Continuing the interesting discussion on children and reading started in the comments on yesterday’s post I thought I would share the following. I copied this from some site awhile back to put in a post and forgive me, I don’t remember where. I think it might be from young adult author Shannon Hale‘s blog site (great book conversations there including this one and this one and this one on teaching classics vs. more contemporary lit in junior high and high school).
Anyway:
10 Ways Parents (inadvertently) Discourage Their Kids from Being Readers
1. Neglect to make regular family library visits
2. Stop reading aloud (I know parents who still read to their teens)
3. Don’t read books where the kids can see them (this goes for fathers especially, for some reason)
4. Don’t talk about books over dinner
5. Overlook the fact that a good family activity might be going to hear a writer speak at a bookstore or book festival
6. Designate the books in the family library as too precious for little kids to touch
7. Don’t read the books their kids are reading
8. Have a home that doesn’t accommodate reading (too formal, too noisy, not enough good reading lighting, or just no books or magazines around)
9. Schedule so many activities that the kids don’t have time to pick up a book
10. Believe that their childhood favorites are the only acceptable choices and are bound to also delight their children (some fateful examples: Treasure Island, Call of the Wild, Wind in the Willows, Johnny Tremain)
And the reason too important to put in a numbered list: Tell them a certain book or genre is too young for them.
Shannon Hale
What do you think? I strongly encourage you to read those 3 links from Shannon Hale’s site, they are some great conversation generators. In one of them she was asked what books she would recommend that should be read before leaving high school. Her answer is here and its a great list. What books do you think should be in school reading lists?
And for all you who work in libraries out there:
I will have to print that off for Julian. And maybe even his class.
You…or the school…can get these posters and matching bookmarks really cheap at the ALA store site.
Very cool Superman picture! Yes, Julian would love that. Carl, you do make me rethink my thoughts toward making book reading more attractive in my home. The kids do read a lot of books, we do go to the library and get books, but I don’t really push it. I think the fact that I have stopped reading (at least for entertainment) has caused me to stop enhancing reading in my home.
I think that movies and videos have come in and taken up many of the hours today that I would have spent reading as a kid.
Let’s face it, movies are just easier. Plus many of them are excellent so its easy to have that take up one’s minimal entertainment time. I don’t think anyone should force reading on their family but I think people should be open to that experience. There is no magical formula for getting kids to love reading. Mary and I have probably done all of those 10 (11) things faithfully and Tori still isn’t much of a reader. She has been reading more lately, however so maybe she’s coming into it finally but she doesn’t love books like my niece does, who devours anything literary she can get her hands on. Tori has always liked being read to however, even now at age 14.
The poster artist is Alex Ross who does amazing painted work.
And let me just say how cool it is to get Tom and Karen as my first (and only thus far) commentors on a post about reading. Too cool!
I am so lucky to have parents who are book-lovers. And I totally agree with everything you said there, (also good posts from Shannon Hale). But I have one thing to add.
Never tell a child (or teen) they can’t read a book because it is too ‘old’ for them. If it has unsuitable content, okay. But not just because you think they won’t be able to handle it. Luckily for me, my parents have always adhered to this rule and as a consequence I have had a reading age of 16 (the highest on that particular scale) since I was 8. But my elementary school thought otherwise, and I spent a lot of my childhood being told by teachers that no, I couldn’t read that book, honey, that book is for the boys and girls three years above me. I couldn’t possibly be able to read it. Which was infuriating to say the least. I’ve always thought that it is better to overestimate someone’s abilities than to underestimate them. Underestimating puts people down, it says, this is what you are capable of, nothing more. But if you always assume that your kids can do twice as much as you think they can, they’ll prove they can do three times as much. If they have problems reading something they want to read, help them.
Oh, and don’t push them into reading ‘classics’ if they don’t want to. That’s never nice.
So, I’ll just get down off my soapbox now and say, in response to the whole thing about only teaching ‘classics’ in high school, my high school has a very balanced reading list. So this year I read all classics, it’s my GCSE course and the exam boards set it out. But before then, I read not only A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Pygmalion and Jane Eyre, but also Lois Lowry’s The Giver, Rebecca and a rather odd YA called Grinny that I’ve yet to see anywhere else. But then again I go to a very good school.
Phew, really long comment. Then again I have lots to say about this issue. Sorry!
reading sucks.
…Just to be a stinker.
Nice thoughts GG! Having read some of the things you’ve said about your school it sounds interesting and progressive…of course just the fact that it is an English school vs. an American one makes it interesting to me.
Don’t worry about the soapbox, lots of people got on theirs on those posts of Hale’s and they were great to read.
I think the important thing is to know your kids. Some kids can handle scary stuff at a younger age than others, some can conquer the bigger words of certain books at younger ages than others…but there is certainly no universal age to read certain books.
I remember reading Dracula at age 11 or 12 for the first time and was enthralled with it. I also remember thinking certain parts were slow and others were really suspenseful. Years later when I decided to read it again I was amazed how much I loved the whole thing and laughed about how much more I understood as an adult. The point is though that I got enough out of it as a child to really like it and now it is probably the book I have re-read the most in my life.
I agree that if the content is age appropriate in your mind as a parent that you shouldn’t discourage kids from trying something ‘hard’ if they choose to do so.
You need to make your own anti-reading posters Tom! 😉
Reading was a wonderful escape when I was a child–I have trouble understanding how anyone would dislike it. I do remember that one of the punishments we’d get from my dad would be to take away our books and reading privileges.
Maybe you should add that to the list, except I don’t know if that would be a do or a don’t?
Or maybe use the whole reverse psychology thing: tell kids they can’t read, let them see you hiding books, etc. and then they’ll rebel against you by going ahead and reading? 🙂
I love reading. I always have a book going and one or two in the wings. I can’t understand not being that way. I am going on a short business trip soon, and I have my reading all prepared. It reminds me of a Seinfeld episode where Jerry was talking about “those people” who don’t bring reading material on a plane and then expect you to talk to them. he, he
Karen, I do sympathize with though. When I was in college, I pretty much gave up reading for entertainment for several years (except summers of course). I just couldn’t fit in my “required reading” otherwise. I think having little children consuming your time is a similar situation.
Tom, I don’t know if that poster sets the best examples for children. I sincerely hope Superman is watching where he is flying; he could hit an asteroid or something.
Oh, and I love the librarian poster, Carl! Thanks!
I used to read a lot when I was a kid. My parents never read so I think it’s almost personal preference / personality more than anything. I am sure having a reading home does help cultivate a love for reading to some degree, though. I am not like you, Mary. I don’t read much anymore, although if I had more quiet time I would read more. I know it would help my grammar skills, which I desperately need. Elizabeth says I just need to read some challenging texts to sharpen my dull skills.
Lydia has to read a minimum of 20 minutes a night this school year. This can get tricky. She has to be a very diligent student all day to keep caught up and in the past she has even received one on one reading tutoring time (Title 1) at school. She comes home exhausted and when she has to do her reading in the evenings, sometimes she starts crying. That’s when I just read to her instead. It’s so hard to make a child read. She’s not that interested and it does no good for her to read through tears. I’ve read to her a lot over the years but she still struggles. When she was a toddler we read a lot. When Elaina and Anjelia came along I just didn’t have nearly enough time to read to her. She is just 8 so I hope it gets easier for her as she grows and learns. She would much rather write little books and illustrate them. Drawing cats is her passion!
LOVE that poster.
I hope it didn’t sound like I was disagreeing with your list Carl. I know as parents we have the responsibility to nuture our children’s intellect and try to cultivate a love for reading. I just meant that I think some of it does come down to personal interests.
I’m still trying to figure out why you want to be a grammar. That will happen soon enough, won’t it?
Yes, yes…I can hear your groans from here….Give me puns or give me death I say!
I grew up in a home that, wonderful as it was, did not exactly encourage reading. Fortunately for me, I discovered comic books. I was “reading” Marvel’s Conan the Barbarian series before I started elementary school. This began my love affair with the written word. I remember reading “Moby Dick,” Poe and “Ivanhoe” before age twelve, not because some teacher recommended it, but out of personal choice. Then the magnificent Tolkien came into my life, then Edgar Rice Burroughs. The stuff they tried to make me read in school I just skimmed over (except for Steinbeck’s “Of Mice and Men,” which I loved) and promptly forgot about. I would encourage my child to read what he or she wants, not necessarily what the teachers tell them to, because I believe a love of reading cannot be taught, only encouraged.
“I believe a love of reading cannot be taught, only encouraged.”….exactly Wayne, exactly.
Isn’t Burroughs great?!?! Love the John Carter of Mars series and remembered being amazed as an adult reading Tarzan how different…and how much better…it was than any movie or tv adaptation of Tarzan I’ve seen.
And by the way, it is obvious because of her inclusion that I am a fan of Shannon Hale but just thought I would recommend her work again now. She’s winning awards for her books and they are well deserved.
I will echo Mary’s statement above. ” I love reading “.
I’ve loved reading as long as I can remember. It started with Sports “hero” books and Hardy Boys mysteries and progressed to fantasy novels in my teen years. Luckily I also married a wonderful women who loves to read as much as I do. My nine year old also has embraced the love of reading and now we’re just trying to nuture my six year old down that path.
I also love reading the newspaper which cuts into my novel time. My dad always read the newspaper growing up and I think I got that habit from him. I definitely miss it when I don’t get to read it everyday. I get lots of news online but I just doesn’t feel the same as holding the paper in my hands. Plus it’s much easier to skim over stuff holding a paper rather than reading info. online. My screen is just too small.
Sounds like a case of screen envy to me!
Thanks for the links to Shannon Hale’s blog – some really interesting discussions on there – a new favourite I think!
I think that my mother did a really great job encouraging me to read (well, it seems to have worked anyway…). She always read the books I was reading and showed a real interest. She never restricted me – I had free access to all the books in the house. Actually, when I was four, I would climb into the cupboard all the books lived in, and sit on the bottom shelf with a torch and the door closed, reading anything within reach. Mum made it really clear she was proud of me – I think that has really carried through.
My father has never been a big reader, but he always encouraged me – and oddly, he’s always been the one to find me the most interesting books – ones I wouldn’t think of reading otherwise. Even now with me in my twenties, if he goes away somewhere, Dad will come back with a book for me.
Actually, this post has made me think about how great my parents have been really. Where my partner constantly faces comments about “playing those stupid games” and the attitude that he should grow up, my parents never put my interests down.
Love the Emily Strange poster. Brilliant.
Sounds like you have great parents Q. That is especially great that your Dad does that for you considering that he is not a reader.
I like the Emily Strange poster as well. ALA frequently does great posters. Tara McPherson did a great Sandman poster for them a few years ago. These are also available in bookmarks and occasionally, at least here in the states, you can find these as giveaways at the local library.