To evaluate literature circles as an appropriate strategy for boys to be successful readers, two questionnaires were developed and presented to students at the research school. The purpose of these questionnaires was to elicit students' critical responses to literature circles, determine the effects of the strategy on boys, and identify 'boy-friendly' books. Questionnaires were presented mid-year and year-end to both boys and girls in grade four at the research school.

Qualitative analysis specifically focused on boy's written responses to the following mid-year and year-end questions:

Mid-year:
Do you like working in literature circles?
What did you like about them?
Is there anything you didn't like?
Year-end:
How did you feel about working in literature circles?
Did you like reading and discussing the novels?
Did you like reading and discussing the information texts?
Do you think literature circles helped you to become a better reader? How do you know?

Boys responses were categorized and analyzed based on recent research. Booth (2002) identified that boys prefer to be engaged in an active response. "Boys prefer active responses to reading instead of talking about the text with others" (Booth, 2002, p. 22). Boys viewed both the discussion roles and group projects as active responses by stating: "I liked doing the project"; "I liked the books and the projects"; "I liked being the Artful Artist because you get to draw pictures"; "I like it because reading and drawing is fun"; and "I like Artful Artist, Summarizer, Word Wizard, Discussion Director and Connections".

The view of talking while being engaged in an activity has been expressed by both Murphy (2001) and Booth (2002) as a method to assist boys with developing a deeper understanding of what they read. Murphy (2001, p. 2) described this method as action talk: "...one way to help boys share their deeper thoughts and feelings was through 'action talk', which means talking while being engaged in an activity." Similarly, Booth states "Some boys develop a deeper, more fully realized understanding of a text when they can share personal meanings and responses with others.