Table 8: Mentors write about children's reaction to books
| "Very interested"...More Pics by Robert Munsch | "very attentive, full of laughs" Sweet Dream Pie by Andy Wood and Mark Teague | "Very interested, they thought it was neat told from that point of view" True Story of the Three Little Pigs by Jon Scieszka. |
| "students were very interested even the ones who did not like hockey" The Moccasin Goalie by R. Brownridge | "I wasn't reading today so I just watched the kids while S was reading and they were hanging on every work he was saying. They really enjoyed the crazy illustrations too" There Were Monkeys in my Kitchen by Sheree Fitch. | "The students seemed very interested in this book. They laughed out loud at parts of the story certain illustrations" The Bully Brothers Trick the Tooth Fairy by Mike Thaler. |
Communication: Mentors and Children
The mentors, both those who were hockey players and those who were not, seem to conform to Skelton's
(2001) discourse on masculinity as "reminiscent of an exclusive male sports club where the members bond
through a shared humor and shared commitment to, and interests in, their sport." (p.128). In the case of our
study, the male mentors may form a bond with the children through the central importance of hockey in
Canadian society.
In response to The Hockey Sweater by R. Carrier, both grade 4 boys and girls approved of this book. The following, were written responses by boys: "I like the book because I'm a hockey player and I play hockey." and "Hockey is pretty much all it is about and skating is what you do when you play hockey. It could be better but other than that it was good." and "It was a really good story if you like hockey!" reveal that the readers were connecting to the text on a personal level. Similarly, a male response such as "It's kind of weird because just because he is wearing a Toronto t-shirt does not mean that he can't play hockey.