School’s
out!
But
you’ve got a long summer reading list.
This
summer, what’s the best thing you can let your child do? Let them read WHATEVER
they want to. (Within reason, of course--I’m not advocating that you let your
child read Crime and Punishment or anything that’s not age-appropriate).
So, let
me say it again. Let them read WHATEVER they want to.
I can
already hear you.
“Oh, but
he won’t read that. It’s too many pages.”
“She only
likes horse books.”
“But does
it have AR points?”
“I want
her to stop reading graphic novels.”
“I’m
tired of Captain Underpants.”
Let me
stop you right there.
The other
thing you say is, “I just want my child to be a better reader,” or “I just want
my child to love reading.”
Make
summer reading fun again by letting your child choose what they want to read.
When they choose what they read, reading becomes a normal part of your child’s
day, so when they have to read a book required for school, it isn’t so much of
a chore.
In a
study done by Scholastic, this graph shows the percentage of children who read
a book of their choice, non-fiction or fiction, independently in school. As you
can see in the last section, “I don’t do this at all,” 61% of students aged
15-17 do not read a book of their choice during school.
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“The
majority of kids ages 6–17 agree “it is very important for their future to be a
good reader” (86%) and about six in ten kids love or like reading books for fun
(58%), a steady percentage since 2010.”
And in
the same study, here’s what Scholastic discovered about the percentage of
children who have trouble finding books they like to read:
“Parents
underestimate the degree to which children have trouble finding books they
like. Only 29% of parents agree “my child has trouble finding books he/she
likes,” whereas 41% of kids agree this is a challenge—this percentage of kids
increases to 57% among infrequent readers vs. 26% of frequent readers.”
From all
of this information, we can see that:
- It’s
hard for children to find time to read a book OF THEIR CHOICE
independently during the school year.
- Making
time to read a book of choice is even more difficult the older the child
gets.
- About
half of children have trouble finding books they like. This can lead to
negative attitudes towards reading. Or, the child will just stop reading
entirely, except when they are required to read for school.
So, how do
we help a child find what they like to read? By giving them choices, and not
limiting those choices. After all, there is no such thing as “too much
reading.” If there is a graphic novel series with 100 books in the series, and
your child loves that series, let them read the entire series. You can’t
buy the entire series? There are libraries made for that specific purpose. Get
a library card with your child this summer, and make it an adventure.
If the
book is a non-fiction sports’ facts book with a lot of glossy pictures, such as
“Scholastic Year in Sports 2018,” let them read that book. If your child
will only sit down with magazines, then get them more magazines to read. And if
the book does not have horses? By talking to your librarian or bookseller,
chances are, they can recommend similar books. That’s what they’re trained to
do.
This
summer, I’m encouraging you: forget about the points, forget about whether it
is “on reading level,” and don’t worry if it looks like the only thing your
child will read for the rest of his life are comic books. Maybe that’s all
they’ll read for the rest of the summer, but guess what? It will set them on
the path to being a reader for the rest of their life.
Oh, and
as for Captain Underpants? The author of that series, Dav Pilkey, is one of the
biggest advocates of children reading for fun. This past April I was fortunate
enough to attend the Fay B. Kaigler Children's Book Festival, where Pilkey was awarded the
2018 Southern Miss Medallion. He spoke about his own struggles with dyslexia as
a young reader and how his librarian's criteria for "great
literature" limited a lot of children's literature (see image below).
Pilkey now writes books that are 220 pages long, are full of illustrations, and
are inspired by great literature (i.e., Dog Man: Lord of the Fleas).
As a Dav
Pilkey says, “Reading Gives You Superpowers,” and I couldn’t agree more.
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Visit www.scholastic.com or www.readbrightly.com for more book suggestions for
your child and resources for parents. Visit your local bookstore or library for
suggestions and let librarians and booksellers help your child find a book they
want to read this summer.
Follow
Twenty by Jenny on
Instagram @20xjennybooks or Twitter @20xJenny for more great books for kids.
