Ignite
the Love of Reading from Within
By: Kristina
Hart
Librarian at Excelsior Middle School,
Linn-Mar School District
ihartbooks2@gmail.com
Whether
you are a teacher, librarian, or parent, you have probably heard this a million
times: “I hate reading,” “I don’t read,” and—my personal favorite—“I am a hater
of all books in general!" What is it that makes children have a love of
reading? What makes them hate it? Can you ever change their minds?
One of
my favorite quotes from James Patterson is, “There's no such thing as a kid who
hates reading. There are kids who love reading, and kids who are reading the
wrong books.” My years teaching and serving as a librarian tell me that this is
true. So, how do you help children find the right books? How do you “ignite”
their love of reading so that it will become a lifelong skill, not one that is
fleeting and only practiced through the school years?
Let Them Choose
One
day, I found a student standing and staring at a book in his hands, looking
like he was going to cry. When I asked if I could help, the response was, “Oh
Mrs. Hart, I am just dying to read
these Dog Tag books, but I can’t.” I
was confused. These books by C. Alexander London are great for students in the
middle grades. He went on, “I have to read only the books that are on my level,
and I need 17 points by the end of this month.” He was devastated, and I was
saddened. Why couldn’t he choose what
he wanted to read? Why couldn’t he choose
the books in which he was interested?
There
is a place for computerized, reading management programs and a reason to use leveled
books. If students are required to read leveled books for a class, I provide
them with a list of available books in their range so that they can choose what
interests them. But I can’t stress enough how vital it is that students have
choice in their reading materials that extends beyond a specified ability level.
After I spoke at a conference, a lady approached me to ask, “All my grandson
reads are the Bad Kitty books by Nick
Bruel, so are you saying I should let him read them?” Absolutely!! If children
are reading, let them read. As long as the material is appropriate for their
maturity level, it really doesn’t matter what it is.
Certainly
there are ways to encourage children to explore new books and genres. For
example, one student told me she never reads because she hates books. I asked
her what television shows she watches, and she told me “Castle.” Imagine her
surprise when I told her there really were books from the actual show! I had
another student who told me his favorite TV show was “Walking Dead,” which is
about zombies. I got him hooked on reading again by recommending Deck Z: The Titanic: Unsinkable, Undead
(by Chris Pauls and Matt Solomon) and the Rot
& Ruin series by Jonathan Maberry. The student became one of my
strongest readers.
Make It Relevant
How do
you help the students find the books they will like to read? Besides asking
about their interests, find ways to help them relate to books. When I was a librarian
in Anamosa, I had two boys who would refuse to read anything because they “hadn’t
read since fourth grade.” After weeks of building a relationship with these
patrons, I challenged them to try the Ashfall
series by Mike Mulliin. It was ideal for them because it is an end of the world
survival book that not only takes place in Iowa, but the majority of the second
book (Ashen Winter) takes place in
Anamosa in the huge state prison. The boys could relate to the context and even
go see places mentioned in the book. In addition, the book dealt with hunting
and survival, which were interests of the boys. They came back the next day
having read the entire first book and anxious for book two! They ended up creating
a wooden book tree in their building trades class that I could display in the
book fair. More importantly, the boys continued to read. To continue
encouraging them, I was able to get the author to come visit and talk about his
books. It was an experience I hope my students never forget!
Author Mike Mullin
visits Anamosa
Students
often do not know how a book relates to their experiences unless we talk about
it. Delia Ray has written a wonderful book for middle school students called Here Lies Linc. It sat on my library
bookshelf for months and was never checked out. Finally, I did a booktalk on it
and had over 100 students put it on hold because I only had two copies. Why did
it all of the sudden become the book
to have? This story is about a boy in Iowa City who lives by the cemetery and
becomes intrigued with a legendary statue there called the “Black Angel.” The
statue really exists and there are so many secrets and crazy stories about its
curse. The students could relate to the story and go visit the statue if they wanted
to.
Power
in Booktalks
I consider one activity I do in library
essential for helping students to find what they are interested in and what
they can relate to: booktalks. This is a visually, enthusiastic presentation is
intended to hook a child on reading a book and can be especially important in
the middle grades. I regularly use book and movie trailers as part of my
booktallks because I find they bring the book to life.
There
is a wonderful book called Miss
Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs that has what I
considered to be off-putting cover art of a girl levitating. I did not read it
for a long time because, as reluctant as I am to admit it, I judged the book by
its cover. The book was never checked out, so I finally made myself read it and
loved it! It is so unique, especially because the author used authentic old
photos that he gathered from flea markets and other places. Then he wove an
incredibly brilliant story around those photos. It subsequently was made into a
movie, and the trailer was phenomenal! Once I showed that to my students, the
demand for the book increased. There is power in promoting books and especially
showing the students a visual presentation.
There
are other ways of creating visually appealing presentations. For example, when
the new “Jurassic World” movie was released, I seized the opportunity by making
an eye-catching display with all my dinosaur books. In practically no time every
book was checked out. And, when the new “Everest” movie was released, I developed
a cross-curricular unit with the seventh-grade social studies teacher on Nepal.
I generated excitement among the students by giving booktalks on relevant books
such as Peak by Roland Smith, No Summit Out of Sight by Jordan
Romero and Linda LeBlanc, Within Reach: My
Everest Story by Mark Pfetzer and Jack Galvin, and Conquering Everest: The
Lives of Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay: A Graphic Novel by Lewis
Helfand and Amit Tayal. The students
were hooked!
You
can change the minds of children who claim to hate reading by giving them
choice in the books they read, using visual displays, and sharing how books
relate to their lives or experiences. These are some approaches that I have
found successful in helping spark students’ interest in reading.
