Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and
Language Arts
Volume 41
Issue 4 March/April 2001
Article 1
4-1-2001
Fathers' and Mothers' Book Selection Preferences for Their Four
Year Old Children Abstract
Jim Anderson
University of British Columbia
Ann Anderson
University of British Columbia
Jon Shapiro
University of British Columbia
Jacqueline Lynch
University of British Columbia
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Anderson, J., Anderson, A., Shapiro, J., & Lynch, J. (2001). Fathers' and Mothers' Book Selection
Preferences for Their Four Year Old Children Abstract. Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and
Language Arts, 41 (4). Retrieved from https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/reading_horizons/vol41/iss4/1
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Fathers' and Mothers' Book Selection Preferences for Their
Four Year Old Children Abstract
Jim Anderson
University of British Columbia
Ann Anderson
University of British Columbia
Jon Shapiro
University of British Columbia
Jacqueline Lynch
University of British Columbia
Abstract
Twelve fathers and 12 mothers of four year olds were
presented with 14 children's books representing various
genres and were asked to select the five books they would
read to their children in the coming week and to give reasons
for their selections. They were then asked to identify those
books they would not select and to provide reasons. There
were some differences between mothers'/fathers' book
selection and some differences between selecting for
sons/daughters. Similar differences were noted in terms of
those books which parents would not select.
190
Reading Horizons, 2001, 4, (4)
It's a Thursday afternoon at the local library and I'm browsing in
the children's area. I hear a voice whisper, "Honey we can't take ALL of
these home! Let's choose a few of them." I follow the voice to see a
young child, arms full of books he has pulled from the surrouLiding
shelves. The young boy and his mother find a quiet spot on the carpet
and proceed to look through the pile of books. I can't help but eavesdrop
as the mother negotiates, "That one looks interesting. This one's too long
for you. Oh that's one of your favorites."
Almost forty years of research findings tell us that reading to younlg
childrenl on a regular basis has a positive effect on their developmelit as
readers (Durkin, 1966; Clark, 1976; Adams, 1990). Aside from the
affective benefits of reading to children to foster positive feelings toward
literacy, storybook reading focuses the young child on many of the
conventions of print literacy such as directionality, the constructioln of
meaning, and letter/word recognition. However, most of the studies have
been retrospective accounts by "parent academics" (Heath & Thlomiias,
1984) and therefore generalizing from the results of these studies couild
be questioned. While it is believed that "storied environmielits" (Lancy,
1994) are common to middle-class homes, we have previously argued
that in reality little is known about storybook interactionis and, in fact.
there is a great deal of diversity in the way middle-class parents read to
their young children (Shapiro, Anderson & Andersoni, 1997). If
storybook reading is, as Pelligrini (1991) contends, "the literacy event
par excellence" (p. 380), theni surely book selection is an importanit
consideration. We know (e.g., Jipson & Paley, 1991) that in the area of
formal schooling, teachers' book selection is guided by their own
knowledge of children's books, by teacher-librarians, througlh the special
projects of organizations such as the International Reading Association's
and Children's Book Council's Children's Choices and througlh jourials
that highlight children's book reviews. However, while there are some
guides available to parents (e.g., McGovern, 1994; Thomas, 1992),
surprisingly little is known about what types of books parents purchlase
or borrow and their reasons for doing so despite the fact that maniy
parents purchase books or borrow them from libraries on a regular basis
(Shapiro et. al., 1996).
I
Fathers' and Mothers' Book Selections
191
Previous Research
Limited research examining the types of books parents choose to
share with their children has shown a tendency for parents to
select
narratives with 4-year-olds. Dickinson, De Temple, Hirschler and
Smith
(1992) found that about one-third of the books read to 4-year-olds
were
children's narratives (a fictional story for children). Twenty-six percent
of the parents in that study used didactic non-narratives or information
books with their 4-year-olds. Other books shared less often by mothers
in their study included didactic narratives (designed to entertain as
well
as instruct), fairy/folk tales, nursery rhymes, and rhyming/predictable
narratives. To reiterate, children's narratives were the dominant choice
of
parents in this study. In a study of first graders and their parents,
Owens
(1992) found that 97.9 percent of parents reported they read narratives
compared to only fifty-eight percent of parents saying that they
used
nonfiction. In that study, there appeared to be a relationship to parents'
level of education in that the use of non-fiction was more common
with
the mothers having a higher level of education.
There has also been limited research completed on parents' reasons
for selecting a book to read to their child. Robinson (1983) found
that
parents most often select a book for their young children based
on the
needs and interests of the children. The second most frequent
reason
parents gave for selecting a book for their child was based on the
book's
complexity (i.e., some challenge in vocabulary). Owens (1992) reported
that most of the parents in his study had high school education and
half
had at least a college degree. When these parents were asked what
they
looked for when choosing a book for their children, the predominant
response was children's interest in or understanding of topics.
Other
important reasons given by these parents involved the illustrations
of the
book and the specific values that the book presented. In another
study by
Dzama & Gilstrap (1985), parents who were asked how they
prepare
their children for a formal reading program reported being influenced
by
pictures and illustrations as well as their own childhood favorites
when
selecting a book for their child.
The studies reported above tended to show that children's interests,
parents' own favorite stories, and the illustrations of a book are
the main
192
Reading Horizons, 2001, 41, (4)
reasons why parents select a particular book for their child. Ilowever,
most of this limited research is more thani a decade old and society has
continued to change in its complexity since then. Further, little iterest
has been seen regarding the ilfluenlce of gender on book selection. In
this report, we focus on the role of gender in book selection in addition to
examining the types of books middle class parents choose for their f'oulyear-old children and their explanations for their choices. Furthierilmore,
we also asked parents to identify books they would not select and their
explanations for doing so.
Method
The parents of four-year-old childrenl attendilig day cares or
preschools In a large metropolitan area who wer-e also participating in a
large study of parent/child storybook reading were asked to assist us in
this study. The sample was primarily middle-class. While we would have
preferred a more diverse sample, our efforts to secure a wider range of
subjects were not successful. However, we concluded from our previous
research (Shapiro et. al., 1997) that there is sutfficienit diversity amongst
middle-class parents that generalizing one method of storybook reading
is inappropriate. Also since storybook reading is often a predolilimialit
feature of many middle-class homes we were encouraged to proceed.
Immediately after 12 mothers and 12 fathers representing 24
families shared two books (a narrative and an informationial book) with
their children, they were asked to select books they would choose l;r
their child and those that they would not choose. Each parent viewed the
same array of 14 children's books that were selected by the researchers in
consultation with an expert in childreni's literature as being appropriate
for four-year-olds (neither of the two books they had just read were
included in the 14 books presented to themii). The books represenlted
various genres including informational books, narratives, poetry, rilylmles,
instruction (e.g., alphabet and counting), and a fairy tale (see Appendix
for the complete list). In addition, we asked an assistant maniager of a
local children's bookstore if our selection represented books that were
being purchased by parents. These books represented a minimum nulilber
that would provide some choice of each genre. We also tried to ensure
that male and female characters were equally represented. They were
I
I
Fathers'and Mothers' Book Selections
193
arranged in alphabetical order by author's last name. Parents had an
opportunity to leaf through each of the books and then we asked each
of
them individually to "Please choose the five books you would
read to
your child over the next week or so if you had these books in
your
home." They were provided with as much time as they needed to
make
their selection and our observations suggested that what parents did
was
similar to what they would do in selecting books in a bookstore or
at the
library. Parents were then asked, "Why did you select these books?"
After they provided this informationi they were asked if there were
any
books they would not choose to read and why they would not read
them
to their children. The responses were examined for book selection
preferences of parents, including the relationship of parents
and
childreni's gender, and the reasons related to choosing or not choosinig
a
particular book.
Results
In this section, we first report some general trends in book selection.
We then examine book selection (and non-selection) in terms of parent's
and children's gender. To conclude this section, we share the reasons,
grouped according to themes, that parents provided for choosing
the
books they did, as well as the reasons why they would not select
particular books. Given the lack of randomization in the sample selection
and the relatively small sample size, the reader is reminded to interpret
these results cautiously.
General Trends
As shown in Table 1, parents were fairly eclectic in their book
selection in that no book was selected by all of the parents and each
of
the books was selected by at least five parents. The Berenstain Bears
(14
parents) was most frequently selected. Since we included this book
because of the popularity of this series and the prevalence of these books
in supermarkets, drug stores, doctors' offices and the like, this result
is
predictable. Trouble with Trolls (13 parents) was the second most
frequently chosen book. Interestingly, two information books,
A
Dandelioni's Life (12 parents) and Me and My Place in Space
(12
parents) were each selected by one-half the parents. As reported earlier,
194
Reading Horizons, 2001, 4, (4)
previous research (e.g. Dickinson, De Temple, H-irschler and Smith,
1992) indicates that parents tend to select narrative texts to share with
young children; here informational texts were selected nearly as
frequently as were narrative texts. We speculate that this apparent change
may be attributable to the fact that there has been a significant increase in
the number of high quality information books written for children over
the last decade or so and parents are becoming more familiar with this
genre.
We predicted that because their children would be commencing
school in less than a year, most of these parents would select texts that
focused on letters and numbers so as to prepare their children for school.
That relatively few parents selected Black and White Rabbits ABC (9)
and The Cheerios Counting Book (5) was thus unexpected. As will be
discussed later, some parents objected to The Cheerios Counting Book
because of its connection with a commercial product and it is possible
that these particular parents might have chosen a different "counting" or
"numbers" book.
So far we have presented the results regarding parents' book
selection. We now turn to the question in which we asked parents to
identify those books that they would not select for their children. It
should be remembered that we asked parents to select the 5 books out of
14, which they would select. But when we asked them which books they
would not select, no specific number was indicated. Seven parents
reported that there were none of these books that they would not select
for their child, other parents identified only a single book, and four
parents identified at least five books.
There's a Nightmare in my Closet was the book most frequently
identified by parents (I1) as one they would not choose. Eight parents
indicated they would not select The Cheerios Counting Book, a
somewhat surprising finding given that, as was mentioned earlier, we
selected the book based on the finding from the pilot study of this book's
perceived educational value for four-year-olds. Two other books,
Building Machines and What They Do (6) and The Frog Princess (7),
were identified as inappropriate by a relatively high number of parents.
Jessica was the only book which none of the parents identified as one
..
... .~;-~--.-,--,- -~--~-l~-"
......-" ... ".....................-
Fathers'and Mothers' Book Selections
195
that they would not select.
Table 1. Overall Selections
Book Title
[he Berenstain Bears and the
Missing Honey
The Frog Princess
Jessica
Trouble with Trolls
P
There's a Nightmare in my
Closet
The Secret Short Cut
A Dandelion's Life
Whatis aCat?
D..:iA..-.,. NA-.-.
1alano
\11s
Hiop on trop
2
F-D'
2
IFs'
-7
4
4
0
0
3
2
4
7
4
1
3
4
3
_
F-S
i
M-S~
"I
.
Mc
-I
Total
I
7
14
3
0
I
4
3
4
3
5
6
9
13
5
0
1
1
6
3
4
7
4
2
2
5
3
0
3
5
5
7
12
9
2
4
h
U
4
4
10
2
2
_-.
2
4
_____
-------
5
__
Tuildiygy Machines aDo wnat
They Do
Me and my Place in Space
The Cheerios Counting Book
Black and White Rabbits
ABC
The Ice Cream Store
-
I
3
I
2
A
I
I
_
-
3
4
I
-I
1
4
-----T-4-7
A
A41
3
4
M-D
I
,
4
4
__
I
I
I
-- 7R
L__
_I
0
3
2
a
_
I
0
2
_
2
5
I
4
I2
1F-D, fathers selecting for daughters; F-S, fathers selecting for sons, etc.
Fs, total for Fathers selecting, Ms, total for Mothers selecting
Book Selection and Parents' Gender
Wheni we examine fathers' book selection (See Table 1), no trends
other thani those just reported in overall book selection were apparent.
However, it is noteworthy that only one mother selected There's a
Nightmarein MyCloset in comparison to five fathers. On the other hanid.
the motlhers account for the majority (8 of 12) of the selections of Me and
My Place in Space.
12
5
9
8
6
196
Reading Horizons, 2001, 41, (4)
Table 2. Overall Not Selections
Book Title
The Berenstain Bears and the
Missing Honey
The Frop Princess
Jessica
Trouble with Trolls
There's a Nightmare in my
Closet
The Secret Short Cut
A Dandelion's Life
What is a Cat?
Building Machines and What
They Do
Me and my Place in Space
The Cheerios Counting Book
Black and White Rabbits
ABC
The Ice Cream Store
Hop on Pop
F-D
1
F-S
0
Fs
1
M-D
0
M-S
0
Ms
0
Total
3
0
2
4
0
0
0
2
3
0
2
6
1
0
4
0
3
5
7
0
5
3
3
0
2
2
0
0
2
3
0
1
1
1
0
I
3
4
0
0
0
2
2
0
0
0
2
0
0
2
I
3
2
0
0
0
1
3
2
0
4
0
1
0
5
2
0
0
I
2
I
I
I
__
2
3
6
8
4
There were only two books, Jessica and The Secret Shortcut, that
none of the fathers identified as books they would not choose (See Table
2). There's a Nightmare in my Closet (6) was the book most frequently
identified by fathers in this category. Interestingly, four fathers said that
they would not select Building Machines and What They Do, a book that
we predicted fathers would select since the subject matter would
stereotypically be considered "masculine." There were six books which
none of the mothers indicated were inappropriate. Three of these were
information books. Five mothers rejected both The Cheerios Counting
Book and There's a Nightmare in my Closet, indicating that the latter
appears to be of concern to parents of both sexes.
I
Book Selection and Children 's Gender
Several trends emerge when the child's gender is considered in
terms of book selection. The most frequently selected books for sons
were Building Machines and What They Do (8) and A Dandelions Life,
1
Fathers' and Mothers' Book Selections
197
(6) Me and My Place in Space, (6) and Trouble with Trolls (6). It should
be noted that three of these texts were information books. It is also
interesting that the latter text is a narrative with a female protagonist.
None of the parents selected The Frog Princess for their sons and only
one parent chose Jessica and What is a Cat? To reiterate, at least half of
the parents selected three of the four information books when selecting
for their sons whereas only one of the four narratives was chosen by at
least half the parents for sons.
Table 3. Selecting by Gender of Child
Book Title
The Berenstain Bears and the
Missing Honey
The Frog Princess
Jessica
Trouble with Trolls
There's a Nightmare in my
Closet
The Secret ShorCt3
iA L)daeIIon
S Lite
What is a Cat?
Building Machines and What
They Do
Me and my Place in Space
The Cheerios Counting Book
Black and White Rabbits
ABC
The Ice Cream Store
Hop on Pop
F-D
5
M-D
4
Ds
9
F-S
2
M-S
3
Ss
5
2
4
4
4
3
4
3
0
5
8
7
0
0
0
3
0
0
3
6
2
75
4
2
2
5
0
1
3
1
4
3
4
0
3
6
1
6
4
1
5
2
3
3
2
2
6
8
2
3
0
4
2
6
1
8
2
2
4
2
2
6
4
3
3
2
0
3
3
Parents did not appear to favor narrative or informational texts
when selecting for their daughters although two parents, both fathers,
selected the informational text, Building Machines and What They Do.
On the other hand, 8 of 15 parents selected What is A Cat? for their
daughters, a book selected by only one out of nine parents for their sons.
Five parents chose The Frog Princess for their daughters, while as was
indicated earlier, none of the parents selected this book for their sons.
198
Reading Horizons, 2001, 41 (4)
Three books were not identified by any of the parents as ones they
would not select for their sons. But as can be seen in Table 4, there were
seven books which only one parent would not choose for their sons,
indicating that for the most part parent choices of books they would not
select were rather idiosyncratic. Although the numbers are relatively
low, there appears to be a trend toward not selecting narratives for sons.
There were also three books that were not identified by any of the
parents as ones they would not select for their daughters. Seven parents
would not choose The Cheerios Counting Book for daughters but only
one parent would not select this book for his or her son. As was
predicted, a number of parents said they would not select Building
Machines and What They Do (5) for their daughters. This contrasts with
the fact that Me and My Place in Space would not be selected by only
one of the parents.
Some educators (e.g., Barrs, 2000; Schneider, 2001) contend that
literacy is gendered in that boys and girls have different preferences in
literacy and engage in literacy in markedly different ways. For example,
one of the reasons that Doiron (1994) enjoins teachers to read more
informational texts aloud to students is that boys prefer such texts to
narratives, the genre dominant in many primary/elementary classrooms.
We interpret the results reported here as suggesting that through book
selection, some of the parents are setting gender role expectations for
their children. That is, informational books are more appropriate for boys
and indeed, some informational books more appropriate for boys than
others. Furthermore, some narratives, (e.g. those with a scary title and
plot line such as Trouble with Trolls) are suitable for boys while others
(e.g. The Frog Princess) are appropriate for girls. It seems that, in
general, these parents are influenced by the child's gender when
choosing books and what has traditionally been held to be suitable for
children in terms of "gendered" interests has not changed as much as
perhaps would be expected, given the general societal concern with
gender issues over the last two decades or so.
So far we have presented some overall trends in terms of book
selection. The reader is reminded that after parents selected the five
books, they were asked, "Why did you select these books?" Similarly,
after parents had identified any books they would not choose, they were
I
Fathers' and Mothers' Book Selections
199
asked to explain why. We now examine and share some of the
explanations parents provided as to their choices. These are categorized
according to themes that emerged as we analyzed the data.
Table 4. Not Selecting by Gender of Chi d
Book Title
The Berenstain Bears and the
Missing Honey
F-D
-1- - .. 11 Ur=,vr- I 1;%USS
Jessica
-4
Trouble with Trolls
There's a Nightmare in my
Closet
The Secret Short Cut
A Dandelion's Life
What is a Cat?
Building Machines and What
They Do
Me and my Place in Space
The Cheerios Counting Book
Black and White Rabbits
ABC
The Ice Cream Store
Hop on Pop
M-D
I
1
3
I
ID-s
______
1
I
-
2
4
3
7
0
0
0
0
0
0
2
2
5
I
3
0
0
_
_
2
3
O
f I 0 0
01
4
F-S
0
0
2
I
M-S
I
l
3
0
2
2
0
0v
3
2
I
L
-
I
4
1
7
3
1
2
3
0
4
2
2
0
n
0
0
0
1
0O
lI
0
0
0
1
I
Ss
0
0
I
I
I
Subject Matter-Content
In providing reasons why they chose particular books, the most
prominent category was Subject Matter/Content and in their comments,
parents made mention of the content of the book being referred to. For
example, one parent referring to his selection of The Trouble with Trolls
for his son commented, "[It] looks like a book about relationships",
evidently, thinking it an important concept for children to learn about.
Another parent, in reference to What is a Cat? said "It describes what
cats do" and indicated that this was a subject that would appeal to
the
child. Parents also referred to what they perceived as the appropriateness
of content in relation to their child's gender as was the case of a mother
who, in selecting Jessica for her daughter, remarked, "[It] looks like
a
200
Reading Horizons, 2001, 4, (4)
little girl's book." Other parents noted the engaging nature of the content,
such as one father's remark about Black and White Rabbit's ABC, "Fun
to read and we could make all sorts of fun noises while reading it."
Subject matter/content was again the most frequent category when
parents explained why they would not select particular books. In
reference to the content of There's a Nightmare in My Closet, a parent
stated "It's emphasizing scary things." Another parent opined that The
Frog Princess was unacceptable because it is "not realistic-the princess
ends up marrying the prince." Given the universal appeal of Dr. Seuss
books, it was somewhat surprising that one parent indicated that she
would not select Hop on Pop because " it's really silly, doesn't make
sense." Gender was also a factor in parents' reasons not to select certain
books. For example, a father stated that he would not choose Building
Machines and What They Do for his daughter because the book is "for
boys."
Children's Interests
The second most frequent category in terms of reasons for selecting
books was Children's Interests. This finding is consistent with other
research (e.g., Robinson, 1993) that found that parents select books based
on the child's interests. Here, parents tended to focus on the general
interests of the child. For example, a mother choosing The Trouble with
Trolls for her son commented, "[My] child is interested in fairy tales,
trolls and monsters." Similarly, in reference to Building Machines and
What they Do, a father commented, "N's [his son] big interest - trucks
and diggers." Some parents connected their child's interest with the text
genre, as was the case with a parent who commented, "She's very much
into rhymes right now," in relation to her selection of The Ice Cream
Store. It is noteworthy that while mothers and fathers contributed almost
equally to the reasons pertaining to subject matter, mothers provided
almost three quarters of the references to children's interests.
i
I
Parents also cited children's interests as a reason for not selecting
particular books, although less frequently than when identifying reasons
for selecting specific books. Here parents tended to make general
comments such as "Not an interest of hers." Interestingly, many of the
i
I
Fathers' and Mothers' Book Selections
201
comments in this category referred to Building Machines and What They
Do and most of them pertained to daughters.
Aesthetics
Parents also explained that they choose certain books because of
their aesthetic qualities and this was the next most frequent category of
reasons for selecting books. The majority of the comments here pertained
to the illustrations as in the example of the father who commented, "The
illustrations are wonderful," in explaining why he would choose A
Dandelion's Life for his daughter. Some parents were more specific in
commenting on the illustrations, a case in point being the parent who
suggested, "The pictures are whimsical and surreal" in The Secret
Shortcut. Some parents also referred to the appeal of the cover of the
book. Typical of such responses was the parent who commented, "The
cover struck me" in selecting A Dandelions Life. One parent commented
on the aesthetics of the language in The Berenstain Bears and the
Missing Honey, remarking, "Child-like rhymes-not poetry like R. L.
Stevenson poetry but still poetry." Interestingly, almost two thirds of the
comments in the "Aesthetics" category came from the fathers.
Somewhat surprisingly, some parents found the "Aesthetics" of
particular books as reasons for not selecting them. Pointing to the
illustrations in The Trouble with Trolls, one parent said "Trolls are not
very good looking." And one mother found that "the graphics [in Hop on
Pop] never really appeal to me."
Familiarity
Parents also indicated that they selected a particular book because
they were familiar with it or its author. Here some parents focused on
the child's familiarity with the particular book. For example, when
selecting The Ice Cream Store, a mother stated, "A big time favorite."
Other parents alluded to the child's familiarity with the author or the
series, rather than to the specific book in question. An example of such
an explanation was a father's comment about Trouble with Trolls, "We
have the companion book at home." Some parents indicated their own
familiarity with the book informed their choice as was the case with the
202
Reading Horizons, 2001, 4, (4)
father who said, "Used to read this one with my other daughter" in
explaining his selection of Hop on Pop. Again, about two-thirds of the
comments here are attributable to fathers.
Some of the parents also indicated that because their children were
already familiar with some of the books, they would not choose them at
this time. For example, referring to The Frog Princess, one parent
explained, "Has read several different versions of it-read it so many
times in different ways."
Educational
Some parents referred to the educational value of books in
explaining their choices, although as was explained earlier, less
frequently than we predicted when commencing the study. Here, parents
referred to teaching or learning or described a particular book as
educational. For example, one father, in referring to his selection of The
Cheerios Counting Book for his daughter, commented, "[It is]
educational-she can learn her numbers." Referring to Me and My Place
in Space, a mother allowed, "[My daughter] would learn about the
environment and science." While many parents spoke of the specific
knowledge or learning which could result from sharing the book, other
parents alluded to the general educational potential of a book as with the
mother who stated that Black and White Rabbit's ABC "is educational."
Interestingly, one parent alluded to a different type of learning when she
felt that There's a Nightmare in My Closet "would help him [her son]
come to terms with being scared of the dark."
As might be expected, no parents cited the educational value of
books as reasons for not selecting books.
Difficulty
The relative difficulty of the book was the sixth most frequent
category of explanation. Parents appeared to use developmental
appropriateness as a criterion in selecting books. For example, one parent
said of Me and My Place in Space, "It has the right amount of words."
Another parent commented that she would select Me and My Place in
1.. .-
Fathers' andMothers'Book Selections 203
Space because it has "short sentences." Likewise, a father suggested that
A Dandelion's Life contained "easy to recognize words, nice big text,
would recognize words easier." In commenting on The Trouble with
Trolls, a father noted, "Sufficient story with lots to talk about." Some
parents also considered the length of the book as was the case with the
father who felt that The Frog Princess was "a long story-could read in
possibly two or three episodes."
Perhaps as expected, parents' concern with the relative difficulty of
the text was the second most frequent category of reasons for not
selecting particular books. One parent commented that his daughter was
"not ready" for The Cheerios Counting Book, that it was "beyond her at
this time." Another parent felt that The Berenstain Bears and the Missing
Honey contained "too much text and she would get bored." A mother
stated that The Trouble with Trolls contained "too many difficult words"
when explaining why she would not select it for her son. Some parents
saw some of the books as being too easy for their children. For example,
commenting on Black and White Rabbit's ABC, a parent indicated that
his daughter was "past that stage-knows her numbers and letters."
Parents'Interests
Interestingly, parents' own interests also informed their reasons for
selecting books. In explaining his choosing of Me and My Place in
Space, one father reported, "As a child I was always interested in space
and astronomy." One mother, in explaining how her own interests
influenced her choice of A Dandelions Life commented, "When I read, it
has to interest me as well."
Similar to reasons for selecting, parents' own interests played a role
in the decision not to select books. Typical of this type of response was
the father who, when explicating his reason for not selecting What is a
Cat?, claimed "things about cats are not very interesting."
While these parents might be criticized for putting their own
interests ahead of those of their children, we speculate that these parents
are telling us something important here. Those of us who have seen a
parent (or teacher) painfully struggle through a book that they do not like
204
Reading Horizons, 2001, 41, (4)
have witnessed the negativity associated with such an event. We think
these parents are aware of how they can unconsciously send negative
message about sharing a text that they find uninteresting with their child
and so want to share those texts that they will share in an exciting and
engaging manner.
Values
A new category also emerged from the analysis of the explanations
for not choosing particular books that we labeled "values." Dzama &
Gilstrap (1985) also found that parents considered the values inherent in
the books to be shared with their children.
For example, several parents had concerns with The Cheerios
Counting Book as did the parent who said, "[I] don't really like the idea
that it is advertising." Commenting on the same book, another parent
remarked, "It's a name brand-product promotion." And in elaborating on
why he would not select The Frog Princess for his daughter, one parent
opined "Inappropriate. Looks like one of these old style princess books."
Discussion/Conclusion
We believe that it is important for educators to listen to what
parents have to say about the books they select for their young children.
As has been pointed out earlier, parents are their child's first teacher.
Parents are also encouraged to read to their children from birth, to visit
the library with their children on a regular basis, and to buy books as
gifts and on special occasions. Many parents follow these suggestions
but relatively little is known about what types of books parents select
when doing so and why they select the books they do. According to
Hannon (1995), educators have typically imposed on parents what it is
they should be doing at home to support literacy development. He
suggests that we also begin leaming from parents. While this study's
snapshot of parents' selection of books for their young children aims to
do that, it must be viewed within the context of several limitations. First,
the sample was one of convenience and thus did not represent a variety
of ethnic and economic groups. However, when differences are found
within a "static" group we believe it shows that generalizing to other
1
Fathers'and Mothers' Book Selections 205
groups (e.g., the programs that teach "the way" to read to children) is
dangerous. Second, parents were presented with a pre-selected group of
books rather than being asked to list or discuss books they actually
purchased. This procedure was selected to control the amount of
information generated from interviews and to examine similarities across
specific books and/or genres. Finally, when identifying books they would
choose, parents were limited to five rather than being allowed more
choices. Once again this had to do with conveniience in limiting the
length of the interview sessions since parents had just finished reading to
their childreni and we had to be concerned with child care arrangements.
Our hiterviews with these parents reveal that there is considerable
diversity in the books that a relatively homogenous group of parents
select for their young children. However, some books were chosen much
more frequently than others. The child's gender influenced the books
which some of the parents selected and there were some differences
between what mothers and fathers selected. In addition to the child's
gender, parents considered various other factors such as subject matter or
content or aesthetics of the book, and the child's interests when selecting
books for their children. We believe this diversity in book selection is
important in that it demonstrates that in different ways, these parents
seem to have an intuitive understanding of which books will "work" with
their children. That is, these parents are matching their children with
particular books, helping to ensure that children will associate positively
with the books shared, building on knowledge they already have
developed, and developing new knowledge.
Despite the relatively small number of books used, certain books
stood out as those that parents would not select. The child's gender
appeared to influence parents' decisions not to choose particular books,
as did other factors such as content, relative difficulty, and so forth.
We believe that the parents with whom we worked demonstrated
considerable sophistication in selecting books and in explaining their
choices. Although we have separated parents' reasons for selecting, or
not selecting, particular books into descriptive categories, we speculate
that a number of factors interact in informing parents' book choices. That
is, parents often provided several reasons for particular choices. For
206
Reading Horizons, 2001, 1!, (4)
example, they mentioned the child's interests, the content or subject
matter when explaining why a particular book was or was not chosen.
Even though we saw parents' relatively sophisticated stances in
selecting books, we do have some concerns with the tendency on the part
of some of the parents to have rather restrictive views of the gender
appropriateness of some of the books. That is, some parents saw some of
the books as "boy's books" or "books for girls." We believe it is
important for early childhood educators, librarians, and teachers to help
parents realize the importance of exposing children to books that
challenge traditional gender roles.
Given that these children would be entering kindergarten withini a
year, we were somewhat surprised that parents appeared not to ascribe
too much significance to learning outcomes wheni selecting books, in that
the "Educational" category was fifth of seven in terms of frequenicy.
Given what we perceive as pressure to begin teachilig literacy skills
earlier and earlier, we were heartened by what we interpret as the parents
concern with selecting books that would engage their children, not on
what Rosenblatt (1978) would call efferent reading. These parents appear
to have an intuitive understanding of developmentally appropriate
practice.
Familiarity seems to play an important role in informing parents'
choices in that the Berenstain Bears, which of course are very well
known, was the most popular choice.
The popularity of the Berenstain Bears might also be attributable to
the fact that it is part of a series of books by the same authors. In fact,
some of the parents alluded to this feature in relation to some of the other
books (e.g., Dr. Seuss). Again, educators might capitalize on this factor
and help familiarize parents and children with other series (e.g. the
"Spot" series by Eric Hill), especially if parents are able to build upOn
this feature to engage their children in reading at home.
In addition, subject matter of the books and children's interests
seem to be significant influences on parents' book choices. This reminds
us of the insight which parents have about their children, which teachers
I
Fathers' and Mothers' Book Selections 207
and librarians can never expect to have given the numbers of children
with whom they work. But this also points to the need for educators to
establish and maintain strong communication with the home so that we
can learn as much as possible about the children with whom we work
from them and their parents.
While more parents selected narratives than information books, as
was reported earlier, in this study non-fiction was selected with greater
frequency than in earlier research. Educators such as Doiron (1994) have
called for the inclusion of more non-fiction books in the repertoire of
books read aloud to children in school. We believe it is important that we
continue to help parents understand the importance of providing nonfictional material for their young children. There is an increasing array of
high quality non-fiction books available for young children and we need
to insure that parents are aware of these.
And finally, we need to continue to ascertain how parents contribute
to children's literacy development. In this regard, work such as described
in this article is needed with parents from different socio-cultural groups.
The more we can understand what informs parents' book selection and
what they see as important, the better we will be able to work
collaboratively with parents to support literacy learning at home and in
school.
208
Reading Horizons, 2001, 41, (4)
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210 Reading Horizons, 2001, 1 (4)
Appendix
Children's Books Used
Baker, A. (1994). Black and White Rabbit's ABC. NY: Kingfisher.
Berenstain, S & Berenstain, J. (1987). The Berenstain Bears and the Missing
Honey. NY: Random House.
Brett, J. (1992) . Trouble with Trolls. NY: Puffin.
Clark, C. & Cecil, L. (1994). The Frog Princess. London: Random House
Children's Books.
Henkes, K. (1989). Jessica. NY: Mulberry Books.
Himmelman, J. (1998). A Dandelion's Life. NY: Children's Press, Inc.
Hirschi, R. (1991). What is a Cat? NY: Walker and Company.
Lee, D. (1991). The Ice Cream Store. Toronto: Harper Collins Publishers
Limited.
Mayer, M. (1968). There's a Nightmare in My Closet. NY: Dial Books for
Young Readers.
McGrath, B. (1998). The Cheerios Counting Book. NY: Scholastic Inc.
Radford, D. (1991). Building Machines and What They Do. Cambridge, MA:
Candlewick Press.
Seuss, Dr. (1963). Hop on Pop. NY: Random House.
Sweeney, J. (1998). Me And My Place in Space. NY: Crown Publishers Inc.
Teague, M. (1996). The Secret Shortcut. NY: Scholastic Inc.
I