Charmaine Bonello, Boys, early literacy and children’s rights in a postcolonial context [book review]

Abstract

It is high time that we beat the boredom and unease some boys equate with reading and writing. The author, Charmaine Bonello, is a mother of two boys, an educator with many years of experience with boys in the early years, an advocate of children’s rights, a researcher and lecturer within the Faculty of Education of the University of Malta. Through this publication, she invites readers to listen to the unheard voices of the boys in her study. She firmly believes that all children deserve, and have a right, to an excellent and meaningful reading experience so they may become passionate about reading and writing. To capture these voices Bonello held focus group interviews with 14 boys, aged 5 to 6 years (Year 1 in Primary School) old within three State Schools in Malta. In Chapter 1, Bonello presents the historical, cultural, social and economic context for the study. The researcher’s values, beliefs, attitudes and work experience guided her to conduct a mixed method case study which explores boys’ underachievement in literacy in early years education in Malta. Although the participants were young boys, elements of the context in which they live can be traced much further back in time. [excerpt]