Allison Symes's Blog - Posts Tagged "encouraging-reading"
What Counts as "Proper Reading"?
When I was a kid, I loved Enid Blyton's Famous Five series but she was not approved of. Yet she got kids reading. Other authors have faced the same thing, most notably J.K.Rowling.
For me it is the getting people reading that matters most. I've never understood the snobbery against comics and comic books either.
Whatever you read, it's vital you enjoy it. Else what's the point? Even books designed to educate rather than entertain need something to ensure readers don't switch off.
Proper reading for me is when a book, story or article grips me enough to make me keep reading.
For me it is the getting people reading that matters most. I've never understood the snobbery against comics and comic books either.
Whatever you read, it's vital you enjoy it. Else what's the point? Even books designed to educate rather than entertain need something to ensure readers don't switch off.
Proper reading for me is when a book, story or article grips me enough to make me keep reading.
Books as Presents
I don’t know how many books are given as presents at Christmas but it must run into millions.
Hardbacks, paperbacks, audio books, ebooks - a fabulous celebration of the written word, fictional and factual. I love that aspect.
Yes, I’ve got books on my wish list this year - I always do - no surprises there.
I still have an annual (The Friendship Book which is still going strong after many decades and published by that marvellous publisher, D.C. Thomson of Dundee). I wonder how many kids got into reading thanks to having an annual every Christmas. Certainly they’re a great way to encourage reading.
Comics and comic books can serve the same purpose. Flash fiction, my genre, can do so too because these can tempt the reluctant reader in - you don’t have to read a brick of a novel (a) all at once and (b) as your way into reading. You cam start smaller and build up or read the brick a bit at a time.
The important thing is to read and I hope whatever book presents you receive this year, you have a fabulous time reading them!
Hardbacks, paperbacks, audio books, ebooks - a fabulous celebration of the written word, fictional and factual. I love that aspect.
Yes, I’ve got books on my wish list this year - I always do - no surprises there.
I still have an annual (The Friendship Book which is still going strong after many decades and published by that marvellous publisher, D.C. Thomson of Dundee). I wonder how many kids got into reading thanks to having an annual every Christmas. Certainly they’re a great way to encourage reading.
Comics and comic books can serve the same purpose. Flash fiction, my genre, can do so too because these can tempt the reluctant reader in - you don’t have to read a brick of a novel (a) all at once and (b) as your way into reading. You cam start smaller and build up or read the brick a bit at a time.
The important thing is to read and I hope whatever book presents you receive this year, you have a fabulous time reading them!
Promoting Books
As a writer as well as reader, I have a vested interest in promoting books. Obviously I would like to promote my own but I like to promote books by other writers I’ve loved reading too. Why?
Because I have an even bigger vested interest in sharing the joys of reading with others. Why?
Well, it is the way to encourage book reading, book buying, use of the libraries and so on - all good things.
Reading is good for us. It entertains, it informs, it helps us escape for a while. It deepens our vocabulary. It helps us puzzle things out. Don’t you try to guess the ending for a crime story ahead of reading that ending? I do all the time.
Sometimes I do guess the killer correctly, sometimes I don’t but I have had a fabulous time in guessing and I always like it when an author manages to wrong foot me too. I go back through the book then to try and spot the clues I missed first go around.
Every writer’s most difficult task is in getting that initial spark of interest in their work. We need to encourage people to read, to see the point of reading, whether they then go on to read our work or others. Ideally they’d do both of course!
And I am conscious there are other forms of entertainment. We have to make the case for books, I think, as being a fabulous use of anyone’s time.
Because I have an even bigger vested interest in sharing the joys of reading with others. Why?
Well, it is the way to encourage book reading, book buying, use of the libraries and so on - all good things.
Reading is good for us. It entertains, it informs, it helps us escape for a while. It deepens our vocabulary. It helps us puzzle things out. Don’t you try to guess the ending for a crime story ahead of reading that ending? I do all the time.
Sometimes I do guess the killer correctly, sometimes I don’t but I have had a fabulous time in guessing and I always like it when an author manages to wrong foot me too. I go back through the book then to try and spot the clues I missed first go around.
Every writer’s most difficult task is in getting that initial spark of interest in their work. We need to encourage people to read, to see the point of reading, whether they then go on to read our work or others. Ideally they’d do both of course!
And I am conscious there are other forms of entertainment. We have to make the case for books, I think, as being a fabulous use of anyone’s time.
Annuals
I’ve always loved annuals. They make smashing Christmas presents.
I’ve enjoyed The Beano, The Bash Street Kids, and others in my time. These days and in a completely different mood, I love The Friendship Book. It’s a gentle, often amusing, and thoughtful read and a great comfort book.
Other family members get the Private Eye annual. I know I turn to the cartoons first there when I get to look at it!
Annuals, I think, serve a great purpose in encouraging further reading. They are perfect for dipping into when you know you want to read something but don’t want anything “heavy”.
I will add flash fiction and short story collections are also great for that but hands up, I am bound to say that, given I am published in both! It is still true though!
Which annuals do you enjoy? D.C.Thomson, that wonderful publisher based in Dundee, are responsible for many of them. Long may they continue.
I’ve enjoyed The Beano, The Bash Street Kids, and others in my time. These days and in a completely different mood, I love The Friendship Book. It’s a gentle, often amusing, and thoughtful read and a great comfort book.
Other family members get the Private Eye annual. I know I turn to the cartoons first there when I get to look at it!
Annuals, I think, serve a great purpose in encouraging further reading. They are perfect for dipping into when you know you want to read something but don’t want anything “heavy”.
I will add flash fiction and short story collections are also great for that but hands up, I am bound to say that, given I am published in both! It is still true though!
Which annuals do you enjoy? D.C.Thomson, that wonderful publisher based in Dundee, are responsible for many of them. Long may they continue.
Children's Books
I have a very soft spot indeed for children’s books. My late mother encouraged reading and a love of stories from an early age, something I’ve always appreciated.
I have fond memories of children’s classics such as mBlack Beauty, the Famous Five, Heidi, and, of course, my beloved fairytales.
Being hooked on red reading early on encouraged my development into reading adult books. No such thing as a YA category in my day - I would’ve loved it and I think it is a superb idea.
I collected the works of Agatha Christie via Odhams Book Club (remember them, anyone?) and still have these now.
But without my love of reading the children’s books, would I have gone on to read the Queen of Crime? I doubt it.
Someone has to hook you into reading in the first place and this is where the children’s authors come in. It has long been a belief of mine that all writers of books for adults owe a huge debt to the children’s writers. They do grow our audience for us.
It was a great joy, when I became a parent, to select children’s books and, later, to see my child pick their own. (That’s a good thing to encourage too).
I was especially fond of the children’s treasuries of stories (as my child was) precisely because there were lots of tales to dip into. They are the perfect books for that.
Each generation needs its children’s writers. It also needs its adult writers. I don’t know if any survey has ever been done on this but it would not surprise me much if it was found 90% + of all readers say they owe their love of reading to loving books as a child.
I have fond memories of children’s classics such as mBlack Beauty, the Famous Five, Heidi, and, of course, my beloved fairytales.
Being hooked on red reading early on encouraged my development into reading adult books. No such thing as a YA category in my day - I would’ve loved it and I think it is a superb idea.
I collected the works of Agatha Christie via Odhams Book Club (remember them, anyone?) and still have these now.
But without my love of reading the children’s books, would I have gone on to read the Queen of Crime? I doubt it.
Someone has to hook you into reading in the first place and this is where the children’s authors come in. It has long been a belief of mine that all writers of books for adults owe a huge debt to the children’s writers. They do grow our audience for us.
It was a great joy, when I became a parent, to select children’s books and, later, to see my child pick their own. (That’s a good thing to encourage too).
I was especially fond of the children’s treasuries of stories (as my child was) precisely because there were lots of tales to dip into. They are the perfect books for that.
Each generation needs its children’s writers. It also needs its adult writers. I don’t know if any survey has ever been done on this but it would not surprise me much if it was found 90% + of all readers say they owe their love of reading to loving books as a child.
Encouraging Reading
It is no surprise all authors are always huge fans of reading. It is usually a case of having loved stories all of our lives, we then want to write some of our own.
I’m all for things like World Book Day which encourages children to engage with books. Would like to find ways of encouraging adults to read more though!
I do think one of the most important things about children’s literature is in its role in engaging kids to read at all and then to keep them reading,
Every writer of stories for adults owes a debt to the children’s writers given they grown our audience for us.
It is not unheard of for someone to discover books as a an adult but it is far more often the case someone has developed a love of reading which started when they were children.
It is is said the best way parents can encourage children to read ti to let their children see them read for pleasure. I can vouch this approach works.
My late mother encouraged my love of reading this way and also by ensuring, when very young, I was read to every night. The oral tradition of storytelling is an ancient one and must never die! It does lead on to reading for yourself.
So let’s hear it for the children’s writers and also get on with our own reading. In doing the latter we support other writers and I would hope encourage those around us to read for pleasure too if only by setting a good example here ourselves.
I’m all for things like World Book Day which encourages children to engage with books. Would like to find ways of encouraging adults to read more though!
I do think one of the most important things about children’s literature is in its role in engaging kids to read at all and then to keep them reading,
Every writer of stories for adults owes a debt to the children’s writers given they grown our audience for us.
It is not unheard of for someone to discover books as a an adult but it is far more often the case someone has developed a love of reading which started when they were children.
It is is said the best way parents can encourage children to read ti to let their children see them read for pleasure. I can vouch this approach works.
My late mother encouraged my love of reading this way and also by ensuring, when very young, I was read to every night. The oral tradition of storytelling is an ancient one and must never die! It does lead on to reading for yourself.
So let’s hear it for the children’s writers and also get on with our own reading. In doing the latter we support other writers and I would hope encourage those around us to read for pleasure too if only by setting a good example here ourselves.
Magazines
I will admit to being biased here but I do see a good quality magazine as being every bit of a good read as a collection, novella, or a novel.
The fact I write and copy edit for one (Writers' Narrative) is the reason for the bias!
I love good magazines because they're a great, portable read. The very best ones encourage further (book) reading too.
They can also be a fabulous introduction to a topic (and there will always be books on that topic. What reader wouldn't welcome that?
The magazine is a relatively cheap way of working out whether the topic is for you or not but if it is think of all the books you can go on to enjoy).
The fact I write and copy edit for one (Writers' Narrative) is the reason for the bias!
I love good magazines because they're a great, portable read. The very best ones encourage further (book) reading too.
They can also be a fabulous introduction to a topic (and there will always be books on that topic. What reader wouldn't welcome that?
The magazine is a relatively cheap way of working out whether the topic is for you or not but if it is think of all the books you can go on to enjoy).
