Results from a survey on children s literature: Recommendations for Lev!

Transcription

1 Results from a survey on children s literature: Recommendations for Lev! Mariella Rubenson King Edward Public School, Toronto ms.patootie@gmail.com August 2015 Hi Betsy, I decided to do a little survey on children s books after you asked me about advice for Lev s library. Here are the results. Mariella

2 The purpose of this study was to find out which children s books people recommend and why. I carried out a simple survey, administered through the Qualtrics survey platform. I had 43 responses, collected between July 16 and July 30, The sample came from people I know and people my parents know. The youngest respondent is 9 years old and the oldest is 70. The average age is 40 and the standard deviation is There is a wide range of cultural backgrounds. There are people from Mexico, the Philippines, Iraq, Australia, New Zealand, China and many Europeans, Canadians and Americans. Sixty two percent of those who took the survey are women. There are a lot of professors. I asked people how many books they read last year. I was surprised that people didnt read that many books in a whole year. The average number of fiction books read was 14 and non fiction 8. I have read books so far just on my summer holiday (if I wrote this tomorrow it would be 24) and there is still a week left! Almost everyone has a library card. Only 4 people said they don t. Here are the questions I asked. Instead of me trying to summarize, I will show you all the results in the following tables. I asked people to tell me what the most popular book from their childhood was. The results are in Table 1. The most popular book from when I was a baby is Goodnight Moon. I think that was also my favourite. My mom and dad had to read it so many times that they know it off by heart now. Table 1: Most popular book from when people were kids Pippi Longstocking ( 3) Emil from Lönneberga 1001 Nights ( 3) Where the sidewalk ends Superfudge Cat in the hat Dr. Seuss ( 2) Little house on the prairie Something from nothing Harry Potter ( 3) Anne of Green Gables Richard Scary EB White books The Famous Five series Beatrix Potter Enid Blyton Bahay Kubo Aesop s Fables Goodnight Moon ( 3) Jip en Janneke Le petit chaperon rouge Eagle of the ninth Mellie A tiger came to tea Charlie and the chocolate factory Thornton W. Burgess Seven Chinese brothers A Tale of Five Balloons Peter Rabbit Nesthaekchen Jacob Two Two meets the hooded fang 2

3 I also asked what children s book makes people laugh. These are in Table 2. Lots of books make me laugh but I guess I would say Winnie the Pooh if I had to pick one. Table 2: Children s books that make you laugh Ten Little Monkeys Emil from Lönneberga ( 3) Asterix Alligator Pie Charlie and the chocolate factory Dork Diaries Dr. Seuss ( 4) Duck in the truck Goodnight gorilla ( 2) Hot corn If You Give A Mouse A Cookie I Had Trouble in Getting to Solla Sollew James and the Giant Peach Moomin Mr Gum Red hat, green hat Roald Dahl books Series of unfortunate events Where the Sidewalk Ends ( 2) Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing The beano The Great Brain The Little Brutes The Monster at the end of this book ( 2) Winnie the Pooh ( 2) Alexander and the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day ( 2) Watch Out for the Chicken Feet in Your Soup The 27th Annual African Hippopotamus Race Sometimes sad books are good too, so the books that make people cry are in Table 3. Little Match Girl made me cry when I was little. And my little sister, Antonia, really cried when she read Le Grandpère de Petit Ours in class last year. She says it was really sad that the Grandpère died (sorry about the spoiler). Table 3: Children s books that make you cry Bröderna Lejonhjärta Love you forever ( 7) Thank You Mr. Faulker Sylvester and the Magic Pebble The Little Fur Family The Giving Tree ( 2) Charlotte s Web ( 3) The Bridge to Terabithia Velveteen Rabbit Le Grandpère de Petit Ours Little Match Girl ( 2) Black Beauty Guess how much I love you A series of unfortunate events The Lorax On the Day You Were Born Train to somewhere The Selfish Giant Le petit chaperon rouge The Children from Frosmo Mountain 3

4 People who took the survey also told me which books make them think (Table 4). I said Winnie the Pooh for this one too, because Winnie the Pooh always says things that make me think. Except right now I can t think of what they are. Table 4: Children s books that make you think Winnie the Pooh ( 3) A Semester in the Life of a Garbage Bag The Gruffalo Charlotte s web Where s my Hat From Anna Inseclopedia The Wump World Disaster book The Whole Truth Shouldn t you be in school The Snitches Any of the Shel Silverstein books The Giving Tree ( 3) Moomin Dork diaries Tuck Everlasting Bread and Jam for Frances The hunger games Adrian Mole Age 13 and 3/4 Time Cat by Lloyd Alexander Pinocchio Some Dogs Do 7 habits of happy kids Famous Five (mystery books) The Soul Bird Oh The Places You ll Go It s Ok to Say No Goodnight Moon Frog and Toad Something From Nothing ( 2) Les Fables de Lafontaine People had a lot of different opinions on who their favourite children s author is. This is reported in Table 5. Lots of people like Roald Dahl and Dr Seuss and Astrid Lindgren. I like all of those authors but if I have to pick just one, I would say Astrid Lindgren. She has written a lot of great books. Of course there is Pippi Longstocking that everyone knows about. But lots of others too. And she s Swedish! Table 5: Favourite Children s Author A. A. Milne Lemony Snicket ( 2) A. Dumas Franklin W. Dixon Anne Frank Arnold Lobel Astrid Lindgren ( 4) Maurice Sendak Dr. Seuss ( 4) J K Rowling ( 2) EB White Gordon Korman Enid Blyton ( 2) Lafontaine Eric Carle Louise Fitzhugh Jez Alborough or Anthony Browne Laura Ingall Judy Blume Susan Collins Roald Dahl ( 6) Robert Munsch ( 2) Sandra Boynton 4

5 Table 6: Overall Favourite Children s Book Emil i Lönneberga Love you Forever Pippi Longstocking ( 4) A Semester in the Life of a Garbage Bag The Secret Garden Winnie the Pooh ( 3) Blueberries For Sal The Giving Tree All the wrong questions Harry Potter Plain Kate Mouse Tales Kidnapped The Westing Game Dork diaries I Had Trouble in Getting to Solla Sollew Where the Wild Things Are Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Aladdin The chronicles of narnia The Little Prince Who Said Red by Mary Serfozo Shockheaded Peter Divergent I Want My Hat Back Anne of Green Gables The collected stories of Frog and Toad The Once and Future King Où est charlie? Very Hungry Caterpillar Vi på Saltkråkan (& other Astrid Lindgren books) The 27th Annual African Hippopotamus Race Table 6 has everyone s overall favourite book. I decided that the best book I could give Lev is Pippi Longstocking. This is because I really liked it when I was little. And it s a book about a (really) strong and independent girl. I like that because usually those kinds of books are about boys. And even though Lev is a boy, I think boys should read books about girls too. Happy reading! 5