Video Book Review - Dr. Dre (Hip Hop series)

Please let us know if you are familiar with this book. Give us your thoughts, questions, ideas, etc...

Hi Mike
I’m not familiar with these books but it is good to see this type of book that would be of interest to boys who normally would not want to read. Any book that can do this is a good book and well worth having in a library

One of the things that I like most about the hip hop series is that it really draws in some off the boys who are a little more "rough around the edges".  Many boys who have gone through hard times in thier lives really connect with hip hop music and it's messages of overcoming obstacles.  Dr. Dre in particular has used his music to talk about all that he has been through, how far he has come, and the fact that you must remember where you have come from to learn from your experiences.  This book is a good representation of how someone can hit rock bottom, yet still come out on top.   The hip hop series really draws in the boys with something that they already love and helps then to learn a good lesson beyond the music itself.

I think you could encourage more boys to read if, instead of having you give the video book report, have a boy who has read and enjoyed the book give the book report. After all, who are you trying to sell on reading this book, the librarians or the youth? If it's the youth you're after, it needs more of a "coolness" factor.
Advantages of having boy do the book report:
>>> He will have a sense of pride being in an Internet video and will rush to read another book so he can be in another video.
>>> He will tell all of his friends about the video and that will make them not only want to read that book, but also read other books so they can also make videos.
>>> If you make it a contest, then they will fall over themselves working on their best presentation and creativity skills.
>>> If a youth gave a video book report, it would not focus on how many pages it has or who the author is, but why is it a cool book, what did he learn from reading it and why his friends should read it, too.

A book with plenty of pictures certainly would make much appeal to readers of this age. Reading is much fun if it is side by side with graphical descriptions. A biography of a famous person would also stir interest to kids, especially the ones they look up to. You don't need to do much motivation in giving making them read.

I read a book about 2Pac along time ago, I was a little boy & I was very attratcted to this king of reading, I think this book can Get many Boys to Read

I am a library aide and we work hard to find books for boys to read. We have a "boys read" section in our library and the reviews are written by boys. My only question on these particular series of books is the negative message given in a lot of hip hop music. We went to a seminar just about the negative influence hip hop has on the young boys of our culture.
But I am excited about this website and will encourage boys to check it out.