HERE WE GO AGAIN, BOY AND GIRLS. School starts next week, so I hope you have your eyeballs polished. All seriousness aside, I hope you’re reading this column today because that shows you love reading so much you’ll read anything.
Speaking of reading, you know, kids, you get a lot of choices in life. You get preferences. You can choose to like basketball and hate soccer. You can choose to like hamburgers and hate hot dogs, or like hot dogs, but without onions. You can prefer the city over the country, art over science, God over Allah, rap over classical, boys over girls, and sandals with socks. It’s a free world, a free country, you do what you like.
However, that freedom doesn’t apply to reading. You CANNOT simply choose to not like reading. Not allowed. Not in school. You can’t say, “I like movies and videos, but I hate to read.” Sorry, Charlie. Reading isn’t in the same category with other likes and dislikes such as basketball, hot dogs, and Ryan Seacrest. It’s not optional.
You have to read, like it or not. It is literacy itself. It is the key, the glue, the oil, the sauce, the juice, the epicenter of life’s culture, history, and future. Reading is your real teacher, not me. I just point. If you don’t like to read, you must read anyhow. It’s can’t be skipped, overlooked, or postponed.
Some folks don’t like working, but they work. Some folks don’t like paying taxes, but they pay them, eventually. Some folks don’t like dying, but off they go. Some of those same folks don’t like reading either, and they don’t read, confusing reading as optional rather than mandatory. As a result, they usually work longer and harder, pay a higher percentage in taxes, and die early. They’re trading one dislike for another.
Obviously, if you don’t like to read, and are able to read, your best option is to learn to like it. I know a lot of people who don’t like vegetables, but they like vegetable soup. That’s a start. It’s a short story.
How does one learn to like reading?
Wow. Man. That’s a tough question. Who am I to answer it? Oh, yeah, I’m a reading teacher.
Well, I confess, I’ve been struggling with this for nigh unto 30 years. If my experience has taught me one thing, I’d say joy of reading comes down to curiosity. A person has to want to know something that is answered in words. My other advice would be to get an early start, like age 3, unless it’s too late.
Consider two dogs locked in a room. One is curious, the other is not. Watch through your two-way mirror. The curious dog is sniffing out the room, pawing at things, knocking over the trash can, going up on his back legs to see table tops and high shelves. The uncurious dog is lying on the carpet, motionless, watching the other dog through dull eyes. Eventually, the curious dog also comes to rest next to his companion, but not until after he has eaten the puppy biscuits from the table top.
What makes a child curious to read a particular book? For some, simply telling the child it’s a good book is enough. That’s why we have book reviews. For others who don’t take easily to reading, they’ll wait for the movie to come out. That is, unless you can make them curious.
Ever tell someone a joke but withhold the punchline? Drives them crazy. Ever watched a cliffhanger movie series? You can’t wait until next week. Seriously, “Game of Thrones” should be two hours long.
Writers have a responsibility here as well, and they’re aware of it. It’s called chapter one. The whole purpose of chapter one in virtually all novels is to make the reader curious. Who cares about two characters on an adventure? Only those who get to know the two characters and appreciate their situation; only those who have read chapter one.
We can’t make children better readers simply by demanding that they read more. It’s not about more. It’s not about the quiz at the end. It’s not about threatening them with an F to make them read. Granted, the child will fail the quiz and flunk the class and learn his lesson. His lesson will be that his dislike for reading has been government certified.
With my reluctant readers, I focus on chapter one rather than a whole book. I’ll say, “Read chapter one and tell me what it’s about.” When they tell me, I’m visibly curious. “Wow, those are interesting characters. What happens to them?” and so on.
My hope is that the author will set the hook and reel them into chapter two and beyond. If not, we will begin a new book and read a new chapter one.
No hook? Third book, chapter one. And so on.
Where do the books come from? Anywhere and everywhere. They can choose their own for independent reading, and I have a list of more than 200 optional titles.
How do I check for reading? I have my ways that work. That’s a different topic that comes later. What’s important here is learning to fall in love with words, not going to war with them.
Steve Gibbs teaches at Benicia High School and has written a column for The Herald since 1985.
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