popular books had been published since
1930.
The preferred book titles were also obtained in a study by Witty**?
and his staff in i960. Approximately 2,000 students enrolled in grades
three through nine responded to an interest inventory. Boys preferred
to read Black Beauty; Davy C rockett; Daniel Boone; Robin Hood; 30
Seconds Over Tokyo; and Custer’s Last Stand. L ittle Women; Cinderella;
Snow White; Heidi; and Black Beauty were the g irls' choices.
Results gleaned from numerous studies indicated that the sex
factor is important when determining reading interests of intermediate grade c h ild re n . Jordan found the older elementary school boys to be
interested in war and adventure; and the girls were interested in
fiction stories of home and school life. Very specific sex differences
**7w itty, Paul, Coomer, Anne, and D illa MacBean. "C h ild ren 's Choices o f F avorite Books: A Study Conducted in Ten Elementary Schools." Journal of Educational Psychology. 37 (May, 19^6), pp. 266-278.
**8Jordan., Qj3. C it . 3 A- were evidenced in an early study by Terman and Lima . ^ They found
that boys showed a strong preference for more realistic stories, whereas, girls were more imaginative. Girls liked fairy tales, poetry, sentimental fic tio n and human in te re s t s to rie s . Boys wanted more non fiction type stories - science, history, biography and travel. Animal stories were enjoyed by boys and girls.
Lazar's^® comparative study of the reading interest and activities of children of different levels of intelligence - bright, average and dull pupils - agreed with previous findings. The rank-order of preference indicated th a t both boys and g ir ls liked mystery s to rie s , adventure and history. However, girls showed a decided preference for fa ir y ta le s . They also choose novels, poetry, and s to rie s o f home and school, w hile boys p referred d e te ctiv e sto ries and books dealing with science and invention.
From an analysis of the responses of 3,000 children, ages ten to fifteen, Thorndike also found "a consistent pattern of boys interest... and, to a somewhat lesser extent, a pattern of girls' interests...."’’'
^9Terman, Lewis M. and Margaret Lima. Children's Reading: A Guide for Parents and Teachers. New York: 0. Appleton and Co., 1925.
SOLazar, May. Readi nq In te re s ts . A c tiv i t ie s , and Opportuni tie s of Bright. Average, and DuiI Chi idren. Teachers College Contributions to Education, No. 707. New York: Bureau o f P u b licatio n s, Teachers College, Columbia University, 1937.
^Thorndike, Robert L. "Children's Reading Interests," in Readings on Reading Instruction. Edited by Albert J. Harris. New York: David McKay Company, Inc., 1963, pp. 338-3M . He reported d is tin c t sex d ifferen ces in book choices except fo r
mystery, animal and milder adventure stories. Boys rejected stories
o f home and school l i f e and romance. G irls showed l i t t l e in te re s t in
science, invention, sports, and violent adventures.
The animal story was ranked highest by boys and g ir ls in N o r v e ll's ^
study, also. A very small difference in the kind of materials boys and
girls like, with one notable exception - boys rejected girls' books,
but girls enjoyed many boys' books. Boys seemed to like myths, legends,
and hero tales a little better than girls, and girls ranked fairy stories
a little higher. Shores, also found "few sharp sex differences" in
reading choices. He pointed out that boys want to read about such
topics as: astronomy, geology, and physical geography, space travel,
Indians, science, planes, jets and rockets, boats, sports, and baseball more than girls. Girls wanted to read about animals, horses, dogs,
literature, fairy tales and mythology, mystery, teen-agers and children,
famous people, boy-girl relationships, and school.
The studies reviewed for this chapter support the fact that chil
dren at all ages maintain interest in the stories of children their own age. However, the possibility that age was a major determiner which affected children's reading interests was of major concern in
the classic study of Terman and Lima.-^ They described the typical
52Norvel 1., 0]3. Ci t .
S^Terman and Lim a., Ojj.. C?t . , p. 363. Interests of boys and girls at each age level from preschool through
adolescent years. According to this study, the age of nine was the
beginning of the emergence from fancy to fact. More stories of real
life were desired and the length of the story extended from the short
story to books o f a hundred pages o r more. The reading h a b it was be
coming more fix e d a t age ten and a g re ater in te re s t in the world o f
realism was m anifest. The series books o f mystery and adventure s to ries
were revealed to be of interest at age eleven and interest in science
and inventions increased. Twelve was found to be the age o f greatest
reading Jnterest, and the variety of literature selected increased
tremendously.
Thorndike and Lazar investigated the importance of intelligence as
a factor in determining what children read. Thorndike studied thousands of children grouped according to bright, average and weak pupils. He
found that the reading of gifted children was of better quality than
that of unselected pupils. However, Mthe patterns of interest for
bright and slow children of the same age are much a lik e ."^ L a z a r , 55 also, found in her study of the book choices of bright, average and dull pupils, a definite relationship between intelligence ratings of pupils and the types of books read. She, too, stated that bright, average and dull pupils are more similar in the material they read
than the age at which they read it.
S^Thorndike., 0g_. C it. . p. 138.
55Lazar., Ojj. C i t . Lazar gave some consideration to the availability of materials in
the school and in the home toward stimulating reading interest. The
students studied (2,027) were enrolled in thirteen schools, in three burroughs of the City of New York. Two factors - (1) slow progress in
school and (2) low intelligence; associated with socio-economic status warranted the selectio n o f schools. The ra c ia l make-up o f the schools and the socio-economic backgrounds of the students were analyzed. The
findings of her study provided some evidence that socio-economic status and home environment were significant factors associated with reading
interests. She stated that dull pupils were doubly handicapped by
their environment and their limitations and suggested that "the school should exert special effort to help these.. .pupi1s develop desirable habits and a ttitu d e s in reading.
The more recent research of Hansen and Roster support the earlier findings of Lazar. Hanisen's^ investigation of the influence of the home literary environment on a child's independent reading attitude was conducted with fourth grade children. He examined the literary environment in four areas: (1) availability of literary materials in the home; (2) amount of reading done with the child; (3) reading guidance and encouragement; and (4) parents as model reading examples.
56i_azar., Cit.
57Hansen, Harlan S. "The Impact of the Home Literary Environment on Reading A ttitu d e s ," E1emen ta ry Eng1i sh. V ol. XLVI, No. 2, (February, 1969), pp. 17-2A. It was revealed that the home literary environment is a significant contributing factor to independent reading. Only fifth grade chil dren were involved in a study by Roster^® to investigate the different patterns of reading among children from upper, middle and lower socio-economic classes. Her major purposes were to discover the reading interests of children when no limitations were placed on their choices and to determine whether or not there were significant differences in the reading interests of upper, middle and lower socio economic class children. The subjects of the investigation were selected from six large urban elementary schools which contained a cross section of socio-economic classes. A questionnaire of twenty broad areas was administered to determine choices as to the types of stories children would like to read. The null hypothesis that there were no significant differences in reading interests of fifth grade children when grouped on the basis of their socio-economic class status was rejected at the .05 level for 40 percent of the areas investigated. It was also concluded that socio-economic class status was a greater influence in determining reading interests than chrono logical age, reading level, or I.Q. Sex factors were found to in fluence choices of reading interests however, the socio-economic class
58Roster, Arlene A. "An Investigation of the Relationship Between Reading In te res ts and Socio-Economic Status o f C h ild re n ," Dissertation Abstracts. University of Southern California, 1955- 39
status within each sex group was also a determining factor in the
interests of both boys and giris. From the results of her study
Roster recommended that children of the lower socio-economic class
background not be expected to have the same interests as those of
other classes.
Feeley^ conducted a study to identify and describe content
interest patterns and media preferences of middle grade children as
they relate to sex, race, and socio-economic status. She concluded
that sex continues to be a major determiner of middle grade children's
interest in various content. Race was not an important factor, but
social class did appear to influence children's interest in fantasy.
The findings of these investigations reveal broad agreement on
some factors: (1) interest of children vary with age and grade level;
(2) the age of the child is of more significance during the elementary
years than later on; (3) sex is a significant factor of preference;
(4) boys respond to sports, a c tio n , and adventure; (5) g ir ls respond
to romantic, fictional characters and adolescent life ; (6) intelligence
is not a markedly significant factor; and (7) differences in socio
economic backgrounds do appear to affect reading preferences. These
findings are so consistent because '\nost studies have repeatedly
treated the data in terms of traditional categories, such as age, sex,
Intelligence, socio-economic factors, reading ab ility, and education,
59peeley, Joan T. "Interest Patterns and Media Preferences of Middle Grade Children." Reading World. (March, 197^)• pp. 224-237. 40 rather than to consider them in terms of symbolic interaction variables - how the meaning of certain works in certain contexts affects interest."^
The Factor of Race in Chiidrenfs Reading Interest
This review of the genera] reading interests of children suggests that many factors can influence interest and preference for a story.
The factor of racial background was Introduced at The White House
Conference on Child Health and Protection in 1932.^ A study of children's voluntary reading was reported at this Conference which claimed that there was a racial difference between the interests of white and black students. It was suggested that reading materials should contain stories about different ethnic groups in order to examine their interests and attitudes toward reading.
Some later studies looked at Black children's reading achievement when books about Blacks were introduced into reading programs; while others have focused upon changing self-concepts. Several of these studies will be evaluated in this section of the review.
^®Purves, Alan C. L ite ra tu re and the Reader. Champaign, Illinois: National Council of Teachers of English, 1972, p. 197.
^Children's Reading: A Study of Voluntary Reading of Boys and Girls in the United States. White House Conference on Child Health and Protection. New York: Century Publishers, 1932, p. 10. The Reading in terests o f Black Chi idren
Emans^Z used the content from six basal reader programs. He
selected s ix (6) s to ries on the c it y theme and s ix (6) s to rie s on the
family-friends-pets theme from the first grade ievel books. These
stories were read aloud in pairs to inner-city firs t grade students.
Each child was then asked which story he would like to hear again to
determine his preference. It was found that the children preferred
the stories about family-friends-pet themes rather than the here and
now stories of city life.
Ford and Kopiyay^ also investigated the reading interests of
Black children. These investigators selected six categories of story
themes: (l) children in the inner city and ghetto areas; (2) Negro
heritage; (3) history; (U) science; (5) animals; and (6) fantasy - from old reading books. A booklet, of ten pictures and ten sentences from each category, was designed as a non-verbal instrument to measure the
interests of children in kindergarten through the third grade. Two groups o f c h ild re n , one from an upper-middle class suburban school system and one from a predominately urban area. The findings indicated
that the urban kindergarten and firs t grade children preferred stories about Negro heritage and children in the inner city and ghetto. In
62Emans, Robert. "What Do Children in the Inner C ity Like to Read?" The Elementary School Journal. V o l. 6 9 , No. 3 (December, 1968 ) , pp. S19 - 122.
83pord, Robin C. and Janas Koplyay. "Children's Story Preferences," The Reading Teacher. Vol. 22 (December, 1968), pp. 233-237. kz
discussing their findings, Ford and Kopiyay commented that: "Interpre-
tation of children's choices is made even more d ifficu lt because it was necessary to impose a rtific ia lly created categories in choosing
the pictures and assigning the responses to subject matter."^1* Emans also pointed out that 'tonly the stories were compared."^ Both the
investigations, by Emans and by Ford and Kopiyay, were conducted to discover to what extent the content would determine the interest.
L ittle, if any, consideration was given to what each reader brought to the text. However, opposing conclusions were reported. In the investi gation by Emans the preference was not for the here and now stories of city life , but the preference reported by Ford and Kopiyay was for stories about Negro heritage and children in the inner city and ghetto.
A similar study, utilizing a non-verbal instrument to determine the students' reading interests, was undertaken by McNlnch.66 He in vestigated the interests of third, fourth and fifth grade disadvantaged children in a summer camp. His non-verbal free-choice picture selection concept included twelve manipulative pictures. Three pictures each were grouped in four categories (two less categories than used by Ford and
Kopiyay) - (I) fairy tales, (2) wild animal stories, (3) peer or community relatio n sh ip s and (4) peer o r community relatio n sh ip s representing ethnic backgrounds - were used. The reading preference of each pupil was established by the selection of the picture which represented the story he.would 'toost like" to read. The last picture
64tbjd.. p. 236.
65Emans, 0j>. C?t. 66HcN.inch, George. "Determining the Reading Preferences o f T h ird , Fourth and Fifth Grade Disadvantaqed Pupils." Journal of Reading Behavior. Vol. 3, No. 2 (Spring, 1970-71), pp. S2-3H. 43 selected represented the kind of story he "would least" like to read.
The findings indicated the most preferred choice was wild animal s to rie s and the lea s t preferred was peer community s itu a tio n s .
In an effort to discover if attitudinal changes occur through reading, Yawkey and Blackwell^7 used four-year-old urban Black children as their subjects. Chosen from three classrooms representing a low socio-economic population of Baltimore, Maryland, 54 children were involved in the study. The major concern of this investigation was to determine if young Black children's attitudes were modified toward themselves and toward whites when multi-ethnic materials were read and discussed; with or without field trips and/or by employing a traditional pre-school curriculum oriented around seasonal and holiday experiences. The subjects were organized into three groups: (1)
Group I - the reading and discussion group; (2) Group I I - the reading, discussion, and field experience group; and (3) Group III - the traditional or regular pre-school experiences group. The following lis t of selected picture books which emphasized feelings, situations, and ideas in both urban and suburban environments were used.
1. Look at Your Eyes (Showers) 2. Come with Me to the Nursery School (Hard) 3. Two Is a Team (Beim) 4. The Valentine Box (Lovelace)
^Yawkey, Thomas D. and Jacqueline Blackwell. "Attitudes of 4- Year-Old Urban Children Toward Themselves and Whites Based Upon M u lti- Ethnic Social Studies Materials and Experiences." The Journal of Educational Research. Vol. 67, No. 8, (April, 1974), pp. 373-377. ¥ *
5. Evan's Corner (Hill) 6 . The Two Friends (Mannheim) 7. I'm Glad I'm Me (Stone) 8. Gabrielle and Selena (Desbarats) 9 . What Mary Jo Shared (Udry) 10. Straight Hair Curly Hair (Goldin) 11. Miguel's Mountain (Binzen) 12. The Case o f the Dumb Bell (Bonsai I) 13. The Case o f the C at's Meow (Bonsai 1) \k. Surprise fo r Mrs. Burns (Turner) 15. I Know What I Like (Simon)68
These books were read, in the order lis te d , to Groups I and I I fo r a
15 minute period for thirty consecutive days. The main concern of the
teacher was to develop the social studies concept that "children are
the same" regardless of skin color. Group II children were also given
four field trips as follow-ups to the stories read. Two of the trips
were taken to urban-inner c ity environments and two focused on suburban
s e ttin g s . Group I I I was' e s s e n tia lly a control group and did not
receive any special treatment.
Two basic conclusions were drawn from this investigation: First (1)
reading and discussion of multi-ethnic social studies materials and
(2) reading aid discussion of social studies coupled with field based experiences can influence the attitudes of young black children toward
themselves and whites. Secondly, pre-school curriculums emphasizing
traditional seasonal and holiday activities have little significant e ffe c t on a ttitu d e change when compared w ith those upon discussions o f multi-ethnic social studies materials with and without a field based component.^9
^Ib id .. pp. 37^-375.
69ibid.. pp. 375-376. The findings of this investigation tended to support similar
resu lts o f studies by McAdoo, and those o f W illiam s and Edwards, even
though the methodology was different. McAdoo?0 significantly modified
Black children's racial attitudes through planned experiences in school
environments, w h ile W illiam s and Edwards?* m odified young c h ild re n 's
attitudes through experiences based upon likenesses and differences
among races.
The preference of the story characters' race was observed in a
study by Donahue.72 Four books, two with Black characters and two with white characters were selected for this investigation. These
four books were read aloud to nine classrooms o f predominately Negro o r w hite kindergarten children to> compare th e ir responses. The books were changed so th at one set o f experimental books contained only white characters and one set of books contained only Black characters.
Each set o f books was read to approximately o n e -h a lf o f the Negro and one-half of the white students, reading one book a day for four days.
On the f i f t h day each student ranked the books in order o f preference.
The results showed that there was no significant difference between
7°McAdoo, John. "An Experimental Study o f Racial A ttitu d e Change in Black Preschool Children," Dissertation Abstracts. University of Michigan, 1970.
7*Wi 1 liams, John and Charles Edwards. “An Exploratory Study o f the Modification of Color and Racial Attitudes in Preschool Children," Child Development. Vol. 30, (December, 1959), pp. 737-750.
7^Donahue, Elayne Meyer. “A Study o f the Preference o f Negro and White Kindergarten Children for Picture Book Stories Which Feature Negro and White Story Characters." Dissertation Abstracts. University of Colorado, 1969. the preferences of Negro and white kindergarten pupils for picture books which featu re Negro and white story characters.
Walker^ wanted to determine whether negative attitudes of Black and white children toward Blacks could be modified by hearing selected children's stories that portray Blacks in a favorable manner. During a six-week period, thirty-five children's stories that portrayed Blacks
in a favorable manner were read to two groups of kindergarten children one group o f Black students and one group o f w hite students. The control group, also one group of Black students and one group of white students, heard stories about animals or Informational kinds of books.
It was discovered that Black and white kindergarten subjects selected pictures of white figures with positive evaluative adjectives and pictures of Black figures with negative evaluative adjectives. She concluded that hearing stories that portray Blacks in a favorable manner is not by it s e lf a method th at is s u ffic ie n t to modify the negative racial attitudes of Black and white kindergarten subjects toward Blacks.
The purpose of a study made by Barchas^ was to investigate whether there are differences in expressed reading interests among
73walker, Patricia Ann. "The Effects of Hearing Selected Children's Stories That Portray Blacks in a Favorable Manner on Racial A ttitu d e s o f Groups o f Black and White Kindergarten C h ild re n ," Dissertation Abstracts. University of Kentucky, 1971.
^Barchas, Sarah Elizabeth. "Expressed Reading Interests of Differing Ethnic Groups," Dissertation Abstracts. The University of Arizona, 1971. Anglo, Negro, American Indian and Mexican American fifth-grade children
from s im ila r lower economic backgrounds. A minimum o f 50 students in
each of the four ethnic groups were included among the 219 students
investigated. Special emphasis was given to any patterns of positive or negative response by children to topics which offered ethnic identi
fication with their own minority group and with other minority groups.
Attention was also, given to established patterns by majority group
children to topics relating to the three minority groups. Seventy-six
titles one half of which were related to general interest and one half of which related to non-fictional and fictional persons, situations,
conditions and customs in minority group cultures with contemporary emphasis were included in an interest inventory. The interest inventory was presented orally to small groups of children and an individual
interview of seven open-ended questions was conducted with each child.
The follow ing conclusions were drawn as a re s u lt o f the fin d in g s .
1. In most general reading interests, the four ethnic groups were more alike than different. All groups expressed high interest in Mystery-Adventure, Animal Stories, Humor, and Languages.
2. Where reading content provided opportunity for minority group ethnic identification, the four ethnic groups were more different than alike in expressed in te re s ts .
a. Minority group children expressed a high degree of interest in titles and topics relating to their own ethnic group and their own immediate environ ment.
b. Minority group children appeared to have generally low degree of interest in titles and topics related to other minority groups. c. Majority group children appeared to have tow degree of interest in title collections relating to Indian and Mexican cultures, slightly higher interest in Black cutture.
d. Within each minority culture title collection, certain titles were of higher interest to all groups, particularly fiction stories combining m in o rity c u ltu re w ith suspense and adventure, folk tales, languages, and certain biographies, sports books, cookbooks.
3. While the sex groups shared many common interests (Mystery-Adventure, Humor, Animal Stories, Child's Immediate Environment), certain topics which were of consistently high interest to boys (Sports, Science) were of low interest to girls.
k. A wide range of individual interests was found within each ethnic group and sex group, w ith much overlapping of interests among all the g r o u p s .75
J o h n s76 , also, conducted a study with children in the middle grades. He wished to determine whether or not inner city children in the intermediate grades express a greater preference for reading stories or books which depict inner city settings. The investigation was conducted in three phases involving 597 intermed}ate-grade children from four large inner city school districts. Five pairs of illustrations depicting the stark, crowded conditions of inner city or rural living and favorable living conditions in the inner city and the suburban areas were illustrated on slides for the first phase of this study.
7 5 ib id .
76johns, Jerry L. "What Do Inner-City Children Prefer to Read," The Reading Teacher. Vol. 26, No. 5, (February, 1973), pp. A62-**67. The students viewed the slides and listened to a taped description of the s e ttin g . The second phase was s im ila r. Five descriptions d e p ic t
ing characters with positive self-concepts were paired with five descriptions depicting characters with negative concepts. A tape recorder was used in the third phase of the study to present five descriptions of positive group interaction and five descriptions of negative group interaction. Each child listened to pairs of descrip tio n s . A t the end o f each phase o f the study each student responded to fifteen questions. All questions were read to the children so that the child's reading ability would not influence the results. The preferences made were analyzed by race. The assumption that "inner city children prefer to read stories or books which depict stark inner city settings" was refuted. Since the majority of the sample population was Black (515 of the 597 participating) it was assumed from the results of this investigation that Black inner city children in the intermediate grades prefer "to read stories or books containing middle class settings, characters with positive self-concepts and characters in positive group interactions.
Vfoodyard's^ study involved 30 students each in two ninth grade literature classes for one semester. The purpose of this study was to determine the extent to which reading ab ility and self-concept were
77woodyard, Mary Ann. "The Effects of Teaching Black Literature to a Ninth-Grade Class in a Negro High School in Picayune, M is s is s ip p i," Dissertation Abstracts. The University of Tennessee, 1970. influenced by the teaching of all Black literature. The California
Reading Test and the Tennessee Self Concept Scale were used as pre- and post-tests to determine significant differences in increased read
ing ability and change in self-concept. The results indicated increased
reading scores for both classes, with no significant difference between
the two classes. However, the class which had been taught the Black
literature scored significantly higher on the self-evaluated dimensions.
The in v es tig a to r suggested th at the follow ing conclusions may be drawn from this study: (1) the kinds of reading ability measured by achieve ment tests is not greatly increased or retarded by studying Black
literature; (2) the self-concept or self-esteem of Negro students may be greatly enhanced by studying Black literature; and (3) textbook publishers would be justified in giving wider recognition to Negro writers and material about Negroes.
In an effort to aid teachers and students in secondary literature classes, Luck^ designed a study to: (1) determine the extent to which
Black literary figures and their works are included in anthologies in current use; (2) to determine the availabi1ity, historically and currently, of high quality literary products; and (3) to show how the inclusion of such Black literature - (a) is necessary in view of the basic philosophical foundation of American education, (b) can enrich
78tuck, James William. "Identity and Image Development of Students Through Black Literature," Dissertation Abstracts. University of South Carolina, 1972. 51
and Improve the quality of the lives of non-black students, (c) can
serve to improve the chances of positive self-concept development and healthy personalities among Black students. His findings indicated
th at more e ffo r ts had been made to include Blacks in lite r a tu r e anthologies. However, he f e l t th at much more needed to be done in order to aid the development of minority self-concepts. He made ten
recommendations one of which suggested that "the content of textbooks
now being utilized be re-examined by the governing bodies and that
the groups charged with book selection recommend the best possible multi-ethnic material s."79
The majority of studies examining the use of literature with ethnic characters for successful teaching were found at the secondary and college levels. This may be due to the fact that children's
literature is not studied per se in the elementary curriculum.
in addition to the previously mentioned research, " ... several other studies pointed out that at a very early age, black children
learn to feel inferior to white children and white children superior to black ch ild ren in p a rt because o f a ttitu d e s communicated to them
In the books they read."®® Therefore, the selection and use of materials are of equal importance. In fact, content with universal
79|b td .
®®Cornelius, Paul. "Interracial Children's Books: Problems and Progress." Library Quarterly. Vol. 41, No. 2, (April, 1971), pp. 106— 127. literary characteristics which appeal to ail children is as relevant to Black children as it is to other groups of children. One writer has stated that, "the most appropriate materials are those which continue to build the learner's seif-concept and. at the same time, allow him some freedom of self-expression in the utilization process.
. . . The production o f c u rric u la r m aterials must seek higher le v e ls o f a u th e n tic ity and must re fle c t a ll classes and sub-classes o f black - not just the 'glamourously poor' alternated with internationally-known issues and famous personalities."^
The Impact o f Read-Aloud L ite ra tu re Programs
It is obvious, that as a population, Blacks continue to confront the problems created by insufficient reading skills. While there is no specific lis t or timetable of physical maturation basic to learning to read, it can generally be expected that children iearn to read between the ages of five and eight years old. Reading to children during th is age period is a p a rtic u la rly important component o f home and school reading involvements. In addition, reading to children will generate their own interest in reading.
Tom's^ study was conducted to discover the prose and poetry selections read in the middle grades. She also analyzed the read aloud
BiBoyer, James B. "Materials for Black Learners," Educational Leadership. V o l. 28, No. 2 , (November, 1970), pp. 191-192.
®^Tom, Chow Loy. "What Teachers Read to Pupils in the Middle Grades." Unpublished Ph.D. Dissertation, The Ohio State University, 53 practices of elementary school teachers. A total of A89 fourth,
fifth and sixth grade teachers were randomly selected from five states
In four geographic regions, to participate in the study. The random
selection was based upon the U.S. Air Force Institute Sampling Plan and the school d is tr ic ts fo r each s ta te were s tra tig ie d by enrollm ent of 300 and above. A thirty item questionnaire requested the prose and poetry selections read aloud by participating teachers. Tom's findings indicated that more fiction than non-fiction is read aloud;
that a larger percentage of women teachers read prose and poetry than did men teachers; and that the percentage of reading aloud in the
intermediate grades tends to decrease from the fourth to the sixth grades. The teachers gave several reasons for reading to middle grade c h ild re n . The follow ing were included:
Develop children's appreciation for types of literature
For the enjoyment of children
Extend children's experiences
interest children in reading particular books
Develop children's reading habits
Enrich the social studies curriculum
Enrich science curriculum
Other83
83lbid.. p. 162. These teachers also gave reasons for not reading to their students.
The reasons given are as follows:
Teachers do not have enough time
Other subjects are more important
Teachers need to know more about c h ild re n 's books
Children can read fo r themselves
Teachers need to know more about poetry
Children get enough stories and poems in basic readers
D ifficult to obtain materials
Unwise to use school time for entertainment
Other8 **
More than 80 per cent (81.3) of the teachers responded to "teachers do not have enough time" as the reason for not reading to their students.
A study by Hal 1^5 produced sim ilar results when cooperating teachers were asked why they did not read to their classes. More than half of the classroom teachers investigated indicated they did not read to their classes unless there was free time in the school day.
Even though Tom's study made no reference to the racial or socio economic factors of the participating school district it may be assumed that some of the schools were attended by Black urban children.
8i*lbid.. p. 166.
85Hall, Karyanne. "Literature Experiences Provided by Cooperating Teachers." The Reading Teacher. Vol. 2k, No. 5, (February, 1971), pp. k25-k3\, k63,k7\. 55
Johns®** did give consideration to the racial and socio-economic factors in his investigation of student attitudes toward teachers' oral reading. In an exploratory study he analyzed the responses of
234 upper grade students from inner city schools and 112 students from suburban schools to discover whether or not there were any differences in students' attitudes toward teachers' oral reading. His results Indicated that the suburban students were read to significantly more by teachers than were inner city students. Also, suburban students liked their teachers to read to them. A replication of the study was conducted by Johns and Read**? in four public school systems in two states. Four hundred fifth and sixth grade students from ten elementary schools participated in the study. Two hundred students were from five a ll w hite schools in a suburban middle class community and 200 were from five predominately Negro schools located in the inner city. The following two questions were read to the students "so that their inability to read certain words would not influence their responses."
1. Do you like to have your teacher read stories or books to you?
2. Does your teacher read stories or books to your class?
®®Johns, Jerry L. "The A ttitu d e s of In n e r-C ity and Suburban Students Toward Teachers' Oral Reading." Elementary English. Vol. 49, No. 2, (February, 1972), pp. 184-186.
® ? J o h n s , jerry L. and Donna J. Read. "The Attitudes of Inner- C ity and Suburban Students Toward Teachers' Oral Reading - A Second Report." Elementary English. Vol. 49, No. 2, (February, 1972), pp. 187' 189. The findings of the latter investigation refuted one of the original findings that suburban students were read to more often by
their teachers. The fact that suburban students liked their teachers
to read to them more than did the students from inner city schools was
supported. It was, also, implied that the attitudes of inner city and suburban fifth and sixth grade students are quite different toward the
teacher's oral reading. However, no reasons were given for why the
inner-city student did not want the teacher to read aloud.
Loban established that of all ages studied there was wide varia tio n in c h ild re n 's a b ilit y to communicate o r a lly . He concluded th a t:
"Negro ch ild ren obviously need to lis te n and to communicate in s itu a tio n s where they can hear more standard usage - not because standard usage is 'correct' but because standard usage helps to provide access to opportunities....1^ In addition, there is considerable evidence to support that the practice of reading aloud to children is pedagogically sound, particularly for the underprivileged or slower students.
According to Huck and Kuhn®9 "Teachers accept the idea of reading to the young child who has not attained independent reading skills.
Unfortunately, this practice too often ceases in the middle grades,
®®Loban, W alter D. Language A b l11t y : Grades Seven. E ig h t, and Nine. Cooperative Research Project, No. 131, Washington: U.S. Office o f Education, 1963, p. 236. Cited in Marion Edman, "Literature for 'ChiIdren Without'" in A Critical Approach to Children's Literature. Edited by Sara Innis Fenwick. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1967, pp. 32-45.
^ H u c k , C h arlo tte S. and Doris Young Kuhn. C h ild ren 's L ite ra tu re in the Elementary School. 2nd Edition. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc., 1968. 57 when children s till need this experience. In these middle grades many ch ild ren s t i l l do not have the a b ilit y to read the books in which they are interested."
Considering the fa c t th a t reading aloud does a s s is t most young
readers to read more ably by themselves, it Is of great concern then, that the selections to be read by intermediate grade children are appropriate for them as readers. Marjorie B. Smiley, Director of the
Project English Center at Hunter College, stated:
Some of the difficulties underprivileged children face in learning to read is in the early stages of associating what is heard w ith the p rin ted symbols fo r these sounds. One o f the most in te re s tin g findings o f recent research has been the evidence of a high degree of correlation between hearing (auding, as it is called in these studies) and reading. This is a difficulty that many such children have not yet overcome by Grade 7 or 8. These children are unlikely to have had parents with time to read aloud to them in their early years. We do not do n early enough reading aloud to children in elementary or secondary school s.90
It has been argued that children who live in ghettos and urban areas need books th a t are relevant to them and th at these books should be an integral part of the school's educational program. There are others who contend that "There's s till room for stories on all levels, all facets, of Black life; (because) all Black people are not in the
9t>Smi ley, Marjorie B. '^Gateway English: Teaching English to Disadvantaged Students." English Journal. Vol. 54, No. 4, (April, 1967)» pp. 265-274. 58 ghettos and slums."91 There are s tilt others who feel that the Black c h ild should be exposed to a wide v a r ie ty .o f books th at deal w ith many aspects of life that are universal. Relevance, then, is a matter of applicability. If Black urban children are exposed to a wide variety of literature, they gain the experience of applying both abstract ideas and universal human emotions to their own lives. The key person to provide this experience with literature is the classroom teacher.
Several studies have been conducted in the primary grades using children's literature in planned programs. An important feature of these studies is the wide exposure to language usage through stories and poems read aloud. This oral language stimulation provides for considerable emphasis on self-concept and positive attitudes toward reading. In addition, reading is presented in a pleasant and enjoy able manner.
Irwin92 designed a test to measure the effect of systematic read ing of stories upon the phonetic production. A program of regular reading was used with an experimental group of children between the ages o f th irte e n and t h ir t y months o f age. Spontaneous v o c a liza tio n
91 Baker, Augusta. "Guidelines for Black Books: An Open Letter to Juvenile Editors," in Children and Literature - Views and Reviews, Edited by V irg in ia Haviland. Glenview, Illin o is : S cott, Foresman and Company, 1973, p. 113.
9 2 |rw in , Orvis C. " In fa n t Speech: E ffe c t o f Systematic Reading o f S to rie s ." Journal o f Speech and Hearing. V ol. I l l , (June, I9 6 0 ), pp. 187-190. of all the children was recorded during home visits throughout the
experiment. L ittle difference was found between the groups in the
mean scores of phoneme frequency until about the 17th month. Then
there were s ig n ific a n t d ifferen ces a t o r beyond the .0 5 level until
the 21st and 22nd months w ith the experimental group having the higher
scores. The differences became progressively greater from the 21st
and 22nd months to the end o f the experiment.
MacDonald's^ program for language development through literature
was planned for young Spanish speaking children. The program was
started in Head Start classes and‘wi11 continue until the children
have finished the third grade. A heavy emphasis was placed on chil
dren's literature to stimulate the language environment. The purposes
of the study were to evaluate the effectiveness of a concentrated,
carefully selected and planned program in literature to develop
attitudes, skills, and abilities in language processes and to modify
the behavior of children. When the 56 children in the experimental
group were compared w ith the 52 c h ild ren in the control group, growth
was shown in the experimental group.
Loban^ has shown that children who read well by the end of the
third grade were the ones who had ranked high in oral language in
93MacDonald, Christina R. "Language Development Through Literature A Program for Young Spanish-Speaking Children" in Claremont Reading Conference Thirty-First Yearbook. Edited by Malcolm P. Douglas. Claremont, California: Claremont School Curriculum Laboratory, 1967.
9 \o b a n , Wal te r D. The Language o f Elementary School Chi Id ren . Champaign, I llin o is : National Council o f Teachers o f English, 1963* . p. 88. 60 kindergarten. He said that "competence in the spoken language appears to be a necessary base fo r competence in reading and w r itin g ."
Ruddell's95 review of studies on language development suggested that the language model which the child encounters is of great importance. He emphasized the value of the teacher and other children in a classroom as language models, as well as the importance of hearing and reading much c h ild re n 's lite r a tu r e .
H efferm an^ strongly feels th a t children who have been read to have less difficulty in learning to read than do those youngsters who have not had much listening experience. She stated that a child must comprehend ideas in spoken language i f he is to recognize them in reading symbols, because he can read only what he already knows.
Children's literature was selected as the basis of Cohen's97 study conducted in Harlem with second grade c h ild re n . Two hundred eighty-five children (predominately Puerto Rican and Black) were given ■ a p o s t-te s t and placed in to two groups. The experimental group con sisted of 155 students and the remaining students made up the control
95RUddel1, Robert B. "Children's Language Development: Research and Implications" in Claremont Reading Conference Twenty-Ninth Yearbook. Edited by Malcolm P. Douglas. Claremont, California: Claremont School Curriculum Laboratory, 1965, p. 117.
96nefferman, Helen. "Language Arts in the Elementary School" in Guiding C h ild ren 's Language Learning. Edited by Pose Lamb. Dubuque, Iowa: V/to. C. Brown Company, 1967, pp. 39-i*0.
^Cohen, Dorothy H. "The Effect of Literature on Vocabulary and Reading Achievement." Elementary English. Vol. 45, (February, 1968), pp. 209-213, 217. 61
group. It was fe lt that the problems of poor motivation and inadequate
readiness were the result of a lack of experience with books as a
source o f pleasure and inadequate language experiences. F if t y books were selected on three levels of difficulty based on story length,
complexity of plot and complexity of language. These stories contained concepts within the comprehension of the learner in order to promote ego Involvement on the p a rt o f these children and the opportunity fo r
them to identify emotionally with characters and experiences. Story
reading was the experimental variable. Children in the experimental groups were read a variety of stories followed by discussions, drama tizations, and other interpretative activities. Teachers in the experimental groups read aloud every day for a year. They were asked to introduce books in order o f d if f ic u lt y . Once a book was introduced, however, it could be read as often as the teacher and the students desired. Teachers in the control groups may or may not have read to their children according to their usual custom. Results of this study indicated that the experimental group showed a significant increase in vocabulary, word knowledge, and reading comprehension over the control group. I t was concluded th a t ( I ) reading to c h ild ren has been v ita l in the case of socially disadvantaged children; (2) ego-involvement and comprehension of concepts are important in the selection of stories to stimulate motivation and strengthen language power; (3) individual differences must be considered in patterns of language ability; (4) exposure to stories apparently affects growth from comprehension of oral language; (5) vocabulary appears to be learned best in a context of emotional and intellectual meaning; (6) clarification of words 62
needed when suited to level o f m a tu rity ; (7) o ral language and compre
hension are basic to growth in reading; (8) lis te n in g to books chosen
for emotional appeal and concept development seems to aid fa c ility in
listening; and (9) the relationship believed to exist between oral
language and reading has been confirmed.
A study conducted by Cullinan, Jaggar and Strickland^ was
concerned with the effects of a literature based oral language program on Black children's ability to reproduce standard English structures.
Developed on three basic principles: "(1) That true acceptance and
understanding of a child's natural language is crucial; (2) a language
environment rich w ith language models must be provided; and (3) opportunities for children to listen to language and to use it in
realistic situations are necessary." An approach was taken to expand
the language of the Black child through the use of literature.
The subject of this study were 249 children selected from twenty
in s tru c tio n a l groups o f kindergarten, f i r s t , second and th ird graders.
They were enrolled in four T itle I poverty schools in two predominately
Black communities in the New York City area.
One major aspect of the program was the opportunity for exposure
to and usage of language. Fifty books were selected as a source for a
98Cui linan, Bernice E., Angela M. Jaggar and Dorothy Strickland. "Language Expansion for Black Children in the Primary Grades: A Research Report." Young Children. Vol. XXIX, No. 2, (January, 1974), pp. 98-112. variety of language models in meaningful context. The criterion used
fo r the selectio n o f books were as follow s:
1) Favorable representation of ethnic groups; 2) content within the conceptual capacity of the kindergarten and primary grade child; 3) potential as a stimulus for interesting related oral language activities; k) inclusion of varied language patterns; 5) characters with whom chil dren could identify; and 6) recognized literary q u a lit y .99
The program required reading aloud and participation in language activity sessions daily, for approximately thirty minutes. Both the experimental and the control groups were involved in the literature program, however, the children in the control group were not engaged in
the same creative and structured oral language activities which were
included for the experimental group.
The findings of this investigation indicated that all groups made gains in their ability to reproduce standard English. However, the special literature-based oral language program made a significant difference at the kindergarten level only. Because the treatment was more effective with the youngest group of children, the investigators suggested that exposure to standard English through reading programs already taken by f i r s t , second and th ird graders may have had an affect already and so dramatic changes were not evidenced there.
Im plications re su ltin g from such a program suggest th a t "E arly ex posure to standard English and a concerted effort to increase Black 6k
children's productive competence could reduce some of the conflict
that now exists in learning to read...."100
Chomsky^Ol contends that, "The child who reads (or listens to) a
variety of rich and complex materials benefits from a range of linguistic
input that is unavailable to the non-literary child." In a study of
language acquisition in 36 ch ild ren between the ages o f s ix and ten a
survey of their reading backgrounds and current reading activities was
conducted. The purpose of this study of linguistic development in
elementary school children was to investigate the children's exposure
to the written language through independent reading and through books
read aloud. The relation between rate of linguistic development and
exposure to written materials, as a source of complex language input,
was examined.* Inform ation was gathered on books read over a week's
time, books that the child named in the course of a half-hour inter
view, and the parents' reports of reading aloud. An assessment was made o f how much and what was read to the c h ild ; and how much and what
the c h ild read on his own. The amount read and the complexity o f the material read were taken into consideration. The results of this study
1001 bid., p. Ill
lOlchomsky, C arol. "Stages in Language Development and Reading Exposure.'-' Harvard Educational Review. Vol. k2, No. 1, (February, 1972). pp. 1-33.
*As Indicated through the use of Huck's Taking Inventory of C h ild ren 's Li te ra ry Background and fiv e reading measures developed by the in v e s tig a to r. These measures were compared to the fiv e lin g u is tic stages constructed in the first aspect of this study. indicate that reading and listening to books read aloud are positively related to linguistic stage. At each age level, reading or hearing books read, is a strong factor in the linguistic stage of development.
Even though high economic status parents read more to th e ir children it was suggested that 'Mf, SES [socio-economic status] acts upon linguistic stage placement through any of the measures included in this study it is through general ability or the reading environment of the child.**102 |n addition, ft was discovered that SES is less of a differentiating factor among older children. These results were, also, " ... confirmation of the continuing and orderly course of language acquisition among older chi ldren."^3 n was strongly suggested th at e f f o r t should be towards providing more and rich e r language exposure, rather than limiting the child. Especially, since exposure to the more complex language available from wider reading seems to go hand in hand with increased knowledge of language.
This implication may have particular value for the Black urban child since, "the fact remains that obstacles to learning may be created when the language system developed by (him) does not match the language instruction in his school."104
102|bid. . p. 27.
1 0 3 Ib id . . p . 3 2 .
lO ^uil inan., Ojj. Cit.. p. 98. 66
Students in the fourth, fifth , and sixth grades do not, in many
instances, continue to hear the language of fine literature they
previously experienced in the primary grades since teachers of inter
mediate grade children do not practice reading aloud on a daily basis.
However, a major conclusion based on the findings of Tom's study indi
cated that a large proportion of the teachers in the middle grades do
value the reading aloud of prose and poetry.
Porter's^®5 study was designed to study the effects of a read-
aloud 1!terature program on the reading achievement and reading interest of middle grade children in the inner-city when stories and poetry
were read aloud by high school juniors from the same socio-economic
neighborhood. Secondary purposes were: (I) to determine the effects o f the program on the reading scores and a ttitu d e s o f the high school
readers themselves, (2) to give attention to the middle grade students'
perceptions o f the high school student as a model o f one who enjoys
reading, and (3) to ascertain whether the high school reader had any effect on the reading achievement and interest in reading of these
inner-city students. Forty-two classrooms, ]k at the fourth grade
level, 12 at the fifth grade level, and 16 at the sixth grade level, were involved in the investigation. Twenty-one classrooms, designated
105Porter, Edith Jane. "The E ffe c t o f a Program o f Reading Aloud to Middle Grade Children in the Inner City," Unpublished Ph.D. Dissertation, The Ohio State University, 1969. 67 as experimental, received an intensive read-aloud program based on a selective lis t of children's books for a period of twenty weeks. The twenty-one classrooms designated as the control group received no treatm ent.
Major findings and conclusions of this study included:
1. A program o f reading aloud by high school students does increase reading achievement and interest in reading with more s t a t is t ic a lly s ig n ific a n t scores made by fourth grade than either fifth or sixth.
2. D ifferences in comprehension and to ta l reading were more significant than differences in vocabulary when scores of both boys and g ir ls in experimental groups were compared with control groups.
3. Differences in boys' scores were consistently greater than differences in girls' scores for both reading achievement and in te re s t in reading when experimental and control groups were compared.
4. Lower grades responded more p o s itiv e ly than higher grades to the questions on reading aloud programs, and the sixth grade responded more favorably to general interest in reading.
5. The use of high school students as readers provided a model that stimulated and encouraged inner city children to pursue both reading skills and interests.
6. Male readers were more influential than female readers in areas of reading achievement and interest in reading.
7. Girls were generally more responsive to both male and female readers.
8. A program of reading aloud was beneficial to the high school readers themselves both in increased reading achievement and positive self concept.
9. Teachers should recognize the importance of providing time for reading aloud in the elementary classroom toward improve ment o f reading achievement and in te re s t in reading. 68
Sirota's*®^ study was designed to investigate the effect of a
planned program of daily oral reading by the teacher on the quantity
and quality of voluntary reading of fifth graders. Two hundred
seventy-five fifth grade students enrolled In 12 classes In six
Union, New Jersey elementary schools were involved in the study.
Fifty books were selected and placed in all classrooms. A special
literature program of reading aloud dally for a twenty to thirty minute session from selected books was provided the six experimental groups. Students in both the experimental and the control groups kept a record of their voluntary reading. To assess the quality of voluntary
reading, the book titles read were checked against the lis t of books
selected for the classroom library and the Childrens Catalog; and to assess the quantity of books read a total was obtained for each stu dent from the reading records. To test the reading s kill, the Ohio
State University Critical Reading Test was administered as a pretest and a p o s tte s t. The resu lts indicated th a t: ( l ) to ta l books and selected books and recommended books read were related d ir e c tly to the student's initial reading skill; (2) that students in the experimental program with high initial skill read more quality books than the control group; (3) that students with low initial skill did as well as high initial skill students; and (4) that students in the
lO ^siro ta, Beverly S. "The E ffe c t o f a Planned L ite ra tu re Program of Daily Oral Reading by the Teacher on the Voluntary Reading of Fifth- Grade Chi ldren." Dissertation Abstracts. New York University, 1971. experimental program had sizeable gains in test scores. It was con cluded that the findings of this study seemed to indicate that a planned literature program of daily oral reading by the teacher can have a significant effect on the quantity and quality of children's voluntary reading.
Summary
This review of the literature was concerned with (1) studies measuring students' general reading interests, (2) the effect of read ing Black-oriented stories upon the reading interests and attitudes of
Black children; and (3) the results of some read-aloud literature programs. With few exceptions, the studies investigating the general reading interests of students, emphasized the identification of favorite books o r the types o f books read. These general in te re s ts were a ffe c t ed by factors such as age, mental ab ility, sex, socio-economic condi tions. L ittle or no consideration was given to why a particular book was chosen as a fa v o rite . Some conclusions derived from the sources reviewed are as follows.
1. Intermediate grade level students expressed an interest in prose-fiction.
2. Sex, age and mental ability were viewed as interest determiners, however sex was the strongest determiner of the th ree.
3. G irls read more than boys, but boys u sually have a wider range of reading interests than girls.
k. G irls read "boy" books o fte n , but boys seldom preferred to read "girl" books. 5. The reading interests among different mental ability groups varies slightly, but bright children have a wider range of interests.
6. Socio-economic status is more significantly related to reading interest than is race.
7. The a v a ila b ilit y o f m a terials found in the home and the accessibility of reading materials is directly related to the quality of reading children do in school.
Many persons responsible for directing and coordinating curricu- lums for the Black learner have also focused attention on what materials are read. They suggested th a t the books read by Black c h ild re n must have some effect on the individual learner in order to increase interest and enhance achievement. Evidence was reported to support the follow ing statements:
1. All Black learners are not equally helped by the use of the same kind of materials.
2. Appropriate materials are those which help to build the le a rn e r's self-concept and must not be degrading o r derogatory in any manner.
3. These materials should present the past and provide real- life contemporary situations.
k. M a te rials should be used in a v a rie ty o f unique ways and freedom of expression must be encouraged when using any m a te ria ls .
Reading aloud to children in the intermediate grades was not frequently practiced. The studies of the read-aloud literature pro grams, however, tended to agree on many of the same conclusions:
1. Teachers read aloud to stimulate and encourage interest in reading as an enjoyable and educational activity.
2. Wide exposure to literature through oral reading provides a richer language exposure, a significant language model and invites language expansion. 3. S to ries read aloud may be used to stim ulate growth in vocabulary and reading comprehension among environmentally disadvantaged children.
Few studies have been conducted w ith interm ediate grade level
Black children in which a wide variety of types of literature has been
read aloud to them in order to determine their preferences. Therefore,
in this study, it was decided to try to combine some of the potential
ities of a read-aloud literature program with an interest study of
Black children's preferences for particular books. CHAPTER I I I
PROCEDURES OF THE STUDY
Introduction
Many educators believe that literature attuned to real life experiences of Black urban living can make a difference in the Black child's reading interests. However, few studies have been made to ascertain whether or not Black urban children prefer to read contemporary stories about themselves.
The central purpose of this investigation was an attempt to find out if Black children who live and attend schools in urban communities prefer a certain kind of book. The available research argues that reading instructional materials created the "lack of
Interest" problem among Black children because the school materials were geared to white middle-class or suburban experiences which the
Black child could not relate to. It was suggested that the Black child needed literature with fam iliar experiences in order to develop an interest in reading. The available studies on this widely held assumption have presented varied findings. (See Chapter II) However, many of them have drawn similar conclusions: that there is a relation ship between interest, and attitudes, and understanding; and that the
Black child needs more than a real life experience in a story to affect his reading interests.
72 73
The procedures used in this investigation of the responses of fourth, fifth , and sixth grade Black urban children to selected chi 1- dren's books are presented in th is chapter. The three major purposes of the investigation were: (I) to determine which books selected for the in v es tig a tio n were enjoyed most by fo u rth , f i f t h , and sixth grade
Black students, (2) to analyze the relationships between preferences for types of books and such characteristics as the type of story, the characters, and the s e ttin g ; and (3) to compare any relatio n sh ip s o r differences in students' preferences o f story and understanding of story with regard to sex, grade level and socio-economic level.
The firs t part of this chapter describes the selection procedures.
A description of the data collection instrument developed by Terry'®? is followed by the results of the field study. The field study was conducted for clarification of the instructions for collecting the data.
A listing of specific hypotheses tested and a description of the statistical procedures used complete the chapter.
Selection o f Schools
The population of this investigation included all fourth, fifth , and sixth grade students attending predominately Black urban schools in the Columbus Public School D is t r ic t , Columbus, Ohio. The C iv il Rights
Survey'**® o f pupil enrollm ent fo r the 1972-1973 school year was used
l07Carolyn Ann Terry, "A National Survey of Children's Poetry Preferences in the Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Grades." Unpublished Ph.D. Dissertation, The Ohio State University, 1972*
,08HEW Civil Rights Survey, 1972-73 School Year, "Pupil Enrollment." Columbus Public Schools, 1972. 7k
to Identify schools and verify enrollments. Thirteen schools were
identified and selected for participation. In this investigation* excluding only those classified as Priority I* schools. Priority I schools were excluded from participation in this investigation, even
though the pupil enrollments were predominately Black, because of the great number of special programs already in existence in these schools.
A letter,09 was sent to each principal of the thirteen schools
inviting the schools to be a part of this investigation. Each princi pal was contacted by telephone, after receipt of the letter, so that any questions could be answered and points of concern could be clarified by the investigator. Although the principals agreed to allow their schools to participate, the teachers had the opportunity to decide whether or not they wanted to involve their classes.
Description of Schools
There are twenty-three elementary schools in the Columbus Public
School D is tr ic t w ith a student enrollm ent o f 58,062. Of th is e n ro ll
ment 17,071 p upils are B l a c k . 1*0 Thirteen schools were contacted to participate in the investigation. The schools are located in the
* Priority I schools are those schools that receive the maximum in Federally Funded Programs.
lO^See Appendix C for copy of letter sent to principals.
H ° Ih e Columbus School Report. The Columbus C ity School D is tr ic t , Columbus, Ohio, \37k, p. 27 and p. 30. north, south, east and west sections of the city, but all of them are on the periphery of the inner-city.- The student enrollment in these schools totalled 8,043. Of this enrollment, 6,048 pupils are Black.
These schools are identified by student enrollment in Table 1. Eight schools participated in the investigation and will be identified as
School 1, School 2, School 3, School 4 , School 5, School 6 , School 7, and School 8 in the discussion o f the fin d in g s . 76
TABLE I
SCHOOLS IDENTIFIED BY LOCATION AND
RACIAL IDENTITY OF STUDENT ENROLLMENT
Location Black Non-Black School In C ity f % f % Total
*A (1) East 427 49 444 51 871
*B (2) South 425 88 58 12 483
*C (3) South 494 61 316 39 810
*D (4) North-East 540 91 53 9 593
E East 281 59 196 41 477
F North 409 88 56 12 465
G North 446 100 0 0 446
*H (5) North 670 98 14 2 684
1 West 434 73 160 27 594
J South 263 67 130 33 393
*K (6) North-East 660 83 135 17 795
*L (7) West 304 70 130 30 434
*M (8) South 269 82 59 18 328
Totals 5622 1751 7373
^Schools selected for participation in the study. 77 Selection of Teachers
A letter"* was sent to each teacher of grades four, five, and six
In the thirteen identified schools. The letter invited teachers to participate in the study. Included with the letter was a copy of the
proposed schedule and the procedures of the s t u d y . * *2 ^ questionnaire**^ was also enclosed with the letter to be completed and returned by
March 5, 197^. The purpose of the questionnaire was to obtain responses to the following five questions: (1) How often do you read trade books
(fiction) to your children?; (2) Do the children In your room read trade books independently in class'?; (3) Do you have fa v o rite books to share with children?; (4) Would you estimate the number of trade books you have in your room?; and (5) What is your main source fo r obtaining trade books to use w ith your children? The questionnaire was forwarded to one hundred nine teachers. Eighty-one teachers, 7*+-3 per cent, returned the questionnaire by the deadline date. Sixty-one teachers,
56 per cent of the teachers contacted, accepted the request to partici pate in the investigation as evidenced by the response of yes to the questionnaire. Twenty teachers, 18 per cent of the teachers, did not chose to participate. Frequency and percentage of teacher responses are presented in Table 2.
UlSee Appendix B for copy of letter sent to teachers.
U 2see Appendix B fo r copy o f proposed schedule and procedures o f study.
l*3see Appendix B for copy of questionnaire sent to teachers. 78
TABLE 2
FREQUENCY AND PERCENTAGE OF RESPONSES TO
TEACHER QUESTIONNAIRE BY GRADE LEVEL
Returned Grade Level Hailed Yes No No Response f % f % f %
Fourth 38 27 71 4 10 7 19
F ifth 36 19 53 7 19 10 28
Sixth 35 15 43 9 26 II 31
Totals 109 61 56 20 18 28 26
An examination of the responses indicated that the higher the grade level, the fewer the number of ••yes" responses received. The fourth grade teachers responded "yes" the larg est number o f times; while the largest number of "no" responses were received from the sixth grade teachers. A final randomization was completed to select teachers for the study. Five teachers each of grades four, five, and six composed the sample of fifteen teachers. Table 3 presents the composition o f teachers by school and grade le v e l. 79
TABLE 3
COMPOSITION OF THE SAMPLE OF TEACHERS BY
SCHOOL AND GRADE LEVEL
Grade Level School Four Fi ve Six Total
1 1 1 1 3
2 1 1 2
3 1 1 2
k 1 2 3
5 1
6 1 1
* 7 1 1 2
8 1 1
Total 5 5 5 15
These fifteen teachers read aloud to k22 intermediate grade
students on a daily basis. Table k represents the composition of
students by school and grade le v e l. The student population is pre
sented by grade level and sex in Table 5.
I 80
TABLE 4
COMPOSITION OF SAMPLE OF STUDENTS
BY SCHOOL AND GRADE LEVEL
Grade Level School Four Five Six Total f % f % f %
I 32 37 28 33 26 30 86
2 25 42 34 58 59
3 28 48 30 52 58
4 29 35 55 65 84
5 29 100 29
6 27 100 27
7 30 59 21 41 51
8 28 100 28
Total 142 34 148 35 132 31 422 81
TABLE 5
COMPOSITION OF SAMPLE OF STUDENTS
BY GRADE LEVEL AND SEX
Frequency and Percentage Grade Level Boys Girls Total f % f %
Fourth 73 51 69 49 142
F ifth 75 51 73 49 148
Sixth 71 54 61 46 132
Total 219 52 203 48 422
Description of Students
Reading Achievement Scores. The Columbus Public School D is tr ic t implements a city-wide testing program.The California Test of
Basic Skills is the test battery used to measure achievement. The reading area of this battery of tests includes vocabulary and compre hension. The reading test is administered each year in April. The most recent standardized achievement tests for reading were administered in April, 1974. The reading scores reported in this investigation were used for informative purposes, not to measure reading achievement
H^The Columbus School Report, Op. C it . . p. 27 and p. 30. 82
in any manner. The results of these tests are reported in Table 6 by grade level and percent of students reading at grade level for all
intermediate grade students tested.
TABLE 6
READING ACHIEVEMENT RESULTS OF INTERMEDIATE
GRADE STUDENTS READING AT OR ABOVE GRADE LEVEL
BY SUB-TEST, GRADE LEVEL AND
PERCENT OF STUDENTS
Sub-Test Grade Level Percent of Students
Reading Vocabulary Four 4 8 .4
Fi ve 38.4
Six 40.1
Reading Comprehension Four 44,0
Five 41.2
Six 38.5
The level o f poverty in the Columbus Public School D is tr ic t is measured in each school annually by the percentage o f students who are recipients of Aid to Dependent Children (ADC) and this "incidence o f ADC provides an in d ica to r o f the number o f low income students served by a school...."*15 This incidence of ADC reported in the
115IbId., pp. 2-3 Columbus P ublic School Report is , also , "recognized by the Ohio S tate
Department of Education and the U.S. Office of Education for use in establishing elig ib ility for ESEA Title I services and in establishing priority for such services.""^ Therefore, the socio-economic status of students in the eight elementary schools of this investigation were examined, for identification purposes only, using the Columbus
P ublic School Report on the incidence o f ADC as the in d ic a to r. During the school year 1973-7**, twenty-nine per cent of the elementary students enrolled in the Columbus Public Schools received Aid to
Dependent Children. The per cent of ADC recipients enrolled in the schools where this investigation was conducted ranges from 75 per cent to 0 per cent. Table 7 identifies the percentage of ADC recipients by school and student enrollm ent. Bk
TABLE 7
SOCIO-ECONOMIC LEVEL OF STUDENTS IDENTIFIED BY
INCIDENCE OF ADC, SCHOOL, AND TOTAL ENROLLMENT
Incidence of ADC Percent School Pupil Enrollment
75 7
50 k 593
37 5 68*t
3^ 6 795
29 3 8)0
19 2
12 8 328
0 1 871
Selection of Books
The books th at w ill appeal to any c h ild can only be determined by
that child. However, the largest number of reading interest studies have indicated that children’s choices of stories are influenced by
the content of the story. In addition, the ordering and design of
the content must be done with knowledge about the children who w ill participate, as well as knowledge about literature.
A total of fifteen books were selected for this investigation.
The books were evaluated on the basis of: (1) a wel1-constructed plot;
(2) a s ig n ific a n t theme; (3) au th en tic s e ttin g ; (k) convincing characterization; (5) appropriate style; and (6) attractive 85 f o r m a t . **7 The books were categorized in the follow ing fiv e types:
Animal Stories, Fantasy and Humorous Stories, Historical Fiction
Stories, Mystery and Adventure Stories, and Realistic Fiction Stories.
Since a major purpose of this investigation was to expose Black urban children to a variety of books which represent different genre and content, the books selected included a variety of characteristics.
Different themes of universal appeal were evidenced in the stories such as survival in the wilderness a theme in J u iie o f the Wolves and the theme o f frien d sh ip as in J e n n ife r. Hecate. Macbeth. Wi11iam
McKinley, and Me. Elizabeth. Settings of the stories were also different. The setting in My Brother Stevie was familiar, while
B lackb riar presented u n fa m ilia r surroundings. Complex and everyday life relationships were conveyed as old and young characters inter- acted w ith each o th er in Dorp Dead and The 18th Emergency. 110
It was further revealed in the survey of interest studies that certain factors have some bearing on the reasons for a child's interest in a particular story. Some of the factors were identified as follows:
H7charlotte S. Huck and Doris Young Kuhn. Children's Literature In the Elementary School. 2nd Edition. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc., 1968.
1l8see Appendix A fo r synopsis o f books used in th is in v es tig a tio n . Action Comedy
Suspense Nonsense
Fear Sarcasm
Travel Slapstick Humor
Horror Absurdity
Surprise Unknown Objects
Strong Characters. Unknown Locations
Everyday Happenings Unusual Experiences
Friendship Extraordinary Events
Familiar Experiences Achieving a Goal
Warm Loving Overcoming Hardships Relationships
Fighting Torture
Therefore, it was decided to rate each book for these particular factors. A numerical scale of 2 - 1 - 0 was established to rate the factor if it was contained in a book as follows:
2 - strongly evident
I - evident
0 - not evident
A panel of three judges made a content analysis of each book. These judges,'^ were Ph.D. students in Children's Literature and were
i!9john A. Cohen, Ohio State University Ph.D. Student, Australia; Gay Su Pinnell Dunn, Ohio State University Ph.D. Student, New Mexico; and Roy W. Wilson, Jr., Ohio State University Ph.D. Student, Washington. spending time daily evaluating literature for children. Each book was
carefully examined by the panel of judges and a rating was assigned
to each factor. The ratings of judges were tested for reliability.
F ra tio s were computed to estim ate variance. S ig n ific a n t d ifferen ces
among judges at the .05 leve] of significance was evidenced on two of
the 24 factors. Since the sample (three judges) was small, the ratings of the judges were then tested for reliab ility using the scheme of
intraclass correlation of an average. The calculations of the
reliability of ratings were computed using the formula as follows:^20
Vr
where: Vr “ variance due to story
Ve “ variance for residuals
**kk ■ average o f facto rs
According to Guilford,*21 the relative importance of errors of measurement are reduced by averaging, leaving the relatio n sh ip s enhanced. The results of this intraclass correlation are contained
in Table 8.
I2 0 j.p . G u ilfo rd . Fundamental S ta tis tic s in Psychology and Education. 4th Edition. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, I9&5, p. 300. TABLE 8
INTRACLASS CORRELATION OF TWENTY FOUR FACTORS BY THREE JUDGES
Measured Source o f Sums o f Mean Degree o f Significance r kk Factor V a ria tio n Squares Squares F reedom F Level
Action Wi th in Books 8.31 0.59 14 2.2 4 -05 Between Judges 3.2 4 1.62 2 6.12 -05 .54 Error 7.kl 0 .2 7 . 28 Total 18.98 44
Suspense W ithin Books 16.31 J .17 14 3-84 -05 Between Judges 0.18 0.08 2 0 .2 4 NS .74 E rror 8.4 9 0.30 28 Total 24.98 44
Fear Within Books 23.11 1.65 14 8.5 2 .05 Between Judges 1.24 0.62 2 3.21 NS .88 E rror 5.42 0.19 28 Total 29-78 44
T ravel W ithin Books 5-91 0.42 14 2.12 .05 Between Judges 1.11 0.56 2 2.79 NS .52 Error 5-56 0.20 28 Total 12.58 44
Horror W ithin Books 14.31 1.02 14 22.20 .05 Between Judges 0 .0 4 0.02 2 0.48 NS .95 E rror 1.29 0.05 28 Total 15-64 44 TABLE 8 (Continued)
INTRACLASS CORRELATION OF TWENTY FOUR FACTORS BY THREE JUDGES
Measured Source o f Sums o f Mean Degree o f S ig n !fi cance r kk Factor V a ria tio n Squares Squares F reedom F Level
Surpri se W ithin Books 7.91 0.56 14 5.23 .05 Between Judges 0.31 0 .16 2 1.44 NS .81 Error 3.02 0.11 28 Total 11.24 44
Strong Wi th in Books 13.47 0 .96 14 2.80 .05 Characters Between Judges 1.73 0.87 2 2.52 NS .65 E rror 9.60 0 .3 4 28 Total 24.80 44'
Every Day Within Books 4.58 0.33 14 1.50 NS Happenings Between Judges 0.58 0.29 2 1.32 NS .33 E rror 6.09 0.22 28 Total 11.24 44
Friendship Within Books 9.91 0.71 14 2.99 .05 Between Judges 0 .0 4 0.02 2 0.09 NS .66 Error 6.62 0.24 28 Total 16.58 44
Fami1lar Within Books 4.31 0.31 14 1.59 NS Experiences Between Judges 0.58 0.29 2 1.59 NS .39 Error 5.42 0.19 28 Total 10.31 44
00 u> TABLE 8 (Continued)
INTRACLASS CORRELATION OF TWENTY FOUR FACTORS BY THREE JUDGES
Measured Source o f Sums o f Mean Degree o f Significance r kk Factor V aria tio n Squares Squares Freedom F Level
Warm W ithin Books 10.98 0.78 14 1.69 NS Lovi ng Between Judges 0.31 0 .16 2 0.33 NS .40 R elation Error 13.02 0 .4 7 . 28 ships Total 24.31 44
Fighting Within Books 12.13 0.87 14 5.87 .05 Between Judges 2.53 1.27 2 8.58 .05 .83 Error 4.80 0 .15 28 Total 18.79 44
Comedy W ithin Books 22.80 1.63 14 11.79 .05 Between Judges 0.13 0.07 2 0.49 NS .92 Error 3.87 0 .1 4 28 Total 26.80 44
Nonsense W ithin Books 5.91 0.42 14 7.00 .05 Between Judges 0.31 0.16 2 2.57 NS .86 E rror 1.69 0 .06 28 Total 7.91 44
Sarcasm W ithin Books 0.31 0.02 14 1.00 NS Between Judges 0 .0 4 0.02 2 1.00 NS .00 Error 0.62 0.02 28 Total 0.98 44
vo o TABLE 8 (Continued)
INTRACLASS CORRELATION OF TWENTY FOUR FACTORS BY THREE JUDGES
Measured Source o f Sums o f Mean Degree of Significance r kk Factor V aria tio n SquaresSquares Freedom F Level
S lap stick Within Books 1.64 0.12 14 0.89 NS Humor Between Judges 0.31 0.1 6 2 1.18 NS -.0 8 Error 3.69 0 .13 , 28 to ta l 5.6 4 44
Absurd!ty Within Books 12.31 0.88 14 5.33 .05 Between Judges 0.71 0.36 2 2.15 NS .81 E rror 4.62 0.17 28 Total 17.64 44
Unknown W ithin Books 1.87 0.13 14 1.17 NS Objects Between Judges 0.13 0.07 2 0.58 NS .15 Error 3.20 0.11 28 Total 5.20 44
Unknown W ithin Books 5.6 4 0.40 14 2.25 .05 Locations Between Judges 0.31 0 .16 2 0.87 NS .30 E rror 5.02 0.18 28 Total 10.98 44
Unusual W ithin Books 18.44 1.32 14 3.97 .05 Experiences Between Judges 0.71 0.36 2 1.07 NS .75 Error 9.29 0.33 28 Total 28.44 44 vo TABLE 8 (Continued)
INTRACLASS CORRELATION OF TWENTY FOUR FACTORS BY THREE JUDGES
Measured Sources o f Sums o f Mean Degree o f Signi ficance rkk Factor V aria tio n Squares Squares F reedom F Level
Extra Within Books 26.58 1.90 14 7.43 .05 ordinary Between Judges 0.8 4 0.42 2 1.65 NS .86 Events Error 7.16 0.26 28 Total 34.58 44
Achieving Within Books 10.58 0.75 14 1.59 .05 A Goal Between Judges 0.0 4 0.02 2 0.05 NS .30 E rror 13.29 0.47 28 Total 23.91 44
Overcoming W ithin Books 18.58 1.33 14 4 .2 4 .05 Hardships Between Judges 0.58 0.29 2 0.92 NS .77 Error 8 .7 6 0.31 28 Total 27.91 44
Torture Within Books 14.98 1.07 14 6.67 .05 Between Judges 0.18 0.09 2 0.55 NS .85 Error 4.49 0.16 28 Total 19.64 44
vo N> 93
The fifte e n books used in th is in vestig atio n are id e n tifie d in
Table 9 as follows:
TABLE 9
FIFTEEN BOOKS USED IN THE INVESTIGATION BY
TYPE AND TITLE, AUTHOR'S NAME, AND GRADE LEVEL READ
Type and T it le o f Book Name of Author Grade Level Read
Animal Stories
Hurry Home, Candy Meindert DeJong Fourth The Greyhound Helen G riffiths F ifth J u lie o f the Wolves Jean Craighead George S ixth
Fanciful and Humorous Stories
Jennifer, Hecate, Macbeth, W illiam McKinley, and Me, E lizabeth E.L. Konigsburg Fourth The Cat Who Wished to Be a Man Lloyd Alexander F ifth The Pushcart War Jean M erri11 Sixth
Historical Fiction Stories
The Wh i te B i rd Clyde Robert Bulla Fourth Come By Here Olivia Coolidge F ifth The Slave Dancer Paula Fox Sixth
Mvstery and Adventure Stories
Dorp Dead J u lia Cunningham Fourth B lackb riar Wi 11iam S leato r F ifth The House o f Dies Drear Virginia Hamilton Sixth
Realistic Fiction Stories
My Brother Stevie Eleanor Clymer Fourth How Many M iles to Babylon Paula Fox F ifth The 18th Emergency Betsy Byars Sixth
* B r ie f synopsis o f each book in Appendix A . 9k
Instructions to Teachers
The copy of "General Information and Instructions"'^ was discussed with each teacher. The suggested read aloud time was a thirty-minute period on a daily basis. The importance of complying with the suggested reading time was stressed. A bookmark'^ was prepared especially for each book adorned with a character or some other specification from the p a rtic u la r sto ry. The bookmark was enclosed w ith the book. Space was provided on the bookmark to record such h elp fu l inform ation as: the date and the time of each reading; and identification of the beginning and ending page numbers of each reading session. Teachers were encouraged to read each story prior to oral presentation to stu dents. Each teacher was requested to call the investigator at the completion o f each book and the marking o f response booklets. The marked response booklets were placed in the envelope id e n tifie d by the title of the book. The investigator collected the completed response booklets from the school.
D escription o f Response Instrument
The Snoopy Response Instrument ' ^ developed by Terry was based on a five-point scale. Looking at the illustrations from left to right,
122$ee Appendix B for copy of Information and Instruction.
123See Appendix B fo r copy o f Bookmark.
'^ S e e Appendix B fo r copy o f Snoopy Response Booklet. 95
the firs t Snoopy shows a very positive response to the story, "It's g r e a t'1' The second Snoopy also indicates a p o s itiv e response, "I lik e
It," but is less enthusiastic about the story. The third Snoopy indi cates that "It's okay," and displays a neutral response to the story.
It was not particularly liked, but it was not disliked either. "I don't like it," is the fourth response and the Snoopy picture is nega
tive; whereas the fifth and last Snoopy illustrates a very negative
response to the story, "I hate it.'"
It's great! I hate it!
The following three questions were chosen for the investigation:
(1) How much do you like this story? (2) Would you like to hear this
story again? (3) Could this be one of your favorite stories? The
students responded to each question by circling the Snoopy that best pictured their responses to the story.
Response booklets, consisting of three pages, were provided for
the students to mark their responses at the completion of each story
read aloud. The students were instructed to write the title of the
story and the name of the author on the cover sheet of the booklet.
They were, also, asked to complete a section of the front page of the
response booklet giving their first and last names, the name of their school, th e ir grade, room number, age and sex. The second page con
tained the Snoopy p ictures and questions. The th ird page o f each 96 booklet provided a space fo r w ritte n comments. The students were asked to write a brief response to "Tell why you liked this story," or "Tell why you disliked this story." They were strongly encouraged to give specific reasons for liking or disliking the story read aloud.
The F ield Study
The major purpose of the field study was to evaluate the clarity and usefulness of the Read Aloud Instructions used in conjunction with the Snoopy Response Instrument. The Snoopy Response Instrument had been developed to collect data in an earlier study of poetry preferences.
It was adapted for use with books for this investigation. The field study was conducted fo r a period o f two weeks from February 25 through
March 8 , 197^.
An evaluation was made of several schools in the district to find schools where the student enrollment was similar to that of schools selected for the investigation. The four schools randomly selected for the field study were not included in the original thirteen schools contacted because of programs already in existence in these schools.
The schools were selected for the field study because only limited participation was required, schools were easily accessible, and be cause of sim ilarities in student enrollment. These schools are
Identified in Table 10 by location and student enrollment. 97
TABLE 10
SCHOOLS PARTICIPATING IN FIELD STUDY IDENTIFIED BY
LOCATION AND RACIAL IDENTITY OF STUDENT ENROLLMENT
Location Black Non-■Black School in C ity f % f % Total
Shepard Elementary North-East 156 90 17 10 173
Kent Elementary South-East 481 90 53 53 534
Lincoln Park Elementary South 218 39 342 61 560
Pilgrim Elementary East 284 87 42 13 326
Totals 1139 454 1593
The principals of the schools were firs t contacted by telephone for permission to meet with them and discuss the procedures of the f ie ld study. The in vestig ato r met w ith each p rin c ip a l in d iv id u a lly , explained the purpose of the investigation, discussed the procedures for the field study, and made a request for teacher participants. In each school the investigator was given permission to contact the teachers personally so that the investigation could proceed as scheduled. Five teachers were contacted in the four schools. Each teacher contacted accepted the request to participate in the field study.
The in v e s tig a to r met with each teacher in d iv id u a lly to discuss the general procedures of the investigation, the instructions to the students, and the Snoopy Response Instrument for recording the students' responses to stories. The teachers received: (1) the book to be read aloud; (2) the Read Aloud Instructions;125 and (3) a packet of response booklets - one for each student. Each teacher was asked to read the directions to students carefully, and to make a note of any clarification required to be made while giving directions to students.
A total of 121 students and five teachers were involved In the f ie ld study. These students included 53 fourth graders, 3k f i f t h graders, and 3k sixth graders who listened to a total of five books during a two week perio d . Table 11 id e n tifie s students by school, grade le v e l, sex and t i t l e o f book read.
TABLE I I
COMPOSITION OF SAMPLES OF STUDENTS PARTICIPATING IN FIELD
STUDY BY SCHOOL, GRADE LEVEL, SEX AND TITLE OF BOOK READ
Grade Students School Level Ma 1 e Fema1e T it le o f Book Read
Shepard Elementary Fourth 12 12 My Brother Stevie
Kent Elementary F ifth 12 13 B lackb riar
Lincoln Park Elementary Fourth 15 \k The White Bird
Lincoln Park Elementary Sixth 8 8 The 18th Emergency
PiIgrim Elementary F ifth 5 k The Pushcart War
Pilgrim Elementary Sixth 9 9 The Pushcart War
Total 61 60
125see Appendix B for copy of Read Aloud Instructions. 99
The Snoopy Response Instrument was marked by students upon completion of the book. The response booklets were picked up at the schools by the investigator. The teachers included their comments.
The five teachers participating in the field study reported that instructions were clear and appropriate for use with children in grades four, five, and six. The teachers, also, reported that a thirty minute, daily reading time was sufficient to complete the read ing of one book during the ten reading sessions.
Dei ivery of Materials
Each teacher selected to participate in this Investigation was contacted to verify the date and time for materials to be received.
The m aterials were packaged in large envelopes marked fo r ready id e n ti fic a tio n "FIRST READING," "SECOND READING," and "THIRD READING" since each teacher was expected to read three books, in the assigned order, which was made by random s ele c tio n . Included in the envelope marked
"FIRST READING" were the following: (l) a copy of General Information and Instructions; (2) the Read Aloud Instructions; (3) an overall
Summary o f In stru ctio n s; (*+) the Snoopy Response Instrument - one booklet fo r each member o f the class; and (5) a copy o f the f i r s t book to be read a l o u d . ^ 6 Books scheduled to be read aloud in the second and the third order were delivered later enclosed in the appropriately
I26see Appendix B for copy of General Information and Instructions, Read Aloud In s tru ctio n s, Summary o f In s tru ctio n s, Snoopy Response Instrum ent, and l i s t o f books read in each classroom. 100 marked envelopes w ith Snoopy Response Instruments. AH m aterials were personally delivered by the investigator to each teacher. The teachers were given permission to keep the books at the end o f the investigation to be included in their classroom libraries. The order in which books were read is presented in Table 12 by school, grade level and title of book.
TABLE 12
ORDER OF BOOKS READ BY
SCHOOL, GRADE LEVEL AND TITLE OF BOOK
Schools 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Grade and T itle Order Read
Fourth Grade
. Hurry Home, Candy 2 1 3 Jen n ifer, Hecate, Macbeth W illiam McKinley, and Me, El Izabeth 1 2 3 The White Bird 3 2 1 Dorp Dead 2 1 3 My Brother Stevie 3 1 2
Fifth Grade
The Greyhound 2 1 3 The Cat Who Wished to Be a Man 2 3 1 Come By Here 3 2 1 B lackb riar 3 1 2 How Many Miles to Babylon? 1 2 3
Sixth Grade*
Julie of the Wolves. 1 3 2 The Pushcart War 2 3 I The Slave Dancer 2 3 1 The House o f Dies Drear 3 1-2 . The 18th Emergency 1 2 3
*Two s ix th grade classes p a rtic ip a te d a t School 4. 101
Scoring the Response Booklets
Each student was asked to lis te n and respond to a to ta l o f three books, however, due to absenteeism and mobility all students in the population of this study did not hear or respond to three stories.
Since a major purpose of this study was to discover the types of books enjoyed most by fourth, fifth , and sixth grade students, the responses were totalled for all students.
A total of 822 responses were circled in answer to the three questions: (1) How much do you lik e th is story?; (2) Would you lik e to hear this story again?; and (3) Could this be one of your favorite stories? These responses were rated on a scale of5-^-3-2-l as follows:
Question Response Ratir
1. It's great! 5 1 1 i ke 11. 4 I t ' s okay. 3 1 don't like it. 2 1 hate it! 1
2. Oh, yes! 5 Yes. 4 1 don't care. 3 No. 2 Oh, no! 1
3. Oh, yes! 5 Yes. 4 1 d o n 't know. 3 No. 2 Oh, no! I
The w ritte n response page o f the response booklet was rated differently. This section of the response booklet was designed to discover a specific reason given by the student for liking or disliking 102
a book. A frequency count was made of the number of times one of the
twenty-four factors^? were used in the written responses to tell why
the book was liked or disliked. For example, action, one of the
twenty-four factors in a student's response telling why he liked
B la c k b ria r. was stated as follow s:
"Because i t has lo t 's o f action in th is s to ry ."
Boy, Age 10
Another fifth grader liked Blackbriar because:
"It was filled with adventures that you just don't hear everyday and the way the teacher reads she stops a t the good part and keeps you f u ll o f suspense and c u rio s ity ."
Gi r l , Age 11
• A fourth grader enjoyed Jennifer. Hecate. Macbeth. Wi11 jam McKinley.
and Me. Elizabeth because of the nonsense:
"It had a lot's of crazy stuff in it and I think that the beginning was superb but the end was g re a t!"
Gi r l , Age 10
The 18th Emergency was liked by a sixth grader because:
"It had my name in it and it had a fight in it and Marv bloodied Mouse's nose."
Boy, Age 12
127$ee Appendix B for copy of twenty-four factors analyzed by judges. 103
The character In Come By Here was the reason a fifth grader liked
this story:
"I like the story because it has a Black girl that was the same as Harriet Tubman."
Gi r l , Age 10
Each of these responses related to at least one of the twenty-four fa c to rs .
The written responses were also analyzed using the seven cate gories of responses identified by SquireJ2® A frequency count was made of the responses identified i.n each category.
The Analyses o f the Responses
The following categories of response were identified:
Literary Judgments: Direct or implied judgments on the
story as an artistic work, including such generalized
comments as "It's effective" or "It's good" where the state
ment appeared to refer to the literary or aesthetic qualities
rather than to judgment on specific situations in the story.
Also, specific reactions to language, style, characterization
2. Interpretatlonai Responses: Reactions in which the reader
generalizes and attempts to discover the meaning of the
stories, the motivational forces, and the nature of the
I2 8 james R. Squire. The Responses o f Adolescents While Reading Four Short S to rie s . Champaign, Illin o is : The National Council o f Teachers of English, \SSk, pp. 17-18. characters, including references to evidence from the
stories marshalled to support interpretation! generaliza
tions . Three types are found: interpretations of characters or plot, interpretations of ideas and themes, visual reconstructions of scenes which seemed to represent visual interpretation of specific facts.
Narrational Reactions: Responses in which the reader reports details or facts in the story without attempting to interpret.
This factual retelling may occur when the reader has d iffi culty in comprehending.
Associatlonal Responses: Responses in which the reader associated ideas, events, or places, and people with his own experience other than the association of a character with himself. These associations are direct, e.g., "This Is like my home" or inverse, e.g ., "These are not like my home."
Self-involvement: Responses in which the reader associates himself with the behavior and/or emotions of characters.
These range in degree from slight to intense and may be expressed through identification or rejections.
Prescriptive Judgments: Responses in which the reader pre scribes a course of action for a character based on some absolute standard, e.g., "She ought to do this," "He must do t h is ."
Hi seellaneous: Responses which were not coded elsewhere. Coding Information for the Computer From Response Booklets
The ratings from the response booklets; information relating to
the type of story, the characters and the setting; and student identi
fication information were coded for use with the computer. Information
recorded on each student consisted of the following components:
Grade Level: k, 5* 6
Type o f Book: 1, 2, 3, 5
Classroom: 1, 2, 3, *♦, 5
Age: 9, 10, 11, 12, 13
Sex: M, F
Reading Achievement Score
Response Ratings: 5. 3, 2, 1
Racial Identity of Students: Black, Non-Black
Identification of Story Characters: Animal, Black, Non-Black Child, Adult Male, Female
Identification of Schools 1, 2, 3, 5, 6 , 7, 8
Classification of Squire's Seven Categories of Response: 1, 2, 3» 5 , 6, 7
Statistical Treatment of Hypothesis
The questions stated in Chapter I, were converted into null hypotheses for the purpose of statistical analysis. These hypotheses were tested by the use of Pearson Product Moment Coefficient of
Correlation and Multiple Regression Analysis. The computer program,
Statistical Package for the Social Sciences employed the Pearson
correlation formula to calculate coefficients on all variables using
the formula as follows: 106
129 2iN=1(X, - X)(Yj - Y) r = {[2r=i(Xi - X)2] [^ .(Y i -Y)2)}*
where Xj = ith observation of variable X Yj = ith observation of variable Y N = number of observations X = 2 ji,X j/N = mean of variable X Y = 2j=,Y j/N = mean of variable Y
The following hypotheses were tested:
1. There Is no significant relationship between children's
preference of type of story and the racial identity of
the character.
2. There is no significant relationship between children's
preference of type of story and the setting of story.
3. There is no significant relationship between children's
preference of type of story and the age of the story's
character.
4. There is no significant relationship between children's
preference of type of story and the sex of the story's
ch aracter.
5. There is no significant relationship between children's
preference of type of story and the grade level of the
reader.
129Nie, Norman H., Dale H. Bent, and C. Hadlai Hull. Statistical Package for the Social Sciences. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1970, p. 146. 107
6. There is no significant relationship between children's
preference of type of story and their reading achievement
score.
7. There is no significant relationship between children's
preference of type of story and socio-economic level.
Data Anal vsi s
Ratings of Judges. The mean scores and the standard deviations
were computed for the ratings of three judges to determine the relia
bility of their scoring of twenty-four factors in relation to the
fifte e n books used in th is in v e s tig a tio n .'
Responses to S to rie s . The responses to s to rie s were analyzed
and scored in two separate segments: (1) the illustrated responses
were assigned a numerical rating of 1, 2, 3, *+> 5, on the semantic
scale for the circled responses; and (2) the written responses were
dichotomously scored a rating of 1 in the Squire category for which
the student's response was identified. A zero (0) was placed wherever
a response was not classified. All data were coded for computer
analysis of (a) frequency counts, (b) percentage responses, (c) means
and standard deviations, and (d) correlations.
Testing the Null Hypotheses. Correlation and Regression Analysis were chosen as the statistical measures to test the null hypotheses because of the need to know the relationship between variables. The
Pearson product moment correlation coefficient was used to calculate
coefficients on all variables, and the level of significance was
computed. The means, standard deviations and variance were computed 108
on all variables specifically to determine any significant relation
ships between Black urban fourth, fifth , and sixth grade children's
preferences of type of story and (1) the racial identity of the
character; (2) the setting of the story; (3) the age of the story's
character; (4) the sex of the story's character; (5) the grade level of the reader; (6) the reading achievement score and (7) the socio
economic level. Frequency counts and percentage responses were made
to determine if a particular type of story was preferred at all grade
levels and at individual grade levels.
Analysis of the Teacher duestionnai re
From a total of sixty-one "yes" respondents to the questionnaire,
fifteen teachers were randomly selected to participate in the investi gation. Responses to the following items on the questionnaire were analyzed and reported in frequency counts and percentage responses:
(1) How often do you read trade books to your children? (2) Do the children in your room read trade books independently? (3) Do you have fa v o rite books to share with the children? (k) Would you estim ate the number o f trade books you have in your room? and (5) What is your main source fo r obtaining trade books to use w ith your children?
Summa ry
The three major purposes of this investigation of the responses of fourth-, fifth -, and sixth-grade Black urban children to selected children's books were: (1) to determine which books selected for the investigation were enjoyed most by fourth, fifth , and sixth grade 109
students; (2) analyze the relationships between preferences for types o f books and such c h a ra c te ris tic s as type o f sto ry, characters, and s e ttin g ; and (3) to compare any relatio n sh ip s o r d ifferen ces in students' preferences of story and understanding of story with regard to sex, grade level, and socio-economic level.
From a total of 61 responses received from intermediate grade teachers, a random selection was made to choose 15 teachers for participation in the investigation, five each in grades four, five, and six. The teachers were selected from eight elementary schools as a representative sample of the 13 elementary schools located on the periphery o f the in n e r-c ity in the Columbus (Ohio) Public School
D istrict. Four hundred twenty-two students were enrolled in the 15 classes. However, only the responses of 307 Black students were analyzed for the purposes of this investigation.
Fifteen books of five types were used in the investigation. The content of the books was rated by three judges to ascertain reliab ility o f 2k factors referenced in earlier research as elements contained in children's stories.
The students in each class were asked to listen to three of the five types of stories read aloud by the classroom teacher for a 30- minute period daily. At the completion of each book, the "Snoopy"
Response Booklets were marked by the students to indicate how much the particular book was enjoyed. A brief statement was also written after listening to each book to indicate specifically why the particu la r book was e ith e r lik e d o r d is lik e d . 110
The number o f responses made by the students were lim ite d to the number o f books read aloud in the classroom and to the fa c t th at the response fo r each book was made on the day the p a rtic u la r book was completed. The students of this study responded to three, two, and/or one book(s). A total of 822 responses to 15 books were recorded and analyzed from the "Snoopy" illustrated response section of the response instrument; 798 responses were analyzed from the written section of the response instrument. The findings were reported in
(I) frequency counts, (2) percentage responses, (3) means and standard deviations, and (4) the "F" test significance levels. In addition, some of the findings were reported from the use of multiple regression analysis and the F test for levels of significance. CHAPTER IV
ANALYSIS OF DATA
This investigation of the responses of fourth, fifth , and sixth
grade Black urban children to selected children's books had three major
purposes: (1) to determine which books selected for the investigation
are enjoyed most by fourth, fifth , and sixth grade students, (2) to
analyze the relatio n sh ip s between preferences fo r types o f books and
such characteristics as the type of story, the characters, and the
setting, and (3) to compare any relationships or differences in students'
preference of story and understanding of story with regard to sex,
grade level and socio-economic level.
F ifte e n books were randomly ordered in groups o f three and were
read aloud by the classroom teachers in the order specified. Students
responded to each book listen ed to on the day the book was completed by marking the Snoopy Response Booklet. All classes listened to three
stories and responded to the stories except one fourth grade and twa
sixth grade classes. If a student was absent on the day a book was completed, a response was not made to that particular book by that
student. A total of 1031 responses were made to the fifteen books by i»22 students. The responses of the Black students, 822 responses, were analyzed and the results are reported in this chapter.
I l l 112
Specifically, this chapter Is concerned with: (I) the frequency
of responses to stories by type and grade level; (2) the frequency of
responses to each individual book enjoyed most and le a s t; (3) an
analysis of the ratings indicating preference of story; (k) the re la
tionship of responses to types of stories and (a) the character(s) of
the story, and (b) the setting of the story; (5) an analysis of the
written and taped responses to stories; and correlations between
response ratings and o th er v aria b les .
Books Enjoyed Host and Least
The Snoopy Response Instrument used in the in v es tig a tio n to obtain
student responses consisted of two parts: (I) an illustrated section on which the students circled responses to answer three questions and
(2) a section to write a brief statement to tell why the story was
liked or disliked. The responses were analyzed separately for the
two sections o f the response booklet. The to ta l number o f responses circled for each type of story were examined. The frequency and percentage of responses are shown in Table 13. 113
TABLE 13
FREQUENCY OF RESPONSE BY
TYPE OF STORY AND GRADE LEVEL
(N-822)
Frequency of Response Grade Level Type o f Story 1Fourth Fifth Sixth Total1 f % f % f % f %
Animal 63 38.2 63 38.2 39 23.6 165 20.1
Fanciful and Humorous 67 37.9 59 33.3 51 28.8 177 21.5
H is to ric al Fi ction 69 ' A2.1 56 3A.1 39 23.8 16 A 20.0
Mystery and Adventure A3 26.1 67 AO.6 55 33.3 165 20.1
R e a lis tic F ic tio n 65 A3.0 **9 32.5 37 2A.5 151 18. A
Total 307 29A 221 822
Note: This table should be read as follows: Of the total number of responses (822) made to the five types of stories, responses to animal stories comprised 20.1 per cent (165 responses); fanci ful and humorous stories comprised 21.5 per cent (177 responses)... Of all the responses made to animal stories, responses made in Grade A comprised 38.2 per cent (63 responses); responses made in Grade 5 comprised 38.2 per cent (63 responses); in Grade 6, 23.6 per cent (39 responses); .... Ct rcled Responses
The three questions on the illustrated section of the response booklet were analyzed by type and title of story, ratings of responses, and grade level. The five possible responses suggested to answer each question were assigned a numerical rating on a five-point scale from
5 for "It's great!" to 1 for "I hate it!" The pattern of responding to the stories was fairly consistent to each of the three questions.
When the largest number of responses were given to "It's great!" and
"I like it," for Question 1, then Questions 2 and 3 also received the largest number of responses to "It's great!" and "I like it."
Since the responses were rated, the highest ratings of 5 and k were grouped together and the to ta l indicates the books lik e d . The two lowest ratings o f 1 and 2 in dicate th at the book was not lik e d .
The total of these responses were also added together and are listed under d is lik e d . The number o f responses in the 'V>kay" column suggest that the book may or may not have been liked. TABLE 14
FREQUENCY OF RESPONSE TO QUESTION ONE:
HOW MUCH DO YOU LIKE THIS STORY?
Type of Story Titie of Story Grade Level Frequency o f Response Liked Okay Disliked Total f % f % f % f
Animal (N»l65) Hurry Home Candy Fourth 44 69.8 14 22.2 5 7 .9 63 The Greyhound F ifth 51 81.0 11 17.5 1 1.5 63 J u lie o f the Wolves Sixth 30 76.9 6 15.4 3 7.7 39 Sub-Totals 125 31 9 165 • Fanciful and Jennifer, Hecate, Humorous (NH77) Macbeth, William McKinley, and Me, E lizabeth Fourth 50 7.4.6 15 22.4 2 3.0 67 The Cat Who Wi shed to be a Man F ifth 58 8 1 .4 8 13.6 3 5.1 59 The Pushcart War Sixth 31 60.8 16 31.4 4 7.9 51 Sub-Totals 129 39 9 177
Historical White Bird Fourth 61 88.4 7 10.1 1 1.4 69 Fiction (N-164) Come By Here F ifth 24 42.8 24 42.8 8 14.2 56 The Slave Dancer Sixth 18 46.1 16 41.0 5 12.8 39 Sub-Totals 103 47 14 164 TABLE 14 (Continued)
Type o f Story T it ie o f Story Grade Level Frequency o f Responses Liked Okay D isliked Total f % f % f % f
Mystery and Dorp Dead Fourth 29 67.4 5 11.6 9 20.9 43 Adventure (NH65) B lackbriar F ifth *48 71.6 17 25.4 2 3.0 67 House o f Dies Drear Sixth 35 6 3.7 16 29.0 4 7.3 55 Sub-Totals 112 38 15 165
R e a lis tic My Brother Stevie Fourth 55 8 4 .6 9 13.8 1 1.5 65 Fiction (N-151) How Many M iles to Babylon F ifth 19 38.8 18 36.7 12 24.5 49 The 18th Emergency Sixth 37 100.0 0 0.0 0 0 .0 37 Sub-Totals 111 27 13 151 TABLE 15
FREQUENCY OF RESPONSE TO QUESTION TWO:
WOULD YOU LIKE TO HEAR THIS STORY AGAIN?
Title of Story Grade Level Frequency o f Response Li ked Okay D isliked f % f 7. f % f
Hurry Home Candy Fourth 34 5** 0 14 22.2 15 23.8 63 The Greyhound F ifth 4o 63 5 16 25.4 7 11.1 63 J u lie o f the Wolves Sixth 26 66 6 9 23.1 4 10.3 39 Sub-Total s. 100 39 26 165
Jenn i fe r , Heca te , Macbeth, William McKinley, and Me, E li zabeth Fourth 49 73,,1 11 16.4 7 10.5 67 The Cat Who Wished to be a Man F ifth 36 61 .0 lif 23.7 9 15.3 59 The Pushcart War Sixth 27 52 .9 17 33.3 7 13.7 51 Sub-Totals 112 42 23 177
White Bird Fourth 58 84 .0 9 13.0 2 2.9 69 Come By Here F ifth 17 30 .4 17 30.4 22 39.2 56 The Slave Dancer Sixth 11 28 .2 16 41.0 12 30.7 39 Sub-Total 86 hi 36 TABLE 15 (Continued)
Type o f Story T it le o f Story Grade Level Frequency o f Response Liked Okay Disliked Total f % f % f % f
Mystery and Dorp Dead Fourth 21 48.8 9 20.9 13 30.2 43 Adventure (N*l65) Blackbriar Fifth 41 61.2 20 29.9 6 9 .0 67 House of Dies Drear Sixth 32 58.2 14 25.5 9 16.4 55
Sub-Totals . 94 43 28 165
Reali s tic My Brother Stevie Fourth 50 76.9 9 13.8 6 9 .3 65 Fiction (N-151) How Many M iles to Babylon F ifth 15 3 0.6 11 2 2 .4 23 4 6.9 49 The 18th Emergency Sixth 34 91.9 I 2.7 2 5 .4 37 Sub-Totals 99 21 31 151 TABLE 16
FREQUENCY OF RESPONSE TO QUESTION THREE:
COULD THIS BE ONE OF YOUR FAVORITE STORIES?
Type o f Story Tltie of Story Grade Level Frequency o f Response Liked Okay Disliked Total f % f % f % f
Animal (N*l65) Hurry Home Candy Fourth 22 34.9 19 30.2 22 34.9 63 The Greyhound F ifth 29 46.0 12 19.0 22 25.0 63 J u lie o f the Wolves Sixth 20 51.2 10 25.6 9 23.1 39 Sub-Totals 71 41 53 165
Fanciful and Jennifer, Hecate, Humorous (N*177) Macbeth, William McKinley, and Me, Elizabeth Fourth 39 58.2 15 22. k 13 19.4 67 The Cat Who Wished to be a Man F ifth 18 32.2 20 33.9 20 33.9 59 The Pushcart War Sixth 26 50.9 9 17.7 16 31 .4 51 Sub-Totals 84 44 **9 177
H is to ric a l Wh i te B i rd Fourth 43 62.3 20 29.0 6 8 .7 69 Fiction (N«l64) Come By Here F ifth 13 23.2 16 28.6 27 1*8.2 56 The Slave Dancer Sixth 12 30.7 12 30.8 15 38.4 39 Sub-Totals 68 48 48 164 TABLE 16 (Continued)
Type o f Story T it le o f Story Grade Level Frequency o f Responses Liked Okay Oisi iked Total f % f % f % f
Mystery and Dorp Dead Fourth 20 A6.5 7 16.3 16 37.3 A3 Adventure (NH 65) Blackbriar F ifth 33 A9.3 22 32.8 12 17.9 67 House of Dies Drear Sixth 21 38.2 16 29.1 18 32.8 55 Sub-Totals 7A h5 A6 165
Reali s tlc My Brother Stevie Fourth hi 72.3 11 16.9 7 10.8 65 Fiction (N-151) How Many M iles to Baby1on F ifth \k 28.5 10 2 0 .A 25 51.0 A9 The 18th Emergency Sixth 29 78.3 A 10.8 A 10.8 37 Sub-Totals 90 25 36 151 121
A comparison was made of the number and percentage of responses made to each book to determine which type of story was enjoyed most
and a t what grade level i t was enjoyed. The larg est percentage o f
responses made to Animal stories; Fanciful and Humorous stories; and
Mystery and Adventure stories were made at the fifth grade level. Of all the responses made to The Greyhound. (63 responses) 81.0 percent
(51 responses) rated the story as the most enjoyed. F ifty -n in e
responses were made to The Cat Who Wished to be a Man. 8 i .4 percent
(48 responses) rated the story as most enjoyed. Forty-eight responses
representing 71.6 percent of the total responses (67 responses) rated
Blackbriar as the most enjoyed. Historical Fiction stories received
the highest percentage of responses at the fourth grade level for
The Whi te Bi rd. Sixty-nine responses were made and 88.4 percent
(61 responses) rated i t as the most enjoyed. A ll o f the responses
(37 responses) made by sixth grade students to The 18th Emergency
rated it the most enjoyed Realistic Fiction, indicating that the story was liked by 100.0 percent of the students who listened to it.
The fifteen stories are ranked in Table 17 according to the number and frequency o f responses to the preference ratin g in Question 1,
"How much do you like this story?" In Table 18 the stories are ranked according to the percentage of responses to Question 2, "Would you lik e
to hear this story again?" For Question 3» "Could this be one of your favorite stories?" the frequency of responses are identified in Table
19. 122
TABLE 17
FIFTEEN STORIES RANKED IN ORDER OF PREFERENCE BY
GRADE LEVEL AND TYPE OF STORY
QUESTION 1
Grade Frequency o f Response Type of Story Title of Story Level N f %
Real I Stic Fiction The 18th Emergency Sixth 37 37 100.0
Historical Fiction The White Bird Fourth 69 61 88. 4
Realistic Fiction My Brother Stevie Fourth 65 55 84.6
Fanciful and The Cat Who Wished Humorous to be a Man Fifth 59 48 8 1.4
Animal The Greyhound F ifth 63 51 81.0
Animal Julie of the Wolves Sixth 39 30 76.9
Fanciful and Jennifer, Hecate, Humorous Macbeth, William McKinley, and Me, Elizabeth Fourth 67 50 74.6
Mystery and Blackbriar Fifth 67 48 71.6 Adventure
Animal Hurry Home Candy Fourth 63 44 69.8
Mystery and Dorp Dead Fourth 43 29 6 7.4 Adventure
Mystery and The House o f Adventure Dies Drear Sixth 55 35 63.7
Fanciful and The Pushcart War Sixth 51 31 60.8 Humorous
Historical Fiction The Slave Dancer Sixth 39 18 46.1 123
TABLE 17 (Continued)
Grade Frequency o f Response Type o f Story T it ie o f Story Level N f %
Historical Fiction Come By Here Fifth 56 24 42.8
Realistlc Fiction How Many Miles to Babylon F ifth 49 19 38.8
Note: This table should be read as follows: N ■ the total number of responses made to the particular title and represents 100 per cent. f ■ the number of responses rated 5 and 4 to the particu lar story. % ■ the percentage f is of N to the particular story. Of a l 1 the responses made to The 18th Emergency (37 responses), 100.0 percent (37 responses) rated the story as the most enjoyed; of all the responses made to The Mhl te Blrd (69 responses), 88.4 percent (61 responses) rated the story as most enjoyed; of all the responses made to My Brother Stevie (65 responses), 84.6 percent (55 responses) rated the story as most e n jo y e d .... 124
TABLE 18
FIFTEEN STORIES RANKED IN ORDER OF PREFERENCE BY
GRADE LEVEL AND TYPE OF STORY
QUESTION 2
Grade Frequency o f Response Type of Story Title of Story Level N f %
Real 1 S tic F ic tio n The 18th Emergency Sixth 37 34 91.9
Historical Fiction The White Bird Fourth 69 58 84.0
RealIstic Fiction My Brother Stevie Fourth 65 50 76.9
Fanciful and Jennifer, Hecate, Humorous Macbeth, William McKinley, and Me, Elizabeth Fourth 67 49 73.1
Animal Julle of the Wolves S ixth 39 26 66.6
Animal The Greyhound F ifth 63 40 63.5
Mystery and Blackbriar Fifth 67 41 61.2 Adventure
Fanciful and The Cat Who Wished Humorous to be a Man F ifth 59 36 61.0
Mystery and The House o f Dies Adventure Drear Sixth 55 32 58.0
Animal Hurry Home Candy Fourth 63 34 54.0
Fanciful and The Pushcart War S ixth 51 27 52.9 Humorous
Mystery and Dorp Dead Fourth 43 21 48.8 Adventure 125
TABLE 18 (Continued)
Grade Frequency o f Response Type o f Story Ti t ie o f Story Level N f %
RealiStic Fiction How Many M iles to Babylon? F ifth 49 15 30.6
Historical Fiction Come By Here F ifth 56 17 30.4
Historical Fiction The Slave Dancer Sixth 39 11 28.2
Note: This table should be read in the same order as Table 17. 126
TABLE 19
FIFTEEN STORIES RANKED IN ORDER OF PREFERENCE BY
GRADE LEVEL AND TYPE OF STORY
QUESTION 3
Grade Frequency o f Response Type o f Story Titie of Story Level N f %
RealIstic Fiction The 18th Emergency Sixth 37 29 78.3
Realistic Fiction My Brother Stevie Fourth 65 A7 72.3
Historical Fiction The White Bird Fourth 69 A3 62.3
Fanciful and Jennifer, Hecate, Humorous Macbeth, Wl11iam McKinley, and Me, E lizabeth Fourth 67 39 58.2
Animal Julle of the Wolves S ixth 39 20 51.2
Fanciful and The Pushcart War Sixth 51 26 50.9 Humorous
Mystery and B lackb riar F ifth 67 33 A9.3 Adventure
Mystery and Dorp Dead Fourth A3 20 A6.5 Adventure
Animal The Greyhound F ifth 63 29 A6.0
Mystery and The House o f Dies Adventure Drear Sixth 55 21 38.2
Animal Hurry Home Candy Fourth 63 22 3A.9
Fanci ful and The Cat Who Wished Humorous to be a Man F ifth 59 19 32.2 127
TABLE 19 (Continued)
Grade Frequency o f Response Type o f Story Ti tie of Story Level N f %
Historical Fiction The Slave Dancer Sixth 39 12 30.7
Realistic Fiction How Many Miles to Babylon F ifth 49 14 28.5
Historical Fiction Come By Here F ifth 56 13 23.2
Note: This table should be read in the same order as Table 17*
There is consistency of choice as shown in Tables 17, 18, and 19.
The firs t three choices remain the same and the last three remain the same even though they may have changed w ith in the three p o sitio n s. The
ranking of stories by grade indicate that the same type of book may be enjoyed at all three grade levels. Two distinct examples are shown.
The Whi te Bi rd. the historical fiction selection for grade four was rated as the most enjoyed by 88.4 percent of the students responding.
The Slave Dancer and Come By Here, the historical fiction selections for the sixth and fifth grades respectively, received 46.1 percent and
42.8 percent of the responses indicating the stories to be most enjoyed.
These two stories remained at the bottom of the lis t according to the ratings of all three questions. Two realistic fiction selections received a high percentage of most enjoyed responses. The 18th
Emergency, the sixth grade selection with 100,0 percent of responses and My Brother Stevie, the fourth grade selection with 84.6 percent.
How Many Miles to Babylon, the fifth grade selection, received only 38.8 percent of responses rating the story as most enjoyed. 128
Wri tten Responses
The second section o f the Snoopy Response Booklet requested each student to write a brief response to "Tell why you liked this story," or "Tell why you disliked this story." The written responses were classified using the seven categories of response identified by Squire
(see Chapter III) in a study of 52 ninth and tenth graders' responses to four short s to rie s . The Squire categories were chosen because he had defined a response in his study, as "the smallest combination of words which conveyed the sense o f a sin g le thought." I t was expected that these fourth, fifth , and sixth grade students would only express a single thought, since they were asked to give a brief comment on th e ir general impression o f the sto ry. I t was assumed, however, that this expressed single thought would provide this investigator with additional reasons for why a particular book was enjoyed or not enjoyed.
The frequency of these written responses are presented in Table 20. 129
TABLE 20
FREQUENCY OF WRITTEN RESPONSE BY
GRADE LEVEL AND TYPE OF STORY
(N-798)
Response Response Grade Level f % Type o f Story f %
Fourth 298 37.3 Animal 157 19.7
F ifth 281 35.2 Fanciful and Humorous 178 22.3
Sixth 219 ll.h Historical Fiction 155 19.^
Mystery and Adventure \6k 20.6
Realistic Fiction lM f 18.0
Total 798 Total 798
Of the total 798 responses, 8 5 .8 percent (685 responses) were given for why the story was liked and \k.2 percent (113 responses) were given to support why the L.-,;k was disliked. Each response was classified according to Squires' seven genera) categories of response. The fre quency and percentage of written responses by category are presented
in Table 21. 130
TABLE 21
FREQUENCY OF WRITTEN RESPONSES BY
CATEGORY TO STORIES LIKED AND DISLIKED
Frequency of Respon se Category Stories Liked Stories Disi iked f % f %
1. L ite ra ry Judgment 403 58.8 78 6 9 .0
II. Interpretational 25 3 .6 1 .009
III. Narrational 148 21.6 4 3 .5
IV. Associatlonal 13 2 .0 0 0 .0
V. Self-Involvement 30 4.4 1 .009
VI. Prescriptive Judgment 1 .001 0 0 .0
V II. Miscellaneous 65 9 .5 29 25.7
Total 685 113
More than one-half (58.8 percent) of all the written responses
stating why the stories were enjoyed were coded as literary judgment.
According to Squire, generalized statements with no reference to
specific situation in the story could be classified in this category.
Such responses as "It was good," "It's great," and "It was a nice story," were coded as literary judgment. The largest number of
responses (6 9 .0 percent) indicating, that the stories were not enjoyed were also coded in the lite r a r y judgment category. The responses made were similar to why the story was liked, for example, "It was not a good s to ry ," " I t was b o rin g ," and " I t was d u ll and s ta le ," are typ ical
responses. More than twenty percent (2 1 .6 ) o f the responses were coded In
the narrational category when the.story was enjoyed. These responses
related some fact or detail from the story. One fourth grade boy wrote
that he liked My Brother Stevie, "when he was throwing rocks at the
train." The percentage of responses were small when coded as interpre-
tational (3.6 percent), associational (2.0 percent), self-involvement
(kA percent), and prescriptive judgment (.001 percent). These categories required more involvement of the student with the content of the book and grew out of in-dep.th discussions. . In this study, the
teachers merely read the books aloud and did not provide for discussion.
A larger percentage of responses were coded miscellaneous when books were not enjoyed (25.7 percent), than for the enjoyed books (9.5 per cent). This seems to suggest that when a book is not liked it is more difficult for the student to give a reason.
Using the Squire categories, the written responses were then analyzed to determine which types of stories received the largest percentage o f enjoyed responses and not enjoyed responses; and which mode was used to convey these preferences as shown in Tables 22 and 23. TABLE 22
FREQUENCY OF WRITTEN RESPONSES BY
TYPE OF STORY AND CATEGORY OF RESPONSE
FOR STORIES ENJOYED
(N=685)
Categories o f Responses Type of Story 1 11 I I I IV V VI VII Total
Animal f 88 10 22 3 6 0 11 140 % 62.9 7.1 15.7 2.1 4 .3 0 .0 7 .9
Fanciful and f 9** 2 45 2 3 1 13 160 Humorous % 58.6 1.3 28.1 1.3 1.9 .006 8.1
H is to ric a l f 56 4 35 0 9 0 19 123 F Ic tio n % 45.5 3.3 28.5 0 .0 7.3 0 .0 15.4
Mystery and f 104 3 15 2 5 0 11 139 Adventure % 74.8 2 .2 10.8 1 .if 2 .9 0 .0 7 .9
R e a lis tic f 61 6 31 6 8 0 11 123 F ic tio n % 4 9 .6 25.2 **.9 6 .5 0 .0 8 .9
Total 403 25 12*8 13 20 1 65 685
r o Examination of Table 22 shows the most numerous responses were made In the category of literary response, although certain types of stories called for the other kinds of responses. For example, interpre- tational responses grew out of animal stories and realistic fiction stories. Realistic fiction also generated more associational responses while historical fiction provided more opportunity for self-involvement.
This may have been due to the individual t it le s used Jn th is in vestig a tion. The 18th Emergency and M^ Brother Stevie, two realistic fiction stories, were among the most preferred and perhaps the stories presented the most fa m ilia r s itu a tio n s .
Even though the majority of the responses indicating a dislike for the story were coded either literary judgment or miscellaneous, a few werecoded narrational. Fanciful and humorous stories elicited these responses. From Jennifer. Hecate. Hacbeth. Wi11iam McKinley, and Me,
E liza b e th . several children quoted word fo r word the "odd foods" th at
Jennifer asked Elizabeth to eat as the reason they did not like the story. The frequency of written responses for those stories not enjoyed are identified in Table 23. TABLE 23
FREQUENCY OF WRITTEN RESPONSES BY
TYPE OF STORY AND CATEGORY OF RESPONSE
FOR STORIES NOT ENJOYED
(N -1 1 3 )
Categories o f Responses Type o f Story i 11 I I I IV V VI V II Total
Animal f u 1 0 0 0 0 5 17 7. 64.7 5 .9 0 .0 0 .0 0 .0 0 .0 29.4
Fanciful and f 14 0 2 0 1 0 1 18. Humorous % 77.8 0 .0 11.1 0 .0 5 .5 0 .0 5-5
H is to ric a l f 23 0 1 0 0 0 8 32 F ic tio n % 71.9 0 .0 3.1 0.0 0.0 0.0 25.0
Mystery and f 16 0 1 0 0 0 8 25 Adventure % 64.0 0 .0 4 .0 0 .0 0 .0 0 .0 32.0
Reali S tic f 14 0 0 0 0 0 7 21 F ic tio n y. 66.7 0 .0 0 .0 0 .0 0 .0 0 .0 33.3
Total 78 1 4 0 1 0 29 113
w -c- 135
Responses R elating to Story Factors
Three judges analyzed the story content o f the fifte e n books used in the investigation. A summary of the judges' analyses shown in
Table 8, Chapter ill, reveals reliability coefficients for the twenty- four factors indicating both high and low levels of relationship.
Several of these factors were used when students made written responses stating why they liked or disliked a story. The factor, action, was indicated by some students as the reason the stories were liked.
Examples are as follow s:
About Blackbriar
"Because i t has lo t 's o f action in th is s to ry ."
Boy, Age 10
About The House o f Dies Drear
"Because o f the action and the scary p a rt, and I like the part when they found out that this one man was not Hr. Pluto."
Gi r l , Age 12
About The Slave Dancer
"I liked it because it was interesting, and i t had a lo t o f action in i t . "
G i r l , Age 11
Some of the responses indicated that a story was not enjoyed because it did not have action in it, for example:
About The G reyhound
"Because it did not have a lot of action."
G ir l, Age 11 About Hurry Home. Candy
"I don't like stories without action and excitement."
Boy, Age 9
Suspense and excitement were freq u en tly c ite d as reasons some o f
the books were enjoyed.
About The House o f Dies Drear
"Because I lik e to be kept on the edge o f my chair and you never know what's going to happen n e x t."
G ir l, Age 12
" I t was worth hearing, i t kept you in suspense when the person stopped reading and it was understandable, not mixed up, but sometimes i t seemed a little out."
Boy, Age 12
About B lackbriar
"Because i t was a mystery and i t had a lo t o f suspense."
Boy, Age 11
Even though How Many Miles to Babylon? was one of the least enjoyed books, the students who did enjoy it stated reasons such as:
"I liked the story because it was a well written story, and it was about a boy my age, and i t could happen in real l i f e . "
Boy, Age 10
"Because it was a lot of suspense."
Boy, Age 10 The warmth o f oth er characters, the f a m ilia r ity o f s itu a tio n s In
Mv Brother Stevie were mentioned in students' responses as often as
Stevie was mentioned when giving reasons for enjoying the story:
"Because it shows how that certain sister cared about her brother, she is r e a lly a nice sister that is what I like."
Boy, Age 10
"Because it's original and Skipper is funny and things lik e that r e a lly happen."
Boy, Age 9
While many of the responses related to facts and details in the stories that were fam iliar to the students, some enjoyed the stories because of the unfam iliarity and uniqueness of experiences:
About J u lle o f the Wolves
"I liked it when she was communicating to the wolves to give her food and when she met her father again."
G ir l, Age 11
About The Pushcart War
"I like the story because it was kind of In the future."
Sixth Grade G irl, Age II
"I like this story because it was interesting. The time when the story took place two years after we read it."
G ir l, Age I I
In addition to the twenty-four factors identified in Table 8,
Chapter III, the analysis of students' written responses indicated that
Black urban fourth, fifth , and sixth grade children especially enjoyed 138
stories that contained excitement, fun, interesting incidents, mystery, adventure, happiness and "things that are scary and spooky." They
lik e d fig h ts between frien d s as in The 18th Emergency, because these
fights seem to help friends solve misunderstandings. They did not
1ike the fig h ts in How Many M iles to Babylon? and The Slave Dancer. because these fights revealed that human beings were tortured and brutally treated.
Reasons were given by some students for liking and disliking the same story. Two students gave their reasons for liking and disliking
The Slave Dancer as follow s:
L i ked:
"The only part I liked about the story was the beginning, because I thought the rest of the story was going to be happier instead of b o rin g ."
D i s1i ked:
"I didn't like the story because of the setting, and how the men on the ship cursed and beat each oth er and also beat the slaves. I t was too drawn o u t."
G ir l, Age 13
L i ked:
"Because i t was in te re s tin g and I lik e learning about slaves."
D is lik e d :
"I didn't like it because they was cussing them out and beating the slaves."
G ir l, Age 12 Statistical Testing of the Nuli Hypotheses
This section w ill present the results obtained after submitting
the research data to statistical test of correlations and regression
analysis. The preference ratings for types of stories were correlated
with the responses to each type of story to determine the type of
story most preferred. Correlations were then obtained within each type of story between the preference ratings and the racial identity of the
character; preference ratings and the setting of the story; preference
ratings and the age of the character; preference ratings and the sex of the character; preference ratings and the grade level of the reader; preference ratings and reading achievement scores; and preference
ratin g s and socio-economic le v e l.
In reporting the data, each null hypothesis will be stated. The findings and the statistics will be reported and examined. Results will be considered significant when the associated probability is equal to o r less than the .05 level o f s ig n ific a n ce , even though a ll lev e ls o f significance will be reported.
The mean and standard deviation were established for each story and the preference ratings. These results are identified in Table 2k. TABLE 24
MEANS AND STANDARD DEVIATIONS OF
EACH PREFERENCE RATING AND TYPE OF STORY
(N-822)
Type o f Story Preference Rating Fanciful Historical Mystery & Realistic Animal Humorous Fiction Adventure Fiction
Fourth Grade
1. Enjoyed the M 4.03 * 4.25 4.51 3.65 4 .54 sto ry. SD 1.16 1.01 0.80 1.33 0.85
2. Would lik e to M 3.49 4.10 4.35 3.28 4.25 hear again. SD 1.34 1.23 0.9 2 1.52 1.10
3. Could be one o f M 3.03 3.69 3.99 3.16 4.19 my favorites. SD 1.40 1.29 1.13 1.57 1.20
F ifth Grade
1. Enjoyed the M 4.19 4.12 3.41 4.12 3.18 story. SD 0.8 4 0.95 1.11 0.99 1.32
2. Would 1ike to M 3.79 3.59 2.82 3.79 2.65 hear again. SD 1.01 1.07 1.35 1.08 1.41
3. Could be one o f M 3.29 2.95 2.68 3.49 2.63 my favorites SD 1.25 1.04 1.31 1.08 1.45
Sixth Grade
1. Enjoyed the M 3.97 3.80 3.39 3.82 4.78 story. SD 1.04 1.00 1.04 0.96 0.42
2. Would lik e to M 3.82 3.55 2.95 3.55 4.46 hear again. SD 0 .9 4 1.05 1.15 1.09 0.80
3. Could be one of M 3.5 4 3.2 4 2.90 3.07 4.14 my favorites. SD 1.12 1.32 1.37 1.33 1.08 141
Examination of these results indicate a marginal difference between the means and standard deviations for each story.
The preference ratings were also correlated to determine the relationship between the preference ratings and the type of story.
These findings are shown in Table 25.
TABLE 25
CORRELATION BETWEEN PREFERENCE RATINGS AND TYPE OF STORY
(N“822)
Preference vs. Level o f Preference Rating Type o f Story Type C o e ffic ie n t Sign ificano
1. Enjoyed the Animal 0.03 0 .20 s to ry . Fanciful & Humorous 0.03 0.19 Historical Fiction -0 .0 7 0 .0 2 * Mystery & Adventure -0 .0 5 0.06 Realistic Fiction 0.06 0 .0 4 *
2. Would lik e to Animal 0.009 0.40 hear again. Fanciful & Humorous 0.05 0.09 Historical Fiction -0 .0 7 0 .0 3 * Mystery & Adventure -0 .0 3 0.16 Realistic Fiction 0.05 0.10
3. Could be one Animal -0 .0 4 0 .1 4 of my favorites. Fanciful & Humorous -0 .0 2 0.33 Historical Fiction -0 .0 3 0.23 Mystery & Adventure -0 .0 3 0.19 Realistic Fiction 0.11 0.001*1
*Level of Significance ■ .05 **L evel o f Significance = .001
When these coefficients were compared, the third preference rating,
"Could be one of my favorites" is significant at the .001 level for realistic fiction. Negative coefficients are evidenced for preference ratings, "Enjoyed the story," and "Would like to hear again," in the historical fiction, at the .05 level of significance. All of the co efficients are negative for mystery stories. These results suggest a slight preference for realistic fiction. They also seem to suggest that when these students are given a choice of more than one type of story they would prefer another type over both mystery and historical fiction. These preference ratings w ill be examined more carefully through a discussion of the hypotheses.
The firs t hypothesis was stated as follows:
1. There is no statistically significant relationship between
children's preference of type of story and the racial
identity of the character.
The characters in each story were identified as: animal, Black and Non-Black. The correlations of the preference ratings and each character were obtained as shown in Table 26. TABLE 26
CORRELATIONS BETWEEN PREFERENCE RATINGS AND
IDENTITY OF CHARACTER
(N-822)
Identity of Preference vs. Level o f Preference Rating Character Character Coefficient Significance
1. Enjoyed the Animal 0.02 0.26 sto ry. Black -0 .1 4 0 .0 0 1 ** Non-Black 0.13 0 .0 0 1 **
2. Would lik e to Animal - 0.005 0 .45 hear again. Black -0 .13 0 .0 0 1 ** Non-Black 0.1 4 0 .0 0 1 **
3 . Could be one o f Animal - 0.06 0 .0 5 * my favorites. Black -0 .0 5 0.07 Non-Black 0.07 0 .0 3 *
*Level of Significance » .05 **Level o f S ignificance * .001
Examination of these results indicate no significant relation to
preference of animal character in the story. There is, however a
relation to preference and a human character in the story. The presence of a non-Black character in a story is significant at the .001 level of significance for preference ratings number one and number two; and
Is significant at the .05 level of significance for preference rating number three. All coefficients indicating preference for a story with
a Black character were negative. These negative relationships were
significant at the .001 level of significance for preference ratings number one and number two. This negative c o e ffic ie n t means th at w ith 144
all things equal, stories with non-Black characters were preferred
more often than stories with Black characters.
Since independent variables are measured on different scales this
Investigator examined the preference of different types of stories with
the independent variable of racial identity removed. A frequency count
was made to determine the number of responses made to each type of
story when the characters were either Black or non-Black. Table 27
presents the number of responses made to the stories by racial identity
of the character.
TABLE 27
FREQUENCY AND PERCENTAGE OF RESPONSES WHEN BLACK AND NON-BLACK
CHARACTERS ARE PRESENT IN THE STORY
(N-822)
Type o f Story Identity of Fanciful & H is to ric al Mystery & Reali s tic Character Animal Humorous F ic tio n Adventure F ic tio n f % f % f % f % f %
Black 0 0.0 67 37.9 56 34.1 55 33.3 114 75.5
Non-Black 165 100.0 110 62.1 108 65.9 110 66.6 37 24.5
Total 165 177 164 165 151 A Black character was identified in stories that received more than three-fourths of responses (75*5 percent) made to Realistic
Fiction stories. Approximately one-third of the responses made to
Historical Fiction stories (3^.1 percent) and to Mystery and Adventure stories (33.3 percent) were made to stories with Black characters.
Negative correlation coefficients were indicated in the analysis of the responses to two of these types of stories and a greater percentage of positive responses were made to one type of story with Black charac ters. Therefore, the responses to these three types of stories were analyzed to determine if the racial identity of the character was significant in the preference of these types of stories.
The multiple regression equation analysis was used to examine the relationship of story preference with racial identity removed. The regression coefficient was obtained as shown in Table 28. Animal stories and Fanciful and Humorous stories are not included in this analysis because a greater percentage of the responses were made to stories with non-Black or animal characters and the correlation co efficients were not negative. TABLE 28
CORRELATION OF PREFERENCE RATING WITH TYPE OF STORY
WITH RACIAL IDENTITY REMOVED
(N-822)
Identity of Preference vs. Level of Preference vs. F Preference Rating Character Type Coefficient Significance Type With Racial Ratio Id e n tity Removed
Historical Fiction
I. Enjoyed the story. Black -0 .0 7 0 .0 2 * -0 .0 5 1.68 2. Wou1d 1i ke to hea r aga1n. Black -0 .0 7 0 .0 3 * -0 .0 5 1.71 3. Could be one o f my favo ri tes. Black -0 .0 3 0.23 -0 .0 2 0.22
Mvsterv and Adventure
1. Enjoyed the story. Black -0 .0 5 0.06 -0 .0 7 3.49 2. Would like to hear again. Black -0 .0 3 0.16 -0 .0 4 1.57 3. Could be one of my favorites. Black -0 .0 3 0.19 -0 .0 3 0 .99 Realistic Fiction
1. Enjoyed the story. Black 0.06 0 .0 4 * 0.12 1 1 .6 5 ** 2. Would like to hear again. Black 0.05 0.10 0.09 7.35 3. Could be one o f my favori tes. Black 0.11 0 .0 0 1 ** 0.1 4 16 . 28**
*Level of Significance ■ .05 F-Ratio .05 Level of Significance at 3.92 **Level of Significance « .001 F-Ratio .001 Level of Significance at 10.83 1^7
Correlation coefficients for Historical Fiction and Mystery and
Adventure stories follow the existing pattern of negative coefficients.
Examination of the above F ratios, however, indicate that with the
identity of the character removed the coefficient is not significant
in either Historical Fiction or Mystery and Adventure stories. By contrast, the coefficient indicating a preference for Realistic Fiction, with racial identity removed is significant at the .05 level. The firs t hypothesis was rejected.
The second hypothesis was stated as follow s:
2. There is no significant relationship between the children's
preference of type of story and the setting of the story.
All settings were classified as urban or non-urban for evaluative purposes even though the s to ries were selected to include a v a rie ty o f different settings. A valley in Tennessee was the setting for The
White B1rd and the setting in Blackbriar was the countryside of England.
The settings in both stories were classified as non-urban. Come By
Here, a historical fiction story took place in Baltimore, Maryland in the early 1900's. The setting of the story was classified as urban, as was the s ettin g o f The 18th Emergency, which re la te s current tw entieth century experiences.
Correlations between the preference ratings for type of story and the setting of the story are shown in Table 29. In an attempt to determine if the location and time of the story were significant in the preference of the story, an analysis was made of preference for type o f story with the s ettin g removed. The resu lts are shown in Table 29. TABLE 29
CORRELATION OF PREFERENCE RATING WITH TYPE OF STORY
WITH THE SETTING OF THE STORY REMOVED
(N-822)
Preference vs. Level o f Preference vs. Preference Rating S etting Type C o e ffic ie n t Significance Type With F Setting Removed Ratio
Animal
1. Enjoyed the sto ry . Urban 0.03 0.20 0.03 0.78 2. Would lik e to hear again. Urban 0.009 O.kQ 0.01 0.08 3. Could be one o f my fa v o rite s . Urban -0.0k 0.14 -0 .0 3 0.94
Fanciful and Humorous
1. Enjoyed the s to ry . Urban 0.03 0.1 9 0.03 0.73 2. Would lik e to hear again. Urban 0.05 0.09 0.05 1.79 3. Could be one o f my fa v o rite s . Urban - 0.02 0.33 - 0.02 0.48
Historical Fiction
1. Enjoyed the s to ry . Urban -0.07 0 . 02* -0 .0 7 3.82 2. Would lik e to hear again. Urban -0 .0 7 0 .0 3 * -0 .0 7 3.67 3 . Could be one o f my fa v o rite s . Urban -0.03 0.23 - 0.02 0.33 TABLE 29 (Continued)
Preference vs. Level o f Preference vs. Preference Rating S etting Type C o e ffic ie n t Significance Type With F S etting Removed Ratio
Mystery and Adventure
1. Enjoyed the story. Urban -0 .0 5 0.06 - 0.06 2.65 2. Would lik e to hear again. Urban -0 .0 3 0.16 -0.0** 1.05 3. Could be one o f my favori tes. Urban -0 .0 3 0.19 -0 .1 2 0.12
Realistic Fiction
1. Enjoyed the sto ry. Urban 0.0 6 0..0*f* 0.07 3.77 2. Would lik e to hear again. Urban 0.0 5 0.10 0.05 1.96 3. Could be one o f my favori tes. Urban 0.11 0 .0 0 1 ** 0.10 9 .3 1 *
*Level of Significance - .05 F-R atio = .05 Level of Significance at 3.92 **Level of Significance « .001 F-R atio = .001 Level of Significance at 10.83 150
In the case of Realistic Fiction, according to the third preference rating, this type of story could be a favorite because of the setting. This was not surprising, since two of the realistic fic tio n books take place a t school where peers are in te ra c tin g with each other. The correlation coefficients obtained were low, however the results of the significance testing indicate that there is a statistically significant relationship between preference of type of story and the setting of the story. Therefore, the null hypothesis was rejected.
The third hypothesis was stated as follows:
3. There is no significant relationship between children's
preference of type of story and the age of the story's
ch aracter.
The age of the character in this Investigation was distinguished as the age o f a c h ild versus the age o f an a d u lt. The c o rre la tio n s between preference ratings for a type of story and the age of the character are shown in Table 30. The age of the character was removed to determine its significance in relationship to the preference of the type of story. These results are also shown in Table 30. TABLE 30 '
CORRELATION OF PREFERENCE RATING WITH TYPE OF STORY
WITH THE AGE OF THE STORY’ S CHARACTER REMOVED
(N=822)
Age o f Preference vs. Level o f Preference vs. Type Preference Rating Character Type C o e ffic ie n t Significance Wi th age of Charac- F te r Removed Ratio
Animal
1. Enjoyed the story. Child 0.03 0.20 0.02 0.46 2. Would like to hear again. Child 0.009 0.40 0.06 0.03 3. Could be one o f my favorites. Child -0 .04 0 .1 4 -0 .0 4 1.36
Fanci fu l and Humorous
1. Enjoyed the story. Child 0.03 0.19 0.06 3.40 2. Would like to hear again. Child 0.05 0.09 0.07 3.70 3. Could be one o f my favorites. Child - 0.02 0.33 -0 .0 0 5 0.02
Historical Fiction
1. Enjoyed the story. Child -0.07 0 .02* - 0.08 4.75 2. Would like to hear again. Child -0.07 0 .0 3 * -0 .0 7 4.10 * * 3 . Could be one o f my favorites. Child -0.03 0.23 -0 .0 3 0.67 TABLE 30 (Continued)
Age of Preference vs. Level of Preference vs. Type Preference Rating Character Type Coefficient Significance With Age of Charac- F te r Removed Ratio
Mystery and Adventure i. Enjoyed the story. Child -0 .0 5 0.06 - 0.06 3.13 2. Would like to hear again. Child -0 .0 3 0 .1 6 -0 .0 4 1.17 3 . Could be one o f my favori tes. Child -0 .0 3 0.19 -0 .0 3 0.9 4
Realistic Fiction
1. Enjoyed the story. Child 0.06 0‘. 04* 0.06 2.75 2. Would like to hear again. Child 0.05 0.10 0 .0 4 1.50 3 . Could be one o f my favori tes. Child 0.11 0.001** 0.11 10.27
*Level of Significance * .05 F-Ratio *» .05 Level of Significance at 3.92 **Level of Significance * .001 F-R atio *» .001 Level of Significance at 10.83
\J 1 ro 153
The pattern of responses continues to exist. When the age of the character is removed, the correlation coefficient remains negative and is significant at the .05 level for Historical Fiction stories.
Realistic Fiction is still the type of story preferred. As noted earlier, this type of story included books that contained a considerable amount of interacting between peers who could be the age of respondents in this investigation. The null hypothesis was rejected.
The fourth hypothesis was stated as follows:
k. There is no significant relationship between children's
preference of type of story and the sex of the story's
character.
The sex of the character was identified as male or female. The correlations of preference ratings with type of story with the sex of the story's character removed are shown in Table 31. TABLE 31
CORRELATION OF PREFERENCE RATING WITH TYPE OF STORY
WITH THE SEX OF THE STORY'S CHARACTER REMOVED
(N-822)
Sex o f Preference vs. Level o f Preference vs. Type Preference Rating Character Type Coefficient Significance With Sex of Charac- F te r Removed Ratio
Animal
1. Enjoyed the story. Male o r 0.03 0.20 0.03 0.87 Female 0.03 0.63 2. Would like to hear again. Male o r 0.009 0.40 0.01 0.09 Female 0.008 0.05 3. Could be one of my Male o r -0 .1 4 0 .1 4 -0 .0 4 1.11 fa v o rite s . Female -0 .0 4 1.20
Fanciful and Humorous
1. Enjoyed the story. Male o r 0.03 0.19 0.05 1.72 Female 0.01 0.16 2. Would like to hear again. Male o r 0.05 0.09 0.05 2.50 Female 0.0 4 1.17 3. Could be one of my Male o r - 0.02 0.33 - 0.01 0.10 favo ri te s . Female - 0.02 0.45
Historical Fiction
1. Enjoyed the story. Male o r -0 .0 7 0 .02* • 0.06 2.95 Female - 0.06 3.06 TABLE 31 (Continued)
Sex o f Preference vs. Level o f Preference vs. Type Preference Rating Character Type Coefficient Significance With Sex of Charac- F te r Removed Ratio
Historical Fiction (Cont'd.)
2. Would like to hear again. Male o r -0.07 0 .0 3 * - 0.06 3.28 Female - 0.06 3.16 3. Could be one o f my Male o r -0.03 0.23 - 0.02 0.43 favori tes. Female - 0.02 0 .4 4
Mystery and Adventure
1. Enjoyed the story. Male o r -0.05 0.06 -0 .0 7 4 .0 9 * Female -0 .0 5 1.93 2. Would like to hear again. Male o r -0.03 0.16 - 0 . 0** 1.49 Female -0 .0 3 0.7 4 3. Could be one o f my Male o r -0.03 0.19 -0 .0 4 1.08 favo ri te s . Female -0 .0 3 0.70
Realistic Fiction
1. Enjoyed the story. Male o r 0.06 0i04* 0.05 2.23 Female 0.07 3 .9 8 * 2. Would like to hear again. Male o r 0.06 0.10 0.0 4 1.32 Female 0.05 2.03 3. Could be one o f my Male o r 0.11 0 . 001** 0.11 10.44* favori tes. Fema1e 0.12 1 1 .1 3 **
*Level of Significance * .05 F-Ratio .05 Level of Significance at 3*92 vn **Level of Significance ■ .001 F-Ratio .001 Level of Significance at 10.83 vn Negative correlation coefficients are evidenced considerably
for Historical Fiction stories and Adventure stories. However, they are not significant. Realistic Fiction stories, on the other hand, can be a favorite type of story regardless of the character's sex.
Mystery and Adventure stories were not preferred when the sex of the character was removed. Correlation coefficients for both Realistic
Fiction stories and Mystery and Adventure stories are significant at the .05 level. The null hypothesis was rejected.
The fifth hypothesis was stated as follows:
5. There is no significant relationship between children's
preference of type of story and the grade level of the
reader.
The mean, median, and standard deviation were calcu lated fo r the preference rating of each type of story and at each grade level; fo u r, fiv e and s ix . The resu lts are reported in Table 32. 157
TABLE 32
MEAN, MEDIAN, AND STANDARD DEVIATION OF PREFERENCE
RATINGS BY TYPE OF STORY, TITLE OF STORY AND GRADE LEVEL
Type o f Grade Standan Preference Rating Story Level Mean Med i an Deviatic
1. Enjoyed the Animal Fourth 4.02 4.39 1.16 story. F ifth 4.19 4.28 0 .84 Sixth 3.97 4.12 1.04
2. Would lik e to Animal Fourth 3.49 3.67 1.34 hear again. ‘ F ifth . 3.19 3.87 1.02 Sixth 3.82 3.91 0 .9 4
3. Could be one Animal Fourth 3.03 3.00 1.40 of my favorites. F ifth 3.29 3.29 1.25 Sixth 3.54 3.55 1.12
i. Enjoyed the Fanciful & Fourth 4.25 0.00 1.00 sto ry. Humorous Fifth 4.12 4.24 0.95 Sixth 4.00 3.84 1.00
2. Would 1ike to Fanciful & Fourth 4.10 0.00 1.23 hear again. Humorous F ifth 3.59 3.76 1.07 Sixth 3.55 3.59 1.05
3. Could be one Fanciful £■ Fourth 3.69 3.89 1.29 o f my Humorous F ifth 2.95 2.98 1.04 favo ri tes. Sixth 3.2 4 3.53 1.32
1. Enjoyed the Historical Fourth 4.50 0.00 0.80 sto ry. F ic tio n F ifth 3.41 3.33 1 .11 Sixth 3.39 3.41 1.04
2. Would 1 ike to H is to ric a l Fourth 4.35 0.00 0.92 hear again. Fiction Fifth 2.82 2.85 1.35 Sixth 2.95 2.97 1.15
3. Could be one Historical Fourth 3.97 4.35 1.13 of my Fiction F ifth 2.68 2.56 1.31 favori tes. Sixth 2.90 2.88 1.37 158
TABLE 32 (Continued)
Type o f Grade Standard Preference Rating Story Level Mean Med i an D eviation
1. Enjoyed the Mystery & Fourth 3.65 3.97 1.33 story. Adventure Fifth 4.12 4.35 0.99 Sixth 3.82 3.88 0.96
2. Would lik e to Mystery & Fourth 3.28 3.44 1.52 hear again. Adventure F ifth 3.79 3.88 1.08 Sixth 3.55 3.71 1.09
3. Could be one Mystery & Fourth 3.16 3.29 1.57 o f my Adventure Fifth 3.49 1.08 favorites. . Sixth 3.07 3.09 1.33
1. Enjoyed the Realistic Fourth 4.54 0.00 0.85 story. Fiction Fifth 3.18 3.19 1.32 Sixth 4.78 0.00 0.42
2. WouId 1ike to Reali s tic Fourth 4.25 0.00 1.10 hear again. Fiction Fifth 2.65 2.64 1.41 Sixth 4.46 0.00 0.80
3. Could be one Reali s tic Fourth 4.19 0.00 1.20 of my Fiction Fifth 2.63 2.45 1.45 fa v o ri tes. Sixth 4.14 4.46 1.08
Table 33 shows the differences between means of preference ratings of grades four and five, five and six, and four and six for each story and for the total scores.
To determine whether the difference between the means is significant between grade levels the F values were computed. An analysis of the variations in the difference between means is shown in Table 33. TABLE 33
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MEANS OF THE
PREFERENCE RATINGS BY GRADE LEVEL AND TYPE OF STORY
(N =822)***
Type o f Story Grade Fanci ful S- Historical Mystery & Reali s tic Preference Rating Level Animal Humorous F ic tio n Adventure F ic tio n
1. Enjoyed the story. Four/ 1.92 1.12 1.93 1.78 2.41 2. Would like to hear Five again. 1.74 1.33 2.15 1.97 1.62 3. Could be one of my favorites 1.26 1.54 1.34 2.13 1.47
1. Enjoyed the story. F iv e / 1.53 1.11 1.13 1.06 9 .9 7 * 2. Would like to hear Six again. 1.17 1.05 1.39 1.01 3.08 3. Could be one of my favo ri tes. 1.24 1.61 1.10 1.52 1.80 1. Enjoyed the story. Four/ 1.26 1.01 1.71 1.89 4 .1 4 * 2. Would like to hear Six again. 2.03 1.39 1.55 1.95 1.89 3. Could be one of my favo ri tes. 1.57 1.04 1.47 1.40 1.22
*Level of Significance ■ .05 F-Ratio * .05 Level of Significance at 3-92 **Level Significance ■ .001 F-Ratio ■ .001 Level of Significance at 10.83 ***N-Grade Level 4-5 A-126, F-126, H-125, M-110, R-114 Grade Level 5-6 A-92, F-110, H-95, M-122, R-86 Grade Level 4-6 A-92, F-118, H-108, M- 98 , R-102 160
It is noted in Table 33 that differences do exist between grade levels, however there is no distinct pattern of differences.
An examination of Table 33, suggests that when preferences for books are compared between grade levels th at la rg e r d ifferen ces exist in grades five and six than in four and six for Realistic
F ic tio n . The sm allest d iffe re n ce is between grades four and fiv e .
For Historical Fiction the greatest difference exist between grades four and five, four and six, and five and six respectively. The largest difference is shown again between grades four and five for
Animal stories, then five and six and four and six. Mystery and
Adventure stories indicate the greatest difference between grades four and six, with four and five following and then five and six.
The smallest difference shown between grade levels was for Fanciful and Humorous stories with 1.12 as the difference between grades four and fiv e , 1.11 between grades fiv e and s ix , and 1.01 between grades four and six. Realistic Fiction is the only type of story where a difference is significant. This pattern has continuously existed.
The null hypothesis was, th e re fo re , rejected .
The sixth hypothesis was stated as follows:
6. There is no significant relationship between children's
preference of type of story and their reading achievement
score.
The mean, median, standard d eviation and range were calculated from the reading achievement scores for each group of respondents to a particular type of story. The results are reported in Table 3^« 161
TABLE 3k
MEAN, MEDIAN, STANDARD DEVIATION, AND RANGE
OF THE READING ACHIEVEMENT SCORES FOR THE RESPONDENTS
BY TYPE OF STORY, TITLE OF STORY AND GRADE LEVEL
(N-822)
Grade Type and T it ie Standard Level of Story Mean Med 1 an Deviation Range
Animal
Fourth Hurry Home, Candy 433.22 431.25 90.20 370.00 F ifth The Greyhound 464.84 425.00 134.00 455.00 Sixth J u lie o f the Wolves 528.08 528.98 119.90 440.00
Fanciful & Humorous
Fourth Jennifer, Hecate, Mac beth, William McKinley, and Me, E )1zabeth 479.92 477.50 115.56 390.00 F ifth The Cat Who Wished to Be A Man 455.53 404.40 131.10 455.00 Sixth The Pushcart War 510.39 500.00 114.63 440.00
Historical Fiction
Fourth The Wh i te B i rd 446.38 435.75 112.04 390.00 F ifth Come By Here 430.09 405.00 106.42 450.00 Sixth The Slave Dancer 564.10 560.83 140.96 540.00
Mystery £ Adventure
Fourth Dorp Dead 414.88 421.25 77.59 275.00 F ifth B lackb riar 429.62 392.50 137.80 535.00 Sixth The House of Dies Drear 492.64 460.63 113.78 540.00
Realistic Fiction
Fourth My Brother Stevie 483.44 490.00 112.60 390.00 F ifth How Many M iles to Babylon? 399.58 392.50 100.56 500.00 Sixth The 18th Emergency 507.16 461.43 133.39 540.00 The range scores were used as a measure of comparison to determine
the sim ilarity in reading achievement scores at the three grade levels.
The overall range extends from 275.00 the lowest measure, at the
fourth grade level to 540.00, the highest measure, at the sixth grade
level. A comparison was made of the measures of range within each
type of story. For animal stories and fanciful and humorous stories,
the range of 455.00 at the fifth grade level was higher than 440.00 at the sixth grade level which was higher than 390.00 and 370.00 at
the fourth grade level. The difference between the range of 540.00 at the sixth grade level for mystery stories and 535.00 at the fifth grade level was the smallest measure of difference. This same fifth grade range of 535.00 also indicated the largest difference in range when compared to 275.00 at the fourth grade level.
The mean and the standard deviation are also presented in Table 34 to give a reasonable description of the reading achievement levels of the groups of students responding to the stories in this investigation.
C orrelations between reading achievement te s t scores and preference ratings for types of stories are reported in Table 35. 163
TABLE 35
CORRELATION OF ALL READING ACHIEVEMENT SCORES WITH
PREFERENCE RATINGS FOR ALL TYPES OF STORIES
(N=822)
Reading Achievement Level o f Preference Ratings Coefficient Significance
1. Enjoyed the story. 0.07 0 .0 3 *
2. Would like to hear again. 0.07 0 .0 2 *
3. Could be one o f my favori tes. 0.03 0 .22
*Level of Significance ** .05 **Level of Significance * .001
The level of significance for this hypothesis was significant at the .05 level. The null hypothesis was thereby rejected.
The seventh hypothesis was stated as follows:
7. There is significant relationship between children’s
preference of type of story and socio-economic level.
Table 36 shows the observed frequencies and percentage of responses made to stories by types and title of book, school setting and incidence o f Aide to Dependent Children (ADC). The re la tio n s h ip between pre ference rating and socio-economic level* was examined.
*The socio-economic level is established fo r the to ta l school pop ulation by the percentage of children enrolled who receive Aide to Dependent Children. This investigator used the same information as the basis to identify the socio-economic level of students participating In this investigation. TABLE 36
FREQUENCY AND PERCENTAGE OF RESPONSES TO STORIES
BY TYPE AND TITLE OF BOOK, SCHOOL, AND INCIDENCE OF ADC
(N**822)
Incidence of ADC* (Percentage) Type and Title of Book .75 .50 .37 .3A .29 .19 -12 .0 Total and Grade Level School > 7 ^ 5 6 3 2 8 1
Animal (N"l65)
Hurry Home, Candy (A) f 22 21 20 63 % 34.9 33.3 31.7 The Greyhound (5) f 19 13 31 63 % 30.2 20.6 A9.2 J u lie o f the Wolves (6) f 20 19 39 % 51.3 A8.7
Fanciful £ Humorous (N«*l77)
Jennifer, Hecate, Macbeth, f 22 25 20 67 William McKinley, and Me, % 32.8 37.3 29.9 Elizabeth (A) The Cat Who Wished to Be f 17 31 11 59 A Man (5) % 28.8 52.5 18.6 The Pushcart War (6) f 18 19 1A 51 % 35.3 37.2 27.5
O' -p- TABLE 36 (Continued)
f
Incidence of ADC* (Percentage) Type and Title of Book .75 .50 .37 .34 .29 .19 .12 .0 Total and Grade Level School — > 7 4 5 6 3 2 8 1
Historical Fiction (N=l64)
White Bird (4) f 22 22 25 69 % 31.9 31.9 36.2 Come By Here (5) f 19 23 14 56 */. 33.9 41.1 25.0 The Slaver Dancer (6) f 14 25 39 35.9 64.1
Mystery S- Adventure (N=l65)
Dorp Dead (4) f 21 22 43 % *t8.8 51.2 Blackbriar (5) f 24 30 13 67 % 35.8 44.8 19.4 House of Dies Drear (6) f 39 16 55 % 70.9 29.1 TABLE 36 (Continued)
Incidence of ADC* (Percentage) Type and T itle of Book .75 .50 .37 .34 .29 .19 .12 .0 Total and Grade Level School — ^ 7 4 5 6 3 2 8 1
Realistic Fiction (Na15l)
My Brother Stevie (4) f 21 24 20 65 % 32.3 36.9 30.8 How Many M iles to f 24 13 12 49 Babylon? (5) % 49.9 26.5 24.5 The 18th Emergency (6) f 23 14 37 % 62.2 37.8
Totals 57 180 71 65 78 157 74 140 822
O' ON Even though the books read In this Investigation were randomly selected for each school, students in different schools may have read one or more of the same books. To determine if differences exist between preferences of books at different socio-economic levels the mean preference rating for each story and the socio-economic level were computed. A m u ltip le regression equation was used to remove the socio-economic level within each school. An analysis of the results is presented In Table 37.
Low correlation coefficients .were found within each preference rating. The significance of the correlations were tested using the
F value to indicate the degree of relationship between preference for a type of story and socio-economic level. The F values of 4.08 was significant at the .05 level and 12.61 was significant at the .001 level. Since all F values were below the required values it was assumed that no relationship existed between preference of type of story and socio-economic level. Therefore, the null hypothesis was not rejected. TABLE 37
CORRELATION OF PREFERENCE RATING WITH TYPE OF STORY
WITH SOCIO-ECONOMIC LEVEL REMOVED
(N*=8)
Type o f Preference vs. Level o f Preference vs. Preference Rating Story Type C o e ffic ie n t S i gn! f i cance Type With Socio- Economic Level F Removed Ratio
1. Enjoyed the story. Animal 0.03 0.20 0.10 0.36 Fanciful S Humorous 0.03 0.19 0.06 0.15 Historical Fiction -0 .0 7 0 .0 2 * -0 .1 8 1.19 Mystery £■ Adventure -0 .0 5 0.06 -0 .1 0 0.40 Realistic Fiction 0.06 0 .0 4 * 0.11 0.42
2. Would like to hear Animal 0.009 0.40 0.05 0.10 again. Fanciful & Humorous 0.05 0.09 0.10 0.39 Historical Fiction -0 .0 7 0 .0 3 * -0 .1 7 1.13 Mystery & Adventure -0 .0 3 0 .16 -0 .0 5 0.10 Realistic Fiction 0.05 0.10 0.06 0.13 3. Could be one of Animal -0.04 0.14 -0.08 0.21 my fa v o rite s . Fanciful S- Humorous -0 .0 2 0.33 -0 .0 5 0.09 Historical Fiction -0.03 0.23 -0.09 0.33 Mystery £■ Adventure -0 .0 3 0.19 -0 .0 5 0.10 Realistic Fiction 0.11 0.001** 0.27 2.87
*Level of Significance ** .05 F-Ratio == .05 Level of Significance at 4.10 **Level of Significance =* .001 F-Ratio ■ .001 Level of Significance at 12.61
£ 169
Summary
An analysis of the 822 responses made by 307 Black urban children to fifteen stories was presented in Chapter IV. The analysis indicated the relationship of such literary elements as character and setting to preference for particular types of stories.
The Snoopy Response instrument proved to be quite a satisfactory method to e l i c i t responses fo r purposes o f th is investigation. The frequency and percentage of responses to three preference ratings were calculated and examined. Correlations and m ultip le regression analysis were the s ta tis tic s used to test the hypotheses.
No appreciable difference was found when the probability values were calculated. Low correlations made it possible to note slight significant differences. CHAPTER V
SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Purposes of the Investigation
This investigation of the responses of fourth, fifth , and sixth grade Black urban children to selected children's books had three major purposes: (1) To determine which books selected for the investigation are enjoyed most by fourth, fifth , aid sixth grade students. (2) To analyze the relatio n sh ip s between preferences fo r types o f books and such characteristics as the type of story, the characters, and the setting. (3) To compare any relationships of difference in students' preference of story and understanding of story with regard to sex, grade level and socio-economic level. Specifically, this investigation attempted to answer the following questions:
1. What types o f books do Black urban children enjoy the most?
2. Would the preference of stories be similar at ali three grade
levels, or do fourth, fifth , and sixth grade children prefer
different types of stories?
3 . Would boys and g ir ls in d icate the same preferences fo r
particular types of stories?
k. Do children prefer contemporary stories that reflect problems
which are similar to their life experiences?
170 171
5. Would the preference of stories be different with respect
to the socio-economic level of the student?
6. Would fourth, fifth, and sixth grade children enjoy
listening to stories everyday?
Methods o f Procedure
Thirteen elementary schools in the Columbus (Ohio) Public School
District with predominately Black student enrollments were identified by the investigator. The principals of the thirteen schools were contacted by letter requesting permission to conduct this investigation
in their schools. Permission was granted by the principals. A letter and a five-item questionnaire were sent to the one hundred twenty-nine fourth, fifth and sixth grade teachers in the thirteen schools. Eighty- one teachers returned the completed questionnaire. Sixty-one percent of the teachers returning completed questionnaires agreed to participate in the investigation. A random selection was made to identify fifteen teachers. The fifteen teachers randomly selected were assigned to eig h t d iffe r e n t schools. These teachers were asked to read books aloud to their students on a daily basis.
A total of fifteen books were used in this investigation. The books selected included a v a rie ty o f c h a ra c te ris tic s and represented different genre and content. A panel of three judges evaluated the content of each story on-the basis of twenty-four literary factors.
These factors were evidenced in earlier children's literature research as factors that appeal to children. 172
The Snoopy Response Instrument developed by Terry was adapted
and used to obtain responses from 422 student respondents to the
fifteen books. The instrument consisted of two sections. A numerical
scale of 5 through 1 was used to rate the responses made to the stories.
The responses ranged from "It's greatj" to "I hate it!" Information
was obtained from these ratings to answer: (I) How much do you like
this story? (2) Would you like to hear this story again? (3) Could this
be one o f your fa v o rite stories? The second section o f the response
booklet asked the students to: (1) Tell why you liked this story.
(2) Tell why you disliked this story. These written responses were
classified according to Squire's seven categories of response:
(I) Literary Judgments, (II) Interpretational Responses, (III) Narra-
tional Reactions, (IV) Associational Responses, (V) Self-involvement,
(VI) Prescriptive Judgments, and (VII) Miscellaneous. The written
response was made to each story read on the day the story was completed.
The students listened to fifteen different books read aloud by
the classroom teacher for a thirty-minute period, on a daily basis.
Each student rated three stories or the number of stories listened to when less than three stories were read. When the response booklets were completed for each story they were collected by the investigator.
The data analysis involved a review o f the fifte e n books to determine the most preferred stories by type and title and to analyze
the elements that seemed to account for the preferences. The null hypotheses were tested using correlations and regression analysis.
Correlation coefficients used were the Pearson product-moment 173
coefficients. Correlation coefficients were calculated for each type of story with the three books as a group and separately for each type of story with three preference ratings. A correlation coefficient for each preference rating for each type of story for a composite of all students was also calculated. In these calculations, responses to each question of the preference rating were analyzed in accordance with assigned numerical values of 1, 2, 3, *+» 5, on a semantial differential scale. The results were reported in table form In
Chapter IV.
Results of Tested Hypotheses
The firs t hypothesis was stated as follows:
1. There is no significant relationship between children's
preference of type of story and the racial identity of the
character.
The Pearson correlation coefficient indicated a significant rela tionship between children's preference of type of story and the racial
Identity of the character at different grade levels. The findings
Indicated that children in the fourth grade liked Historical Fiction and Mystery and Adventure s to ries more than f i f t h graders and sixth graders. Fifth graders enjoyed Mystery and Adventure more than sixth graders. Sixth graders enjoyed realistic fiction more than fourth graders, and both the fourth and the sixth graders preference for realistic fiction was greater than the fifth graders when compared.
Of the three stories enjoyed least, Come By Here and The Slave Dancer, are Historical Fiction; and How Many Miles to Babylon?, is a Realistic m
Fiction. Negative correlation coefficients were evidenced for these three stories. Students indicated in their written responses that they did not like some of the stories because the Biack characters were m istreated in them. The m u ltip le regression an alysis was used to determine the preference o f the story with ra c ia l id e n tity removed.
The findings indicated a marginal difference, therefore, the first hypothesis was rejected.
The second hypothesis was stated as follow s:
2. There is no significant relationship between the children's
preference of type of story and the setting of the story.
The correlation coefficients obtained were low, however the results of the significance testing indicate that there is a statistically significant relationship between preference of type of story and the setting of the story. The null hypothesis was rejected.
The third hypothesis was stated as follows:
3. There is no significant relationship between children's
preference of type of story and the age of the story's
ch aracter.
This hypothesis was rejected at the .001 level of significance.
The positive correlation coefficient for the child character and the negative correlation coefficient for the adult character evidenced in these findings Indicated-a significant relationship between the chil dren's preference of type of story and the age of the story's character. 175
The fourth hypothesis was stated as follows:
4, There is no significant relationship between children's
preference of type of story and the sex of the story's
character.
The findings indicated that boys and girls like stories with male
and female characters. There was no significant difference, except in
the rating of "Enjoyed the story." When this preference rating was correlated with a female character in the story it was significant at
the .05 level. Mystery and Adventure stories were not preferred when
the sex o f the character was removed. C o rrelatio n c o e ffic ie n ts fo r
Realistic Fiction stories and Mystery and Adventure stories were significant at the .05 level. The null hypothesis was rejected.
Several points should be made about the analysis of responses described in Hypothesis I, Hypothesis 2, Hypothesis 3, and Hypothesis k.
First of a ll, the negative correlation coefficients for each preference rating is small, which indicated a very low level of relationship. In addition, these coefficients were significant a minimum number of times
(3 times) when compared to the number of times not significant (37 tim e s ).
There is also the possibility that the respondents to these s to ries may have been sen s itiv e to the content o f the s to rie s used in this investigation. Many of the written responses indicated why the stories were liked or disliked included such statements. If this line of reasoning is accurate, negative correlation coefficients are not surprisingly noted for Historical Fiction and Mystery and Adventure s to rie s . 176
The fifth hypothesis was stated as follows:
5. There is no significant relationship between children’s
preference of type of story and the grade level of the
reader.
Realistic Fiction is the single type of story that indicates a s ig n ific a n t d iffe re n c e . The greatest d iffe re n ce is evidenced between grades five and six. When the Realistic Fiction stories read at grades five and six were ranked in order of preference The 18th
Emergency is ranked f i r s t and How Many Miles to Babylon? is number fifteen on the list. The difference between grades four and six is also s ig n ific a n t even though My Brother Stevie is th ird on the l i s t of fifteen. The analysis of differences of preference ratings between grade levels suggests that difference exist more in degree than in type of story. However, the hypothesis was rejected.
The sixth hypothesis was stated as follows:
6. There is no significant relationship between children's
preference of type of story and their reading achievement
score.
The reading achievement scores were correlated with the three preference ratings of the fifteen stories at the three grade levels.
The findings indicated only slight significant differences. The hypothesis, however, was rejected at the .05 level of significance. The seventh hypothesis was stated as follow s:
7. There is no significant relationship between children's
preference of type of story and their socio-economic level.
The socio-economic data used in th is in vestig atio n was not data collected for each individual respondent. It was the general socio economic data as id e n tifie d fo r each school. The socio-economic levels were removed from the correlation of preference rating and type of story by the multiple regression equation. The F values for this hypothesis were not significant at the .05 level of significance.
The null hypothesis was not rejected.
Findings
On the basis of data gathered in this investigation, the findings are as follows.
1. Fourth, fifth , and sixth grade Black urban children enrolled
in the predominately Black student populated elementary
schools of the Columbus Public School D istrict enjoyed
listening to stories read aloud.
2. The s to ries most p referred by these fo u rth , f i f t h , and
sixth grade Black urban children contained elements of
humor, actio n , excitem ent, suspense, fam i1ia r experiences,
and unique experiences. There was appreciable differences in the correlations of preference ratings for stories, therefore preferences are not easy to predict. It is assumed however, that the
Realistic Fiction and the Fanciful and Humorous selections used in th is in vestig atio n were enjoyed most. The story enjoyed most was dependent upon its content and the way it was delineated in the story, rather than the type of story.
For example, Realistic Fiction was rated highly when the character was treated positively and when the students could accept or relate to the character. Johns (1971) reported similar findings from his study. He found that Black chil dren preferred the illustrations and passages from selected stories when the character was portrayed positively. He used illustrations with non-Black characters to portray positive images and Black characters were portrayed with negative images. This forced the Black students to accept non-Black characters in order to identify the preferred character portrayal, in the present investigation, Black urban students heard different stories. The Black character was portrayed both positively and negatively. Therefore, they were permitted to make a choice of a story based on more than one c h a ra c te ris tic . The two kinds of stories enjoyed least were historical
fiction and mystery and adventure stories. An analysis of the students' written responses to the stories they
enjoyed least indicated that the stories were rejected on
the basis of the treatment to Black characters and the
language used to convey certain feelings.
Stories were enjoyed most by these fo u rth , f i f t h , and s ix th
grade Black urban children when the character was a child o r an anim al.
Stories with unfamiliar settings were enjoyed equally as well as stories with familiar settings. Therefore, the
settings of the stories did not affect the enjoyment of the
s to rie s .
Scores on standardized reading tests were not significant when correlated with the positive correlation coefficients
for preference ratings of stories listened to. The lack of significance between reading achievement test scores and preference for a story, when children listened to stories
read, might possibly suggest that the ability to read need not be a prerequisite to enjoy literary selections.
The inclusion of socio-economic level was included in this
Investigation to examine, in a very general manner, the
relationship, if any, to the preference of a story. Accord
ing to responses to stories listened to In this investigation
there is no relationship to preference of type of story and socio-economic level. 180
Conclusions
The major conclusions based on the findings of this investigation are as follow s:
1. Black urban children in grades four, five and six enjoy
listening to stories read aloud.
2. All types of stories are enjoyed by Black urban children in
grades four, five, and six. Some stories, however, are
enjoyed more than others depending largely upon the content
of the story, especially the treatment of the characters and
the language used.
3. Fourth, fifth , and sixth grade Black urban children do not
like the use of derogatory language in stories of historical
fic tio n .
k. All realistic fiction stories are not enjoyed by Black urban
children, rather it depends upon the content of the story
and the fa m ilia r ity o f experiences.
5. Black urban children in grades four, five, and six enjoyed
stories with unfamiliar settings and non-Black characters
more than they enjoyed stories with Black characters involved
in unpleasant situations. For example, two stories, The
Greyhound and How Many Miles To Babylon? are s im ila r in
character identification by sex and age. Both stories involve
a boy interacting with a dog, and both were read at the fifth
grade level. The Greyhound, with the non-Black character was
enjoyed but How Many Miles to Babylon? with the Black
character was not enjoyed. The findings of this Investigation suggest that historical fiction should be introduced with selections from such documentaries as Julius Lester's To Be A Slave (1969), in order to set the stage for listening to longer and more detailed stories, in addition, discussions of historical fiction stories should be conducted perspective of the period in which the content is characteristic of. A current musical tune, "Ship Ahoy" by a popular group known as The
O'Jays might be used to help Black urban fourth, fifth , and sixth grade children understand the historical period of
The Slave Dancer.
Follow-up discussions and activities w ill help Black urban fourth, fifth , and sixth grade children understand the content of the stories better which will lead to more enjoyment.
Since the fourth, fifth , and sixth grade children in this investigation enjoyed some books of all genre, there is no reason to suggest that Black children only like relevant stories. Appreciation of literature suggests enjoyment of a wide diversity of stories. This can begin with the books the teacher chooses to read aloud. 182
9. Contrary to the above conclusions, many publishers today
are producing books with Black characters in only realistic
fiction. This substantiated by the difficult times this
w rite r had in fin d in g books o f fantasy, humor, and mystery
that had Black characters. If children are to have a rich
literature experience, they need to meet characters of all
races and ethnic groups in all kinds of literature.
Recommendations
On the basis of the findings and conclusions of this investigation, the follow ing recommendations are made by the w rite r.
1. A ll elementary school teachers should develop and maintain
a planned time to read aloud to children. They should not
be limited in the types of books they introduce and share
with children.
2. There is a need for elementary teachers to help children
increase their knowledge about the types of stories they
are not enjoying through the presentation of several similar
s to rie s to compare and contrast.
3. There is a need for elementary teachers to learn the value of
a read aloud program and accept i t as an in te g ral p art o f
their total reading program. Reading aloud can spark an
interest in learning to read and wanting to read. 4. Reading aloud provides the elementary teacher the oppor
tunity to present characters of different racial and ethnic
backgrounds so that they may be seen in a variety of ,
s itu a tio n s which might help to change a ttitu d e s and develop
more positive concepts about the differences of people.
5. There is a need for elementary teachers to increase their
knowledge of children's literature by periodically taking a
course in children's literature and regularly reading pro
fessional journals and magazines that review and discuss
children’s books.
Suggestions for Further Research
Considering the findings and conclusions of this investigation, the following research endeavors are suggested for future study.
1. A variation of this study might beto have all classes at
each grade level respond to every type o f book (a t the
particular grade level) included in the investigation.
This would test the preferences of children who had all
been exposed to the same title s .
2. There is a need fo r reading in te re s t studies to be based
upon children's reactions to whole books rather than
passages or selections taken from books; and annotated
title s such as many studies have used. A similar study could be made of white children's reactions to black and white characters in a wide variety of types of books.
Another interesting study would be to take some of the least enjoyed stories in this study and determine if through proper introduction and discussion children's enjoyment would increase fo r them.
I f more books with Black characters become a v a ila b le , a study of "paired books" might be undertaken.
A longitudinal study of the effect of a carefully planned read aloud literature program from kindergarten through sixth grade should be considered by a school district or a research council working with a school over a period of years.
Given more time, a study of children's oral responses to read aloud books should be considered.
A comparison of children's oral responses and written responses to a sm aller number o f books might prove f r u i t f u l .
An interesting study might be to determine the effect of a six week-independent study of Black literature of all kinds, including poetry, folktales, historical fiction, fantasy and r e a lis tic fic t io n . C h ild ren 's responses might be measured before and a fte r such a study. APPENDIX A
STORIES USED IN THE INVESTIGATION
185 186
Settings and Times o f Stories
All of the stories used in this investigation take place in
varied sections of the United States except one story, Blackbriar.
which takes place in England. Some of the stories begin in one locale
and end in another, depending upon the sequence o f events. One o f
the stories The Slave Dancer begins in a southern city, travels across
the ocean to Africa and ends back where it started. Another story
Julie of the Wolves, begins in the land of the Eskimo, moves across
the barren land of Alaska and ends in California. .
The settings are both urban and rural living. They are vividly
depicted to authenticate the plots. The rural wilderness with its
vast emptiness is as impressionable in The White Bi rd as the congestion of the city is felt in How Many Miles to Babylon?
The time span covers a period of one hundred thirty-six years.
The Slave Dancer is from the past, as long ago as 1840, w hile The
Pushcart War takes the characters into the future of 1976. The 18th
Emergency shares the time of the present and an everyday setting. 187
TABLE 38
RACIAL IDENTITY OF CHARACTERS IN STORIES
Type and T it le o f Story Black Non-Black
Animal
Hurry Home, Candy X The Greyhound X J u lie o f the Wolves X
Fanciful and Humorous
Jennifer, Hecate, Macbeth, Wi11iam'McKinley and Me, E lizabeth X X The Cat Who Wished to Be A Man X The Pushcart War X
HIstorical Fiction
The White Bird X Come By Here X The Slave Dancer X X
Mystery and Adventure
Dorp Dead X Blackbriar X The House o f Dies Drear X My Brother Stevie X How Many Miles to Babylon? X The 18th Emergency X 188
TABLE 39
AGE AND SEX OF MAJOR CHARACTERS IN STORIES
Child Adul t Type and Title of Story M FM F
Animal
Hurry Home, Candy XXX The Greyhound X J u lle o f the Wolves X
Fanciful and Humorous
Jennifer, Hecate, Macbeth, William McKinley and Me, Elizabeth X The Cat Who Wished to be A Man X X The Pushcart War XXX
Historical Fiction
The White Bird XX Come By Here X The Slave Dancer X X
Mystery and Adventure
Dorp Dead X X Blackbriar X X The House of Dies Drear X X My Brother Stevie X X X How Many M iles to Babylon? X X The 18th Emergency X Bulla, Robert Clyde. The Whi te Bi rd. Illustrated by Leonard
Weisgard. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell, 1966, 79 pp.
This story takes place in Tennessee during the 19th century.
Luke lives alone in the wilderness and rears John Thomas, a boy he rescued from a flood as a baby. They live in complete isolation u n til John Thomas rescues a wounded white crow and makes a pet out of him. Luke even resents the fact that the boy has a pet and one day he gave the pet to some passing travelers. When John Thomas discovered the pet missing, he went in search of him. His introduction to another way of life helped him to understand that all things were not the way Luke had explained them and he was better able to under stand Luke's way of life . 190
Coolidge, Olivia. Come By Here. Illustrated by Milton Johnson.
New York: H oughton-M ifflin and Company.
Minty Lou Payson is suddenly l e f t alone when her parents are killed In a car accident in the early 1900's. She is sent to live with relatives who are not as economically successful as her parents had been. She a c tu a lly fig h ts fo r survival as she is sent from one relative to another. The struggle of the Black citizens to attain recognition in Baltimore at the turn of the century is realistically depicted. 191
Fox, Paula. The Slave Dancer. Illustrated by Eras Keith. Scarsdale,
New York: Bradbury Press, Inc., 1974, 176 pp.
In 1840, Jessie Bollier was curious about the happenings on the square in New Orleans. While peering about and playing his fife one evening he was kidnapped and taken aboard the Moonlight, a slave ship.
The ship was ready for sail and during a four month voyage, Jessie is required to play his fife for the shackled, enslaved Africans to dance.
Jessie Is told that dancing would help them maintain their health.
He was soon to learn that the treatment was inhumane and degrading to mankind. A young slave and Jessie escape after a shipwreck, but not before he saw much horror and torture inflicted. 192
Konigsburg, E.L. Jennifer. Hecate. Macbeth. Ui11 lam McKinley, and
Me. E lIza b e th . New York: Atheneum Publishers, 1967, 117 pp.
A unique, imaginative tale about Jennifer, who claims to be a witch and Elizabeth, who becomes an apprentice witch to Jennifer. The two g ir ls are dressed in Halloween costumes when they meet. Jen n ifer told Elizabeth that she is a witch and Elizabeth believes it, especially since Jennifer knew Elizabeth's name on their first meeting. The tw> girls enjoy many intriguing adventures. A warm and humorous friendship is developed, but not before Jennifer demonstrates some of her "witchy" and magical powers. She involves Elizabeth in many usually witty and inventive ways to collect treats as Elizabeth learns to be a witch
One incident helps Jennifer and Elizabeth to forget the pretense of being witches and accept each oth er fo r who they are. 193
Alexander, Lloyd. The Cat Who Wlshed to Be A Han. New York: E.P.
Dutton, 1973, 107 pp.
L io n e l, the w izard 's c a t, Is given the power o f speech and the shape o f a man, against his m aster's b e tte r judgment. He is warned against the ways of humans and is made to promise that he w ill return home without delay, if he was in distress. His lack of knowledge and judgment leads him into a series of entanglements and narrow escapes.
But his courage, determination and love for Gillian helps him to acquire stronger human qualities and he decides to remain a man. 194
M errill, Jean. The Pushcart War. Illustrated by Ronni Solbert.
New York: William R. Scott, Inc., Publishers, 1964, 223 pp.
The tra ffic jams and numerous accidents caused some prominent citizens to become upset and many other residents in New York City to become irritated . The consequence was war - the famous Pushcart War o f 1976.
It all started when the pushcart of Morris, the Florist was plowed into by a Mighty Mammoth truck driven by Mack. Mighty Mammoth is one-third of the Big Three Trucking industry with Baby Mammoth and
Mamma Mammoth.
After Morris1 unfortunate incident the 500 pushcart peddlers organized to plan a retaliation against the trucks. It was decided that the tires on all the trucks should be flattened. For this major feat a secret weapon was devised - a pea-tack pea shooter. Everyone became involved, including children, politicians, and even a movie s ta r. 195
G r if f it h s , Helen. The Greyhound. Illu s tr a te d by V ic to r G. Ambrus.
Garden C ity , New York: Doubleday and C o., In c ., 196^+, 180 pp.
Jamie finally got the dog that he wanted so badly, but because of conflicts with his mother he cannot take the dog home. Silver, as
Jamie calls him, is hidden in an old London basement. In order to feed S ilv e r, he borrows money to buy food from a frie n d . When he is unable to pay, he is forced to help a gang in robberies. 196
DeJong, M eindert. Hurry Home. Candy. Pictures by Maurice Sendak.
New York: Harper and Row, Publishers, 1953, 2kk pp.
One day a boy and g ir l found a stray dog and took her home to
liv e w ith them. They calle d her Candy and loved her very much, but
they did not learn to take care of her. When the children were away,
Cindy was constantly punished with a broom, by the mother, fo r doing
puppy-1 Ike things. While out for a trip in the country Candy becomes
lost from the family during a storm, and her life as a stray begins all over again. She makes a desperate search for a secure home with love
and warmth and food. However, whenever she sees a broom she is
t e r r if ie d and runs away again. The broom, a constant reminder o f punishment for having done something wrong, forces her to remain in
the lonely existence of a stray animal. After an accidental encounter w ith a broom she is rescued by a Captain and i t seemed as i f she had
found a home u n til another accident frightened her and she was lo st
from the Captain. She returns to the Captain and a secure home later, but only when the source of her fear is discovered. 197
George, Jean Craighead. J u lie o f the Wolves. Illu s tr a te d by John
Schoenherr. New York: Harper and Row, Publishers, 1972, 170 pp.
In her attempt to flee an arranged marriage (at thirteen) Julie decides to run away. J u lie (Miyax is her Eskimo name) liv e s through the dangers and te rro rs alone as she crosses the A rc tic region from her home in Alaska en route to a friend's home in California.
Her rich Eskimo c u ltu re and the inform ation gained about wolves from her father helps her to survive the terrors of losing directions and facing storms in profound temperatures.
She learns to communicate w ith the wolves by watching them care fully, and develops a friendship with the leader of the wolf pack,
Amarage, who helps her to get food. She finds her father, whom she thought was dead a t a camp, only to learn th a t he has changed his l i f e s ty le . 198
Clymer, Eleanor. My Brother Stevie. New York: Holt, Rinehart and
Winston, 1967.
Annie is given the responsibility to take care of Stevie when her mother left them to live with a grandmother. Stevie enjoys the companionship of older boys and gets into some mischief which causes
Annie to worry. A new, young school teacher's understanding, along with Annie's affection for Stevie helps him modify his behavior. 199
Fox, Paula. How Many Miles to Babylon? Illustrated by Paul
Geovanopoulos. New York: David White Company, 1967, 117 pp.
James, lives with three loving, caring aunts, while his mother is away in the hospital. He likes his aunts, but is terribly lonely and spends a great deal of his time daydreaming and is often bored in school. A favorite hang-out to act out his fantasies is an old abandoned c e lla r . One day, w hile pretending th at he is the A frican prince whose mother is in Africa making arrival arrangements for him to join her, three boys enter the cellar and surprise him. A real nightmare begins for James when he is forced to become involved with them and their "dognapping activities." He eventually escapes, returns the one dog he has taken to its owner and goes home to fin d three aunts anxiously awaiting his arrival - and his mother on his bed. 200
Cunningham, Julia. Dorp Dead. Illustrated by James Spanfeller.
New York: Pantheon Press, 1$65, 88 pp.
G illy Ground, is an orphan boy, who te lls thestrange and mysterious secrets of living in a foster home with Mr. Kobalt. The suspense is heightened as G illy tries to escape from a house in which every outside door and window is padlocked. N 201
Sleator, William. Blackbriar. E.P. Dutton and Company, 1972, 22k pp.
Danny lives with his guardian, Philippa in London. They decide to leave the c ity and move into a secluded country area. When Danny meets Lark they explore the mysterious area surrounding their home.
They discover many mysterious areas including a covey of witches that they believe w ill help them to understand the past. 202
Hamilton, Virginia. The House of Dies Drear. Illustrated by Eros
Keith. New York: The Macmillan Company, \S&S, 2kS pp.
Mystery and suspense for Thomas Small and his family begins when
they move into an oid mansion that was once used as an Underground
Railroad in Ohio. The huge, old, farm house is the former home of
Dies Drear, an abolitionist, and provides an atmosphere of action and excitement.
Thomas enjoys many dangerous and fearsome adventures as he moves through tunnels in search of secrets and hidden treasures. 203
Byars, Betsy. The 18th Emergency. Illustrated by Robert Grassman.
New York: Viking Press, Inc., 1973, 128 pp.
Marv Hammerman, is well-known as the school's bully and certainly a confrontation with him is the last thing Benjie (better known as
House) would ask for. House, small in statue as his name suggests, enjoys drawing arrows and writing labels on things. His best friend is Ezzie, who is a creator of survival plans for any emergency.
The time to get out of an emergency situation arrives when House is caught by Harv, writing Harv's name under the picture of a
Neanderthal man on a wall chart in the school's hallway. House lives in fear as he tries to think of ways to get out of his predicament, but to no avai1.
When Mouse is no longer able to live with fears and anxieties he decides to face up to Marv. Although he was beaten as he feared i t was not as bad as he thought and both boys retained th eir honor. APPENDIX B
FORMS USED IN THE INVESTIGATION
ZOk Tl-IK OHIO STATK UMVHHSITY
To the principal:
We have been given permission to contact you for a study of urban children's preferences for certain types of books. As you may know, there have been many studies about children's book preferences, but few studies have been conducted on what literatu re urban children of different ethnic groups enjoy. While we w ill examine the responses of a ll children, we are particularly interested in the responses of black children.
In this study, fourth, fifth, and sixth grade teachers would be asked to read three different books aloud to their students. Upon completion of the book, the students would be asked to respond to a questionnaire indicating their preference for the book. This questionnaire would take no more than five minutes to complete. The teachers would be supplied with the books and would be allowed to keep them at the end of the study.
We would appreciate your cooperation in distributing these forms to a ll your middle grade teachers so that we can make a random selection of teachers to participate in this study. We hope your teachers will be interested in cooperating in this study.
Sincerely,
MaryHJ-.^Howard J Teaching Associate Early and Middle Childhood Education QjcA&jJiir'CX<. ^ Charlotte S. Huck Professor Early and Middle Childhood Education
Ends: k Letter to teacher Questionnaire for teacher Schedule of study Self-addressed envelope 206
THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY
To the teacher:
We are anxious to know what types of stories urban children enjoy listening to, therefore, we are eliciting your help. As you may know, there have been many studies about children's book preferences, but few studies have been conducted on what types of stories urban children of different ethnic groups enjoy. While we w ill examine the responses of all children, we are particularly interested in the responses of black children.
Several books have been selected to be read aloud to fourth, f if t h , and sixth grade children and we would like for you to share these books with your students. Would you be w illin g to participate in a survey of this nature and have your students respond to the stories?
Enclosed is an outline explaining the time schedule and procedures of the study; and a sample copy of the student response sheet. If you are w illin g to participate, please complete the enclosed information sheet. The completed information sheets w ill be picked up from your school's office on Friday, March 8, 197^.
Sincerely,
Mary B. Howard Teaching Associate Early and Middle Childhood Education
Charlotte S. Huck Professor Early and Middle Childhood Education 207
SCHEDULE AND PROCEDURES OF THE STUDY
I . PURPOSE OF THE STUDY
The purpose of this study is to identify types of stories fourth, fifth,
and sixth grade urban children enjoy reading and to determine why these stories
are enjoyed.
11. LENGTH OF THE STUDY
This study w ill cover a ten-week period, March 11 - May 2k, 197^- The
children w ill listen to a story read aloud by the classroom teacher for a
thirty-minute period daily. A total of three books will be read. Upon com
pletion of each book, the students w ill be asked to respond to a "Snoopy
Type" questionnaire which should take no more than five minutes. They w ill
also w rite a b rief comment of one or more sentences about one of the books
they 1isten to.
111. TIME SCHEDULE FOR THE STUDY -
A set of three books will be delivered to each participating teacher
during the period of March 11, - March 15, I97h. A convenient day and time
for the participating teacher to receive the books and instructions may be
indicated on the enclosed information sheet. Upon completion of each book
the teacher should cali the investigator to come and pick up the response
sheets. The books may be kept by the teacher. The investigator would also
like to have the opportunity to interview three students at the completion
of one book and prior to the beginning of another sometime during the ten-
week period.
IV. RESULTS OF THE STUDY
Upon completion of the study, results w ill be mailed to each p a rtic i
pating school. 208
THE RESPONSES OF FOURTH, FIFTH, AND SIXTH GRADE
BLACK URBAN CHILDREN TO SELECTED CHILDREN'S BOOKS
Are you willing to participate in this study? Yes _____ No ___
Name of Teacher ______,______
School ______Address
Name of Principal ______
School Enrollment ______Class Enrollment Boys G irls
Please Circle One; Dates to deliver books, instructions to teachers and student response sheets.
March 11, March 12, March 13. March 1^, March 15, 8:15 a.m. 8:15 a.m. 8:15 a.m. 8:15 a.m. 8:15 a.m. 12:00 noon 12:00 noon 12:00 noon 12:00 noon 12:00 noon 3:15 P-m. 3:15 p.m. 3:15 p.m. 3:15 p.m. 3:15 p.m. Other: Indicate date and t i m e ______
We would appreciate you taking the time to answer the following five questions.
1. How often do you read trade books (fictio n ) to your children?
Everyday Once a week Approximately once a month
Every two or three months ______Never
2. Do the children in your room read trade books independently in class?
Yes, often Yes, occasionally ______Very seldom _____ Never
3- Do you have favorite books to share with children? _____ Yes No If yes, could you name one or two of them?
k. Would you estimate the number of trade books you have in your room? ______
5. What is your main source for obtaining trade books to use with your children?
Public Library _ School Library _____ 17th Avenue Library
Children's Book Clubs
Other: ______209
GENERAL INFORMATION AND INSTRUCTIONS
To the Teacher: Read the following information and instructions carefully before conducting the survey. Note the underscored state ments especially.
Reading Time. Three books w ill be read aloud for a th irty-m in u te period on a daily basis. Books will vary in length and type of story. The books have been randomly selected for your class and organized for reading. It is important that the books be read in this order.
Pre-Reading. Read each selection prior to presentation to your students. Since distinct articulation is important for effective oral reading, pre-reading (1) allows you to become aware of the voice pitch which will be a significant aid in separating the several voices needed when dialogue is encountered; (2) permits time to give attention to the tona1 gua1ity of your voice and the volume and projection necessary to determine how well words w ill be under stood; and (3) gives you the opportunity to notice the author's style of writing which w ill help to determine the rate you should.move through the story for its effectiveness. You will through oral reading share with your students the mean ings and moods of each story, and you w ill want your voice to point out and make the most of the story you share.
Reading the S tory. Introduce the story in a way that w ill set the stage for enjoyment and appreciation. T ell something about the story or read b rie f information from dust jacket. Read one or more complete chapters during each thirty-minute period. If story is not organized by chapter, plan to read to a point where an incident is completed. Keep your reading sessions, if at a ll possible, at the same time each day. A bookmark will be included with each book to be read. This bookmark may be used to record such helpful information as.- the date and time of reading; the beginning and ending page numbers of each reading session.
Sample Bookmark:
THE GREYHOUND Helen Gri f f i ths
DATE I" PAGE it / TIME F rom To
... 210
Avoid interruption during the oral reading since questions during this time w ill interfere with the continuity of the story. However, allow for discussion at the end of each read ing session, i f desi red. D£ not d iscuss story on the last day of read ing wh ich completes a story. The "Snoopy Response Instrument" w i11 be used by each student at the completion of a story.
Snoopy Response Instrument. Read the questions on the response sheets. JUt^ is important for the teacher to read each quest ion aloud a 1 lowing an adequate amount of t ime for the students to mark thei r responses. Considering that some children participating in the survey may have d iffic u lty in reading a ll the words, your reading of the material w ill help insure accurate responses to each story read. Response booklets are provided for the children to mark their responses to each story heard. There w ill be one booklet per student to correspond to the specific story. A number will be assigned to each student's booklet. For identi fication purposes, the students should copy the t i t l e of the story and the author's name and complete the boxed-in section on the response booklet at the end of each story. They should include fir s t and last names, the grade level, sex, room num ber, and the name of the school.
Marking Responses on the Snoopy Response Instrument. The students' responses w ill be recorded on a 5- point scale. (See example below.) The fir s t Snoopy shows a very positive response to the story, i.e., "It's great!" The second Snoopy indicates a positive response, however, it is not as enthusiastic as the fir s t, i.e ., "I like i t . " The third or middle Snoopy shows a neutral response, i.e ., "It's okay." The child doesn't like the story, but he doesn't hate it either. The fourth Snoopy pictures a negative response, i.e., "I don't like it." The fifth and last Snoopy illustrates a very negative response to the story, i.e., "I hate it!"
It's great! I like it.
Have the students answer the three quest ions about each story by ci rcling the Snoopy picture that best t e lls thei r thoughts about the s to ry ■ For example, question #1 asks, "How much do you like this story?" If the child really likes the story, the f ir s t Snoopy should be c irc le d . However, if he d id n 't lik e the story at all, the last Snoopy should be circled. It is important that the stu dent c irc le the Snoopy that best answers the question for him. He should be encouraged to respond honestly and thoughtfully to each question rather than haphazardly circling any of the Snoopy pictures.
Written Responses. The children w ill w rite a b rief response to each of the stories heard. A place for these written comments is provided on the last page of response booklets for the particular story. If they like the story, the first 21!
statement will be answered - "Tell why you liked this s to ry ." However, i f they didn't like the story, the second statement will be answered - "Tell why you disliked this sto ry." Encourage the children to give specific reasons as to why they liked or disliked the story.
Student Interviews. Three students will be randomly selected from each class after the completion of one story for a fifteen-minute interview with each student. The students will be identified by an assigned number and interviews will be conducted by the investigator.
Completed Response Booklets. A fte r each story and when response booklets are completed by students the investigator should be called at e ith e r of the numbers listed below. At th is time arrangements will be made for the investiga tor to pick up completed response booklets and a schedule of time to interview students will be established with the teacher.
Office - 1+22-1439 or Home - 258-8862 422-1281 TK£ CAT WHO W(SHeo Tb 3<£ A, MAfV
PAGE # TIME From To TITLE:
AUTHOR:
NAME
SCHOOL
GRADE ROOM #
BOY GIRL AGE TITLE OF STORY I. How much do you like this story?
It's g re a t: I lik e I t . It's okay.
2. Would you lik e to hear th is s to ry again?
Oh. v e s r\ ( Yes. f \ don't care7 /5 h , n o ! ^ l
1 L 3. Could this be one of your favorite stories? OED /*0 h , n o !^
K> TITLE
L IH U I iimuii-UB K W i
Tell why you liked this story.
— — B— — HfllllllTlll
Tell why you disliked this story. 216
READ ALOUD INSTRUCTIONS
The first day you may want to say:
"This morning (afternoon) you will be listening to a part of a story which I will read until it- is completed and you will be asked to tell your thoughts about it. You are part of a survey attempting to determine what kinds of stories fourth, fifth , and sixth grade students enjoy hearing the most. This story is one from a set of three that you will be hearing during the next few weeks."
(Tell something about the story or read the brief information from the dust jacket.)
"I will read a part of this story every day for a thirty-minute period. After each reading session, we will talk briefly about the story, if you would like, except on the day the story is completed. On the last day of reading this story you will be asked to respond to the story in writing by marking a preference sheet to indicate if you liked or disliked the story."
The last day you may want to say:
(Distribute response booklets to each student.)
"The title of the story you have just heard and the author's name is on the board. Copy this information on your "Snoopy" questionnaire where the space is provided. Write in other requested information on the cover page of your booklet. Be sure to check boy or girl and f i l l in grade level. . ., your first name and yourlast name . . ., the name of our school . . . and our room number."
(Have children turn to the first response page.)
"Look at the first page of your response booklet. Copy the t it le of the story in the space provided at the top of the sheet. Listen as I read the first question on the response page: How much did you like this story? Circle the Snoopy that best answers this question for you. If you really like the story mark the one that says, 'It's great!' If you like the story, but don't think it is great, mark the second Snoopy that says, 'I like it.' If you don't care one way or the other about the story, circle the middle Snoopy that says, 'It's okay.' Mark the fourth Snoopy if you don't like the story. If you really dis like the story, and in fact hate it, circle the Snoopy that says, 'I hate it!'"
(Read the remaining two questions and have the students mark their responses.)
"Turn to the next page in your response booklet. If you have circled a Snoopy who says you like the story you should write in the first space, 'Tell why you liked this story.' If you circled a Snoopy who says you did not like this story you should write in the second space, 'Tell why you disliked this story.'"
(Collect response booklets and put them in envelope provided.) 217
On the day scheduled for student interviews you may want to say:
"The person conducting this survey is interested in talking with you. She will ask you a few questions about the story you have just listened to. She would like for you to give your ideas and thoughts about the story. Since it is not possible for her to talk with all of you, she will select only three people. Each of you have been assigned a number, you may have noticed it on your response booklets. All of your numbers have been placed in a box and this investigator has blindly picked three numbers. The numbers picked are - - ______, , and . She will talk with the persons whose names correspond to these three numbers."
(Students may be identified by the numbers assigned to response booklets. The investigator will go to each room for student interviewees and take them individually to the assigned location where interviews will be conducted.) 218 SUMMARY OF INSTRUCTIONS
Amount of Time Involved
- Scheduled time - ten (10) weeks.
- Suggested reading time - thirty (30) minutes per day.
- Actual reading time - will depend upon individual teacher and time spent reading each day.
Reading the Story
- Read one or more complete chapters during each thirty-minute period.
- If story is not Organized in chapters, plan to read to a point where an incident is completed.
- Allow for discussion at the end of each reading session, except on the day the story is completed.
Cover Page and Response Sheets
- After each story has been completed the children whould write in the requested information on the cover page of the response booklets. The title of each story should be written at the top of each response sheet. It is important that the students' last names always appear along with thei r f i rst names.
Reading the Quest ions on Response Sheets
- The teacher should read aloud the questions on the. reponse sheets, allowing an adequate amount of time for the students to mark their answers.
The Snoopy Response Instrument
- The Snoopys pictured on the response sheets represent a 5-point scale indicating positive and negative preferences. Therefore, the students will circle the Snoopy that best tells their responses to the questions asked about each story.
Written Responses
- The children will write a brief response to the story on the day the story is completed. These written comments will be recorded on the last page of the response booklet.
- Encourage children to give specific reasons as to why they liked or disliked a story.
Interviews wi th Students
- Three students, from each class, will share their ideas and thoughts about the story with the investigator. BIBLIOGRAPHY 220
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