What can parents and/or teachers do to turn children on to books?

[Kathy Maxwell]

What can parents and/or teachers do to encourage reading?  to help children become avid readers?

[Kelli Wheelwright]

I love watching my 6 yr old read to his younger brother, they create wonderful memories together too!

 

KW

[Kathy Maxwell]

Well, role-reversals happen!  Great story!!

[Nicole Etolen]

I started reading to my son before he even came out of the womb. I agree with Sara-Jayne too, books are a central part of our house. Every single room has books in it somewhere.We read every night together. Now that he's in kindergarten, he's just learning to read a little, so he makes me put my finger under all the words as I read.

[Ashley Wiederhold]

Parents are a great influence, but my biggest influences were my classmates. The school I attended was academic-based and encouraged great reading habits. It was actually "cool" to read and students who made good grades were looked up to, not laughed at (and no, this wasn't a private school).

[Kathy Maxwell]

What a wonderful opportunity you had!!  A child's peers exert tremendous influences for good or ill.

[Kathy Maxwell]

I appreciate all of the responses so far!  I agree that parents and siblings can influence a child's love for books and reading.  While my husband scanned pictures this weekend, we were reminded how our eldest granddaughter (now 10 and an avid reader) used to "read" the books we read to her even before her speech was well-developed and understandable.  Many years after, she continued read books aloud to any willing audience.  Wonderful memories.

[Juli S]

I teach 9th graders. Many of them comment that they hate reading. Reason number one???? It is boring!  I tell them that they just haven't found the right books yet. I try convey that there are SO many books that something is bound to be interesting. They just need to find it. I also encourage them to read ANYTHING!   Read a motorcycle magazine, read the comics, read Glamour, read anything, read to your yournger brother.  I think sometimes they feel they need to be reading a "deep" novel to count as reading. I also try to compare it to playing a sport, video game or musical instrument. It gets easier the more you practice. Once you get better you may be able to find something "more interesting" to read.

 

Sometimes I struggle with what we require students read because of the educational value of the book (but the student is bored by the book) and just having the student read what they find interesting because reading is important. Just FYI  i teach Biology so I'm not really sure how the reading assignments are decided at our school.

 

I'm in the process of compiling a list of books involving science to recommend to the students for the next  year.

 

I'm not sure this really addressed the post but just wanted to throw it out there.

[Kathy Maxwell]

Thanks for your comments!  I taught HS English for a number of years.  Many of my students were poor readers and so reading was an arduous process.  Today's youth just don't get a lot of reading time when they're young so the whole process of decoding and comprehension is so difficult that they give up by the time they're in HS.  It's quite a problem for these kids because it affects their entire education!  I commend you for trying to encourage reading as a Biology teacher.  It takes all of us to teach them the skills they need!

[Lizzie Poteet]

So growing up I hated reading.  Like seriously HATED it.  My mom was so afraid that I would end up as functionally illiterate because she couldn't get me to read anything.  Nothing she did helped.  I hated being read to out loud, I would steal the library books but not read them.  I was a holy terror.  Then I reached middle school and there was one teacher Mrs. P who let us read whatever we wanted.  For me, my now obsession with literature started when I found a book that actually interested me. Juli is right: it's not reading that I hated, it was the subject matter.  I found that I liked historical romances and murder mysteries, and really, my mom was so grateful I was reading that she didn't mind! Let them read what they are interested in and it will build a base and interest in literature.  Sure, I started out with inappropriate "trashy" books, but I now am an English major at college.  I can appreciate Joyce, Austen, Chaucer, and most of all my boo Shakespeare bc I learned the value of a good book with Jennifer Crusie, Mary Higgins Clark, and Nora Roberts.

[Patricia Williams]

Addressing their likes is a biggie.  I remember when I was younger lots of teachers/my parents would kind of suggest their favorite books etc. which is fine, but there was this kind of push that they were the "right" kind of books.  It's funny because many of them I now love and appreciate (1984, A Tale of Two Cities etc.) but then I just kind of felt like my likes/needs (I was into more horror type stuff) were ignored.  Even if it's Goosebumps or Twilight, it shouldn't be shrugged off as frou frou or without substance...the goal is to get youth to develop a passion for reading.

[Heidi'sbooks]

I think with 3 of my kids (who learned to read really late--age 10 or older) the main thing that kept them going was first, reading aloud fun books and laughing about them together. I read aloud to them classic or Newberry Award winners until they were 14 or 15. And secondly, letting them pick out their own books. Most of the time cheap series are what initially attracted them to reading. Mary Kate and Ashley books, The Magic Tree House, Encyclopedia Brown. Now my late readers are voracious readers including my 19 year old college student who has a fantasy book going all the time on top of homework.

[Kathy Maxwell]

Did you homeschool?  I'm only asking because our oldest didn't read until he was around 9.  Thank heavens we homeschooled because he would have been labeled in special ed at a public school!  His late start wasn't due to the home education!!!  Just wanted to clarify that!  He went on to be a very good reader who reads mostly non-fiction- newspapers, magazines, current events.