Fantasy Book Club discussion
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Idea that "Kids Don't Read" a myth?
Kids might be more interested in reading now because of certain books being turned into movies, like Twilight and Harry Potter. I know that the Harry Potter series at least brought a lot of new interest in the fantasy genre.I think part of it might also have to do with their parents. If the parents raised them on reading, then they'll probably be more likely to read. From my own experience, I was reading at a really young age and my parents would often read me stories at bedtime, so I'm sure that helped keep my interest in books. If you compare that to a child who doesn't get read stories or their parents didn't engage them in reading, I think they'd probably be less likely to be interested in books and reading.
I think it's really nice to see that more kids seem to be reading these days.
I really do think it makes all the difference. I followed an old family tradition and read to all three of my children from the time they were born. Once they started school, we set aside a time at night to read... sometimes all of us just siting quietly and each reading something not pertaining to work or school.
Other nights we would read aloud to each other, or even take turns... sometimes being the 'voices' of the characters in whatever story had been chosen.
... and they have kept the tradition going with their own children, which is something I am grateful for.
When it comes to books, I think girls are more easily interested in reading than boys are. As a writer, they are my 'target' audience.
What I've seen happen all too often of late is the tube, video games and computer games being used as 'the baby-sitter' by parents who have no time for, or little interest in, the welfare of their own children... and I've seen the impact these have had on children's attention spans (especially boys) and their ability to use their own imaginations to entertain themselves.
They know everything there is to know about every character and the rules of play for the games, but they have little interest in or knowledge of, the real world around them... much less how to interact with other people.
... and while I'm glad that Harry Potter, Twilight and yes... even Manga in book form have brought children back to reading, I remain a (hopeful) sceptic.
A comment on the original question...
I think part of this has to do with the lack of interest in 'the classics' by younger generations.
My take on this is prompted by an interaction with a friends teenage son during a trip to Waukeegan, Illinois, to see one of his favourite musicians in concert.
We stopped to take a group photo in front of the statue of Jack Benny on the square across from the theatre... and he had no idea who he was... nor (not surprising) any interest in finding out.
Gwen
No, they don't read anymore today than they did when I was a kid. I never had parents read to me and I had no real friends when i was a kid. There were times I didn't have electricity or anything. Finding a paperback or going to the library was really my only escape. That's why I read. When I was in school, no one read that I was aware of. Now that I'm in college (at 32, no less), they still hate reading. What's worse is now they can't write either. I could write better in junior high than they can in senior level university. Kids get bombarded with too much info all at once to master any of the basics anymore.In case you're curious, my major is criminology. You may think that's not a lot of writing, but it's not criminal justice. This is all theory and law. Its nothing BUT reading and writing. What kids get A's for in my classes is really just pathetic... It saddens me.
To be honest I didn't read much until the 9th grade. None of my family are really readers and I credit my love of reading more with some great teachers then my family life. In the 9th grade I had an English course where you could pick your own reading maaterial as long as you did a book report after each. I read a lot of Stephen King at the time - probably considered the "Twilight" of its day but it got me interested in reading. So good for you Laurel keep encouraging your students to read!!
I have to agree with Viktoria that writing skills and, to a certain extent, reading skills have gone down hill in the last couple of decades. I'm 40 and I was amazed at some of the work my girlfriend's kids were turning in and getting high marks on in high school. Part of the problem is that, even when kids are reading, there are so many books aimed at lower reading skills that the kids can go without ever reading a challenging book. As for more/less kids reading now versus then...I honestly can't say. I'd say it's likely about the same....how on earth could schools and libraries survive without their bookworms? :lol:
Life is so fast-paced these days, I believe that even the younger generation likes to take a break from it. My children and their friends seem to always have the "next" book in mind...
My son, who just turned 23 this past Monday, struggled with reading. He still won't voluntarily read a book - fiction or non-fiction. The only way I got him to improve his reading in school (and this is back in late grade school and early middle school) was to introduce him to role playing games - because they required you to read dialog and clues and room descriptions to win the game. My daughter is a much better reader, but prefers non-fiction or memoirs and biographies. We don't have much common ground to discuss books because I rarely read non-fiction. She's now nineteen and at college studying vocal performance - which doesn't require a lot of reading, just lots of practice.
I agree with your point, Andrea, that kids want to take a break from the mass media as well. Especially at the age I teach, there is so much gossip, boy girl issues, MSN, text messaging... Some of my kids will just put their head down in a book once they've finished their work, and are amazing and tuning out the conversations of their friends. And these are kids from all of the stereotypical groups. Plus, no one else seems to bother them about it. Maybe that is the true gift of the Twilight/Harry Potter books. Because those books were so popular, and every kid seemed to have one tucked under their arm, the "group" accepts that their friends can carry around a book without being considered un-cool. I even have one student, a very pretty and popular girl, who is trying to get through Wuthering Heights. I haven't even read that book! It gives me hope.
I think that reading is on the rise again. While I was shopping for this past holiday season the most crowded store in the mall was the book store. The line was out the door with people getting books as gifts. And since then I have payed attention to who is reading, and have been pleasantly surprised.--Anecdote--
I was in the book store last night and I saw two things that amazed me -- a. There was a group of teens (I would guess 15ish years old) that I overheard saying "Man, we have been in here three hours already, that's crazy" or something to that extent.
b. I was checking out and this girl (10ish) comes running up to her mother asking if she can buy a bookmark. Her mom says no because she 'already has dozens' -- but this was very reminiscent to all the times I see kids running up to their parents asking for things like candy or video games -- only book related.
--End Anecdotes--
So what am I getting at; I think that reading is coming back. Me and my core group of friends are all avid readers and it would seem to me that more and more people are getting into it.
As a final example -- look at the population of Goodreads and this group in specific -- it is a nice diaspora of age groups. If reading was falling out of style would you have so many teens?
Laurel wrote: "I agree with your point, Andrea, that kids want to take a break from the mass media as well. Especially at the age I teach, there is so much gossip, boy girl issues, MSN, text messaging... Some o..."For the record, I read Wuthering Heights when I was in high school and I adored it. However, it is not an easy read. "Props" to your student there!! ;)
(On a side note, when you have time, you should read it too lol!)
I wish more people read the classics. I know they're not always easy, and often difficult to understand, but the stories themselves are captivating. After all they ARE classics for a reason. Laurel's student just made it into my top ten coolest people list :)
At this point in my life I am re-reading the classics. It's crazy how the stories seem so different to me as an adult. My 13 year old daughter had to read FLOWERS FOR ALGERNON, THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA, & THE OUTSIDERS. I "liked" these stories in high school. I "love" them as an adult. My daughter liked them better after we sat down and talked about them.
As a "kid" I can confirm that it is no myth. While I and my close friends all read, the others in my class (the scholarship set) haven't touched a book for pleasure since Harry Potter. NB this is a good school.
Personally, I think it all depends on the enthusiasm of who is teaching the kids to read. When I was very little (around 2 or 3), my sister would read for homework, and I would sit by her and listen, watching as she followed the words on the page. Soon I was able to read along with her. My mother says that I would rather read than do much else, which is true, but she never discouraged me. Most of my friends are avid readers...I may have gravitated toward them because I am one myself.
Andrea -- I just heard a gentleman (mid-20's probly) asking for Flowers for Algernon in the bookstore recently. Made me happy.Random: So many people talk about being taught to read or that reading is good as a child. I never had someone that read or even encouraged it really. The teachers were all standoffish. My friends certainly didn't read and I doubt my family ever picked up a book for pleasure and haven't touched one since high school.
My mother, however, loved to read. I didn't meet her (other than at birth) until I was 15. I had my love of reading and writing long before that. In fact I had already won writing contests before then.
Makes you wonder how much of the drive / love to read is nature and how much is nurture..... *thoughtful look*
Viktoria- I think you may be on to something. Possibly nature. :~D
I am not a sociologist, so this is speculation on my part, but it seems to me that reading is swingy. There weren't that many readers among my peers in school, and seemed to be even fewer in the years following me. Then the HP craze hit, and lots of young people were reading those books and others like them. I think it has a lot to do with the publishing industry finding a sweet spot where books on the market speak to a broad number of kids at the time.Families that read will produce children that read, however, so there will always be *some*.
I can't remember a time that I wasn't reading... perhaps it was because we took so many long car trips... or maybe it was because I had an hour long bus ride to and from school each day... My sister was never a reader, but I always read. Neither of my parents were readers that I saw... I mean there were always books but we never saw them reading. But all of my friends read, and I lived through the boom of the videogame - the neigbor had an atari, then we had the first nintendo, and now we're the proud owners of a PS3... but I still enjoy reading. I've been trying to encourage my stepsons to read... and I think the fact that I read so much has them curious as to what it's all about. So they read quite a bit. It's hard for my 7 year old because he's such an advanced reader - but he's very behind on concept. So he's done with an age appropriate book in minutes, but can't comprehend anything that doesn't have pictures. We're working on learning that you don't have to finish a book in one day and he's trying his first "goosebumps" book this week.
I think there's a difference between the majority of people, who are readers and will read quite happily when they come across something that interests them (Harry Potter, Twilight, etc..); and the minority, who are Readers with a capital "R", and who read as a favorite form of recreation. Sort of like the difference between someone (like me) who enjoys music on occasion, and someone with a true passion for Music, who understands the complexities, the differences a conductor brings to the performance of a piece, etc...I work in a middle school and I think that to the majority of kids reading a book is one of many tools they can use to access something of interest, but for a small minority it is the preferred tool, and those are the kids who become Readers.
The Associated Press just did a poll on reading. There are a number of papers pritning portions of it including: USA Today and RuetersWASHINGTON (AP) — One in four adults read no books at all in the past year, according to an Associated Press-Ipsos poll released Tuesday. Of those who did read, women and older people were most avid, and religious works and popular fiction were the top choices.
The survey reveals a nation whose book readers, on the whole, can hardly be called ravenous. The typical person claimed to have read four books in the last year — half read more and half read fewer. Excluding those who hadn't read any, the usual number read was seven.
-- Wife of GR author Michael J. Sullivan: The Crown Conspiracy (10/08) | Avempartha (04/09)
Robin: that's so depressing! I read about four books a week! Haha. Reading is such a huge part of my life that I can't even imagine only reading four books a year! They're missing out on so much!
That's really depressing, especially for authors. There's over 250,000 new books published each year & people are reading less. Ugly. Thank goodness for GR. My biggest problem until I joined was finding books to read. The book stores & libraries barely scratch the surface of what is available. Now I have close contact with many authors & like minded people who all give me great ideas on what to read.
Interesting link Robin - thanks for sharing.I wanted to point out that the original article (the USA Today link) is actually from August of 2007 though, so the survey is older than that. The Reuters article is a business pseudo-article/advertisement using the headline to strike fear into the hearts of parents and then offer tips to get a child involved with reading - helpfully backlit with a paragraph on Kumon learning centers.
Jim, I wouldn't take it too much to heart. The survey was only of 1,003 adults, with the results "adjusted" for race/gender/etc. So, how many actual usable samples do you think they ended up with? I'm no statistican, but the classes I took in college tell me that that is not a representative sample when covering such a large topic.
Also, the last paragraph of the article states: "The publishing business totaled $35.7 billion in global sales last year, 3% more than the previous year, according to the Book Industry Study Group, a trade association. About 3.1 billion books were sold, an increase of less than 1%."
Even if that's not huge growth, sales are still growing. So, I guess even if people aren't reading them, they are still buying them?
More likely to think that the sample wasn't representative (or large enough, especially with the 'adjustments'), to accurately represent the situation.
Laurel wrote: "Maybe that is the true gift of the Twilight/Harry Potter books. Because those books were so popular, and every kid seemed to have one tucked under their arm, the "group" accepts that their friends can carry around a book without being considered un-cool..."What an excellent point Laurel! I hadn't even considered that, but as a dedicated bookworm since the age of 6, I think that is a definite bonus to the craze around reading these books.
I looked at a lot of the stuff Caroyln saw and agree that there is positive stuff in here - i.e. growth etc and they were trying to paint it "doomier and gloomier" then it might be. I personally think a sampling of 1,0003 is not a very good statistical sample. I think if you look at the growth in sites like GoodReads, LibraryThing, Shelfari etc there is much more reading going on then the data might indicate. As the wife of an author - I'm not overly concerned I think if you write a good book - they will come. So I'm very optimistic about the future.
I am, sadly one of those adults who only read on average 4 books ayear, but it's not because I don't love reading. I have so many other things that claim nearly every waking minute of my life that finding time for pleasure reading is extremely difficult. One huge time vampire is this device through which I'm communicating to all of you, my fellow Goodreads denizens. I'm finding that I must spend upwards of 2 hours a day just handling all my online and e-mail business/chores! It's becoming all-consuming, and I'm only half-kidding here, people!
Ahhhh, research... samples... outliers... that is my job! Feels good to see that others know how to properly dissect a study. Feels kinda scary that I am such a research nerd now....Leslie, I understand your lack of time. I took an entire day off because I hadn't slept in 2. It was just necessary. Now I have to force myself to write a paper on the terminology we use to discuss human rights and read a LOT of stuff that I really have no desire to read... Needless to say, I'm not getting any pleasure reading done at the moment.
I think it was a myth, but has clearly changed in the last few years compared to when I was a little kid.When I went elementry school. I really did hate reading. They would make us all read a hour a day, and would just usually go to sleep instead. And I think it was only because that there were no books to choose from. There were only the boxcar children and Baby sitters club to choose from. The school I went out of their way and tried to get the safest books in the world until none of them were any good.
It wasn't until middle school when I fell in love with books like lord of the rings, his dark materials trilogy, and harry potter.
So I kind of blame the schools for being so over protective. I think that's why when they finally started carrying harry potter, that's why kids loved it. It was actually some enjoyable compared to the ones they were used to.
P.S. check out my book website at http://www.freewebs.com/lelue/
I think what worked best when I was in grade school was when the teachers used methods that were "fun". We had one that would read to the class, at a set time each day. She had an enthusiastic reading voice and made it exciting to listen to. Then they'd take us to the library and let us loose. Reading was always encouraged, but at the time it wasn't forced down our throats. Even in high school, when I was an avid reader, I didn't much enjoy required readings. Well, some I did once I forced myself to sit down and do it and it stopped being a chore. But I loved reading in general and hated to be made to do it. I can only imagine how kids felt that didn't like to read to begin with.
That's what I've always done with my kids too. i've never made them read, but I've read to them when they were little, and they've seen me with a book in my hand all the time. My oldest girl is grown, and she and I trade suggestions sometimes now......
I have two vivid (but who knows how accurate) recollections of reading in elementary school - One was in 2nd grade. The librarian was holding a contest - if you read a book, you put your name and the book's name on a circle, to build an inchworm on the library wall. After a certain number of circles, you got a candy bar. The possibility of getting a candy bar finally convinced me that I could read a book by myself.
In sixth grade, I had a teacher who let me be on my own - I had a shelf of books to choose from and so long as I read from that shelf, I was allowed to be entirely independent of the class. I really started reading fantasy at that point - Anne McCaffrey and Piers Antony are the ones I remember most clearly.
Between second and sixth grade, I don't remember much but I do know that I have always been an avid reader.
My daughter (in 4th grade) is an avid reader. Her reading is measured (not very accurately) through AR points and the reward system they have is much more elaborate than the candy bar I got. It seems to me that a surprisingly large number of her classmates read extensively and read well - as an example, many of them finished the Harry Potter series in the third grade.
I think that schools are encouraging or requiring reading outside of specific titles assigned by curriculum - I don't think that my high school did.
From a personal perspective, I read because my parents read to me and my parents read on their own. Between those two, I've always loved reading. Once I picked up LotR and Chronicles of Narnia in 4th grade, I was a non-stop reader of fantasy and sci-fi up through the end of high school (as an English major in college, I switched to more "serious" "literature," but after graduating rediscovered SF&fantasy and realized just how good some of this stuff is).Now that I've taught English for 8 years... I still can't say for sure whether kids read more or less. I've taught at two different private schools. At one, an all-boys school, very few of the boys read, either what they're assigned or other books out of class. They don't read over the summer, they don't read, period. At the other school, which was a top-notch school, kids read a lot more. Many of them didn't have much time to read anything that wasn't assigned during the school year, but many of them were voracious, passionate readers during the summer and breaks (by no means was that all of the students, however). Now, were these kids on the whole better students because they read? Did they read more because they'd been raised to be readers and diligent students? Tough to say, but as a general rule the kids who have read more by the time they get to high school are better readers and writers and have stronger verbal skills. By the time they get to high school, it's hard to make up for the reading they didn't do at a younger age.
On that note, I tend to believe that a lot of my students who "don't like reading," don't like it at least in part because they aren't very good at it (because they haven't done much of it--vicious circle!). If you can't read well, how likely is it that reading is going to be able to compete against TV, movies, video games, or anything else, for your leisure time?
Another perspective that can be taken for why some kids don't "enjoy" reading: they haven't found that one book or style that catches the imagination. That one book that can transport them away from today's reality and into the world of literature. I am not really sure what got me hooked on reading, but I do know that almost all of the books on my shelves are fantasy/romance novels. My parents didn't really encourage me to read. My mother even tries to get me to give away more of my books. I admit that I really enjoy having a book on my shelf after I have read it. I never know when I am going to want to pick it up again.
My wife & I have always read a lot & all our kids do, too. Part of it was having books available that they liked. We never judged books. Let the kids read what they wanted at their own pace & we'd discuss it between ourselves & with them. Not telling them the end of a book, but talking about how exciting it was, never failed to spur them into a read-a-thon. My daughter's English teacher in her senior year kept a shelf of books for the kids to choose from. I donate books there occasionally. He's hooked a lot of kids on reading that way from what I've heard.
For too many kids, their only exposure to reading is forced reading moldy classics, many of which are horrible. Being forced to read the "Red Pony" several times made me avoid Steinbeck for years. That was a shame because I did like a lot of his works, once I got over my unreasoning aversion to him.
Well I read to all my children and only one is a "reader" now. My middle child. My oldest reads only what she needs to for college and my youngest (son) I've only recently been able to get him to read any books - The Percy Jackson Adventures are working wonders for him and he read through them all and is anxiously awaiting the next one.
We read to our kids a fair amount. I used to be able to recite by heart quite a few Dr. Seuss books & one about 10 hippos going berserk, but I think it was Marg & I talking about books we'd read that got the kids really interested. Different things will trigger them, though. That's easy for me, since I LOVE to collect books.My oldest was & is very picky about reading fiction. He rarely does, but reads tons of science & math books. I used to pick up second hand books with experiments & stuff in them for him. Warning: He set his brother on fire attempting to make glass & almost burned his sister's eyes out while trying to take a battery apart. I also had to ban him from making hydrogen in the house. Active, young Edisons are risky business.
My daughter has a couple of learning disorders. She was in special ed for reading, but after a rave review from me about the first Harry Potter, she tried it. She went from hating reading to excelling in it. (Thank you J.K. Rowling!!!) She's now earning top grades in college, is here on GR & we share a lot of books.
My youngest boy got into Conan & now reads everything. He's the one that insisted I try Steinbeck again after he read "Of Mice & Men". We also share a lot of books.
I guess that's one of the biggest rewards, being able to sit down with the kids & all discuss entire fantasy worlds as a group & a family.
My wife and I spend most of our free time reading. For them, that's what growing up is, not watching TV or going out. My son learned to read while I was working on my first novel and immediately started writing his own. Most of his output these days is in the form of fanfics that he posts on SpaceBattles.com (he's into SF, loves Battlestar Galactica, all that). My youngest daughter blows through fiction with incredible speed, and usually asks me for 'fact books' when I go to the library.
A.L., we spent a nervous couple of weeks after the boys lost a big water snake in the house one time. Never did see the snake again, but getting up to go to the bathroom at night was a bit scary. I don't mind snakes so long as we don't surprise each other.Marc, that's awesome that your son is writing, too. My oldest learned the hard way that writing isn't as easy as he thought. He has to write a fair amount of documentation & briefs in his job, making very technical information & techniques understandable to a variety of different people. He had a tough time of it at first.
hi all.i have to chime in here too...i began to read for fun in elementary school after my older brother was put in a remedial class for reading. he struggled with it for years but the point is that i went into his classroom and dicovered some of the books that he was reading in his class, usually adventuresome stories that tried to get kids interest and build their vocabulary. i loved the stories because they were so entertaining. i started looking for other things to read and found an old moldy (literally) set of classics in our basement...stevenson, poe, dumas, etc. and started reading them. about the same time-period i started in on the books in the school library and was always drawn to sci-fi and fantasy, esp. the sci-fi. read everyone i get ahold of and some a number of times.
nowadays i still enjoy reading tho i've been much more diversified in my tastes but was finding that my kids didn't really want to read all that much, especially what they called, "chapter books". then my oldest son discovered harry potter. he now reads that and other fantasy type books. my daughter dicovered the books by erin hunter about the warrior cats...she's now a big fan and reads all the time. that and she does multiple goodreads groups discussing and role-playing. daniel is almost 14 and mildly autistic. michelle is 11 and probably hyperactive but they both will sit and read for hours.
so i have to agree that the trick was finding what caught their attention and letting them go with it. and if they express an interest in a particular title i will get it for them in a heartbeat.
I got my love of reading from my parents, as a lot of folks here at Goodreads seem to have done. I could read before I started kindergarten. I started reading sci-fi and fantasy in middle school, and have been a geek ever since--and I use the term as a compliment, btw. I don't have any kids, but if I did, I'd start reading to them as soon as they came out! Seeing how much a parent reads and loves books also seems to be a big influence on kids as well, though not always.
pete wrote: "so i have to agree that the trick was finding what caught their attention and letting them go with it."Unfortunately many schools are blocking this. I've done many an event where the parents and the kids want some of the books I have, but they're shopping for a set school list rather than what interests the kids.
do you limit your kids to the school list when you let them read at home? our kids have their required reading which they generally dont like and their prefered reading which they enjoy a lot. i will monitor and limit some stories to an extent...i sure dont want them reading porn or whatever...but if it's within reasonable limits i will let them choose.
As a high school ESL teacher:I much prefer to let the kids choose their own books (although our library is particularly limited) - although having them all read the same book a few times a year does make things easier on me relative to following their progress.
Frankly, the thing I do that I hope will have the most impact is to make certain to always have a book in my hand when they have one in theirs (as opposed to doing corrections or preparations). Furthermore, I frequently tell them about what I'm reading or read - usually in the form of a passing comment while I hold the book up for them to see.
As a parent:
A few months before our daughter was born I moved the TV out of our living room into our basement rec. room. Where the TV once was, I've set up our library. Once home from work/daycare, we read, play, sing, dance but never watch TV. We read loads to our daughter (everyday) and we also very frequently read while she plays. I'm hoping that she'll pick-up the love of reading from us through example.... Fingers are crossed!
Cheers,
Mike
PS. I now watch only about 30 minutes of TV per week - don't miss it and love the extra reading time I've got because of it.
I didnt read a book before 7th grade. My swedish A teacher made me read The Count of Monte Cristo. She nagged me until i gave in. I have always admired her for that. Because of her now reading is something special to me. I have read many 100s of books the ten years since.
Sadly in my experience kids i know dont read. The girls read Twilight,Potter and co but my little brother,his friends and many others think reading book for fun is something crazy,alien. They do everything to cheat so they dont have to read a book when they write a book report.
hi all, thanks for your comments mohammed. i can appreciate what you say about 'that special teacher'. it's been a long time since i went to school but i can remember only a select number of teachers who were truly inspiring to me. i can count them on one hand. it's funny tho because i know for the most part i wasn't a very good student...i was hyperactive and inattentive a lot. yet, those few teachers were the ones that helped me get my best grades and one of them sparked my interest in reading simply by reading to us in class everyday. it was my favorite time of the day.
as the years went on my best grades were usually in reading classes but i have to admit something...i did cheat somewhat in some of those classes. i kept my grades in the solid 'a's' and even 'a+' partially by submitting a large number of book reports, many of which were for books i had read previously. i read all the required reading and then some but i loved doing book reports on my favorite books and i kept writing them and turning them in. don't know why my teachers never caught on or if they did why they didn't make me stop. i would have got an 'a' anyway...
Mohammed wrote: "My swedish A teacher made me read The Count of Monte Cristo. She nagged me until i gave in. ..."What a great book to get you introduced into reading!
Wow, pete.....cheating by submitting too many book reports...i love it...
I just wanted to add some thoughts to this... mostly just building on what others have said... Part of it is definitely letting kids find that story or genre which really speaks to them. I didn't read a lot when I was a kid, except when there were read-a-thons and things (and I think that was more my competitiveness and less a desire to read.) But I did read Bernstein Bears when I was really young, and I liked them a lot... and Harriet the Spy when I was a bit older, which I remember really digging at the time...
My niece, when she was younger, read a lot of books I would roll my eyes at, but at least she was reading... She doesn't read as much right now, though, because she's a teen and has another things... Except her, my sister and my mother are all really into Twilight. (I haven't been able to bring myself to read it yet... )
I think that's a big part of it - other things. When I was a kid I had school work and I did sports and dance and music lessons, and then when I was in high school I was in the band and the plays... I could barely keep up with my homework, my activities, and have some semblance of a social life. And, yes, I played video games and vegged in front of the TV... but after all that work the last things I wanted to do was read more...
It's not that I didn't like reading, or struggled with it... I just didn't have the time or inclination...
Plus I do think that some of the forced reading did turn me off of reading a little, because a lot of those books were so boring... and I hated writing book reports...
I think what turned me back onto reading was English class my junior year. Even though we had to write the dreaded book reports, we also read some books I really enjoyed. Of course there were ones I didn't like, like Dickens (I tried, I really did... but then came the cliff notes... ) - but we also read 1984, Animal Farm, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Hobbit, and others - and this was when I remembered that books could be fun.
I still didn't read much outside of school, though, because, again, I just didn't have the time. In college I only read while I was commuting, and even then I spent half the time catching up on school work. It wasn't until I was done school and mostly bored with TV that I started really reading for pleasure - and now I read about a book a week, give or take, depending on size and enjoyment...
Even my older sister - who never read for pleasure and struggled at school and picks on me for wanting books for presents all the time - has recently started reading on her own. Mostly mystery and romance (the "chick genres" as I call them) - but, hey, whatever floats her boat. (She even asked for books for Christmas this year. I was shocked!)
I guess my whole point in this giant diatribe is that even if kids don't read that much there might be other reasons besides not liking reading, and even if they don't like reading now it doesn't necessarily mean they won't find something which appeals to them later in life.
And, heck, even if they don't... Well, I might think they're missing out on not reading the latest great book I read, but they probably think I'm missing out by sitting at home on a Friday night instead of going out and partying. One thing I learned by having the sister I have is that even people from the same family can be very, very different and sometimes you'll never see eye to eye... on anything. That's just life...
Hmmm... maybe someone should write a book about that ;)
Robin wrote: "Mohammed wrote: "My swedish A teacher made me read The Count of Monte Cristo. She nagged me until i gave in. ..."What a great book to get you introduced into reading!
"
I was amazed that you could feel so much for characters in a book. It was an epic read specially when you havent bothered to read before. No book can surpass it, as my first great read.
I have yet to read it in english,unbriged version that is huge. I have promised myself to re-read. See how it holds today.
The unabridged version is worth it. It's still great, even with all the great modern fantasy out there.
Fantasy Book Club
Books mentioned in this topic
Lord of Light (other topics)The Mystery of Edwin Drood (other topics)
Drood (other topics)
The Poe Shadow (other topics)
Flowers for Algernon (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
C. Dale Brittain (other topics)Roger Zelazny (other topics)
J.K. Rowling (other topics)
Michael J. Sullivan (other topics)
I'm a science teacher, but once taught high school English, and have a soft spot for students who read. I've gained a bit of a reputation for it, and consequently, a number of kids will ask me about books, feel safe/free to bring books to class, etc. I'm often hearing from friends, (as we're beginning to age), that while kids also all need haircuts, they don't read anymore. To be honest, I think that many more read now than when I was a kid. My students make fun of me, but I was so distracted one day, I almost couldn't teach. 20 out of 25 of my students had books with them. Yes, many are from Twilight, or knock offs from the same genre, but most of the boys had books of some sort as well. After all, if we looked back on what we read in grade 8, I'm sure the quality was a little lower than what we have on our shelves now.
Is the idea that books are on the way out, that kids don't read, just a myth?