I was a child who loved to read. For me, the best part of any vacation was the stack of books in my suitcase, and the moment I got to open the first one on the first night away from home.
Books are still much of the reason I look forward to vacation as an adult. Time away from the usual routine is also time to immerse myself in fiction. (My husband does the same with non-fiction.) I had hoped -- nah., assumed -- that I'd have children who would feel the same way, and imagined each of us sprawled on our own beach towels, with a pile of sandy books.
So I was mystified when my older son reached first grade, and then second and had very little use for reading. In his case it wasn't that it was hard for him to read, but rather that it just wasn't worth it to him. He did as his teachers asked, but not more. There was no excitement. No losing himself in a the pages. No love.
Then, one Sunday afternoon, we went to a neighbor's house for a barbeque. The yard was filled with children playing with every shape and size of ball (and yes,my hope was that my kids would love physical stuff too...) but inside there were two boys, twins of about 9, who were sitting side by side on the floor with a book. I watched as one read a chapter, handed it to his brother, then waited patiently for his turn to read the next chapter. Back and forth they passed this book. I cornered their mother and asked: "Whatever that is, how do I get a copy?"
It was a British book, she told me, and was only available on Amazon.com in England. That was the first I'd heard of Harry Potter; days later I started reading Evan a chapter a night. It didn't take long before he grew impatient with the pace, turned on his bedside light after I'd left, and read for most of the night. He came down with that bleary but satisfied look that I remember from my own childhood, and, hugging the paperback close, his face lit up.
"Mommy," he sighed. "There's a whole world in this book."
That is the way we want our children to feel about reading, right? Would Evan have gotten to his love of books eventually -- if not Harry Potter, then some other literary flip of the switch? Or did I stumble onto his magic trigger? And how can all parents do likewise?
These are all questions we'll be exploring over the next few weeks, in this, the inaugural gathering of the Parentlode Book Club. In future months we will do the more usual book club thing -- choose one title and discuss it in a series of posts, interviews with the author, and maybe even a real life get together.
But this first installment of PBC will be a little different. I have sitting in front of me as I write this a stack of books not about teaching children to read (although there are many of those out there) but rather about teaching children to LOVE to read. We will be talking about all of them, and delving deep into the ways we might spark that distinct look in our kids' eyes.
The books we will be reading, or, at least, alluding to, are:
Help Me Get Ready to Read: The Practical Guide to Reading Aloud to Children During Their First Five Years, by Susan Marx and Barbara Kasok
The Book Whisperer, Awakening the Inner Reader in Every Child, By Donalyn MillerBest Books for Boys: How to Engage Boys in Reading in Ways That Will Change Their Lives, by Pam Allyn
What to Read When: The Books and Stories to Read to Your Child -- and All the Best Times to Read Them, by Pam Allyn
The Hank Zipzer series, by Henry Winkler and Lin Oliver
How Reading Changed My Life, by Anna Quindlen
Tolstoy and the Purple Chair: My Year of Magical Reading, By Nina Sankovitch
So go get yourselves copies of whichever of these appeal, and start reading. We'll have our first club "meeting" next week.
And meanwhile, use the comments to tell me about where the sparks came from in your own reading life. Have you been able to pass those along to your children?
I, too, have a son, 8, who can read very well but has no interest in sitting down with a book, which I find frustrating. Then again, he won't sit down very long with much of anything; maybe Angry Birds. Both his dad and I are readers but it doesn't seem to matter. Perhaps it really is an issue of finding something he finds magical. On the other hand, if it turns out he's just not a reader, as much as it would pain me, I'd have to deal. Right?
while i read to him and he listened to books on tape as well as reading small amounts in non fiction books on subjects he was interested in we did watch a lot of tv and many films together. and we talked about everything, a lot.
he's very verbal and generally well informed and in many ways knowledgeable and thoughtful.
reading is not the be all and end all and does not magically make us better people.
i remember reading an article by a south african who grew up with extreme tv censor ship [ his country's ] and made the interesting point that he spent a lot of time watching tv with his kids and talking while watching and considered reading quite anti social, what with every body going of into their own little world
i think he has a point there .
Dayna Martin: Unschooling and the Benefits of TV
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n501PVCrwVE&feature=related
Model reading behavior for children: a parent who doesn't read has little to no chance to entice her children.
Ration TV watching and online time.
Introduce higher quality literature to your children. If not knowledgeable enough: consult a librarian.
For example, "no" on Rick Riordan, "yes" on "Little Prince" and "Treasure Island."
Remember schools generally assign books to the lowest common denominator.
My approach, paradoxically enough, was to ration the BOOKS. Twenty minutes of reading aloud AND NO MORE. You want more? Read it yourself!
It's worked. I'm constantly having to go in and take away the book so the kid will get off the toilet, or put out the flashlight and go to sleep, or start walking so we can get home.
Make trips to the library a regular part of one's errands. Kids are adaptable and they will adjust to a regimen in which the idiot box and its offerings are optional features of life, not a need like oxygen or food-which is how many American families treat this device.
I realize that anyone having a tablet or electronic device would be more interested in reading and so.
I do love traditional books but having an electronic book reader or tablet is more exciting. I can also save much space in my room.
One of the reasons your child didn't become interested in reading until later was because you didn't read while he was around and able to see you. You saved your reading for vacation. I would like to suggest that you add my latest book "Secrets to Reading Success: from the Early Years to First Grade" to your list. I am a literacy professor at Kingsborough College of CUNY, a reading specialist and a former elementary school language arts teacher. The information in the book shares simple ways to help children acquire a love of reading in everyday life and enhance literacy acquisition that most parents never even thought about. It will also make parents aware of what not to do so that pitfalls can be avoided. I have used these techniques successfully in my private practice and now with my grandchildren, and yes they work. I became interested in becoming a reading specialist when my oldest child had difficulty learning to read in the first grade (she is now a mother herself.)This book is parent-friendly, uses the latest research and is peer reviewed by preschool teachers, parents, literacy professors and early childhood professors. A percentage of the proceeds will go to NYP Weill Cornell Medical College Transplant Center for research. It is available at Amazon, or at www.secretstoreadingsuccess.com
Looking back, I think you are right. I read to Evan every night. I read at bedtime myself every night (at least for as long as I could keep my eyes open.) But I didn't just sit and read for pleasure around Evan, so no, he didn't see that. Never thought about it that way back then.
So I was surprised to find that although they were all adequate readers who read fairly often, they seemed to reach a plateau around second or third grade. Early chapter books were now seeming a bit babyish, but thicker books intimidated them. Until..... wait for it.... you know what's coming ----- Harry Potter. My girls were probably about 8 and 10, and had tried a few times to start reading The Sorcerer's Stone, but just couldn't get past the lengthy beginning. So I gave them the book on CD, with the directions that they not just listen to it, but follow along in their copies of the book. It worked! After that first evening they never turned the CD player back on. They quickly finished that first book and the rest of the series, followed by Spiderwick, Lemony Snicket, Percy Jackson, Twilight, Vampire Diaries, and even a few classics! Every day I see each of them curled up in a quiet corner of the house, lost in their latest title. Now if I can just get them to read my beloved Trixie Belden, Anne of Green Gables, Jane Eyre! I'll truly be in heaven!
My 17 year old always enjoys the books he has to read for the summer reading program, "One District,O¬ne Book". Give them a book they like, and you can hook them into the joy of reading!
Does anyone know if those books are still available?