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My Reading Testimony
I love the Nerdy Book Club. I can distinctly remember when Cindy, Colby, and Donalyn were talking about it back in December. I remember there was a Thursday reveal, and I remember how excited I was about this blog, this group, and the discussions we would have! I have not been disappointed. But I have a confession to make:
I have not always been a member of the Nerdy Book Club.
At least, not in my opinion. I was baptized into the NBC, brought up with its traditions of reading, but then, in my teenage years, I entered into a prolonged Reading Dark Night of the Soul. I left the Nerdy Book Club. I was fed up with its ways and with books (or so I thought). I was entering a life of a dedicated book atheist. I didn’t believe good books, books actually worth reading, existed.
Many of our older, wiser members would probably have looked at me and thought “oh, don’t worry about Brian; he’ll be back. He‘s still a member. He‘s just lost his way.” Well, you were right. Here I am. How did this all happen?
I grew up in a house where reading just happened. It was part of life. I actually can’t remember not being able to read. My mom tells me a story where I came back from day care (or maybe it was Kindergarten), surprised, saying “Mom — did you know there are people who don’t know how to read?!” Well, of course there were. But reading was just always there for me.
And I loved it.
There were regular trips to the library from an early age. I was always enrolled in the summer reading challenges. I remember checking out Arrow to the Sun practically every week. Why my parents never purchased it for me, I don’t know. Probably because we had — hello — regular trips to the library!
In elementary school, reading was a huge part of what we did. There was one moment in 2nd grade where we had to write a thank you letter to our student teacher, who was finishing up her time with us. I didn’t have my letter done, but then it was magically finished later in the day. My teachers, not being stupid, asked me when I did it. I told them during DEAR time (though I actually did it during recess). As “punishment,” I had to sit out 2nd recess to read. Punishment? I was given a chance to read Freckle Juice again! Also, I learned a valuable lesson about lying: it might cost you two recesses!
I was an active participant in my school’s Battle of the Books. I read Maniac Magee with a passion, and was ready to answer any questions anyone could come up with.
I loved going to our school library or our classroom library and finding books to read. It was never just one. I devoured books. I went through a speed-reading phase where I would “read” about 10 pages a minute, just glossing over the words, though I did get some of the meaning (I still need to “re-read” [actually, read for the first time] The Chronicles of Narnia). Books became something to get through as much as they were something to enjoy.
Looking back, that was the beginning of the end.
By middle school, I was checking out more CDs than books at the library, and most of the books I was getting were how-to-draw books (didn’t work) or comic books (down the same aisle as the how-to-draw books). Nothing was wrong with that, but I was definitely distancing myself from novels and from stories.
In school, things were worse. In 8th grade, we read The Crucible in class. That’s one of the last books (or plays) I remember reading, and that one was done entirely in class. I’m not sure what the last book I finished outside of the school walls was. I do know I didn’t read The Call of the Wild that same year, though it was assigned. I was taking the title of “Nerdy Book Club member” and casting it aside. I wanted nothing to do with that.
High school was where my love of reading really went to die. My teachers would say things like “this is such a good book!” but without passion behind their words. Or maybe there was, but I wasn’t noticing; I was too busy talking with or listening to the people sitting around me. I sure wasn’t going to waste my teenage years paying attention in class, or worse, reading. Especially not the boring stuff we were asked to read.
For the good of my teachers (and my grades), though, I pretended to care. I jumped through the hoops they set up. One would think the D I earned on my test on Frankenstein would have opened my eyes. To some extent, it did: I started reading Cliffs Notes and discovered the brand-new resource of SparkNotes in addition to just reading the book until I fell asleep. That’s how I made it through high school.
Well, I didn’t just make it through. I graduated with a 4.0 GPA. I earned a 36 on the reading section of the ACT (I had perfected the art of answering questions about something I didn‘t care about and didn‘t read completely). I don’t say these things to brag. I say them because I did these things all while never. finishing. a. single. book. in high school. I would have fit right in with these guys for the first half of the video.
In case you’re wondering, that is NOT OKAY.
So how did I see the light in that Dark Night? Well, a lot of it is thanks to my 8th grade English teacher, Mr. Dennis, and my senior year Creative Writing teacher, Mr. Hebestreit. They inspired me to go to school to become an English teacher. I wanted nothing to do with reading, but I loved writing. I wanted to share this inspiration with others.
So I went to college, and as it turns out, English degrees require a lot of literature classes! I continued to apply the formula I learned in high school: read about 50 pages, check out SparkNotes, listen to the class conversations on the rest, take good notes, and churn out a 2-3 page paper. I did that for. . .oh, I think it was Mrs. Dalloway for a British Lit class. My professor, Dr. Harding, gave me back my paper, a solid B- I think, with these words: “You wrote a lot without saying much.” Well, yeah. That’s what’s always worked. It took until college for anyone to call me out on that, though.
So what ended up bringing me back? Not surprisingly, it was when I found something I liked. It was great talking about Huck Finn and Heart of Darkness and all the other books I was supposed to read. I enjoyed talking about these books. I enjoyed their literary qualities. I didn’t enjoy reading them, though. Unsurprisingly, the first book I read in years was one I actually enjoyed: The New York Trilogy by Paul Auster. “Whoa. Is this what reading is supposed to be like?” I thought. Enjoyable? I tried another: England, England by Julian Barnes. That was good, too! And then, I did the unthinkable: I stepped foot in a library looking for a book to read. Not one I had to read for class. Just a book to read. I didn’t even know what I wanted. I found another Auster book. And it wasn’t as good as The New York Trilogy, but it was still good. I was enjoying reading!
That made me want to re-join the NBC, but I wasn’t there yet. I was just curious. I still needed to learn more about it. Then I was slapped in the face with an invitation I couldn’t refuse: Young Adult Literature.
In the worst summer of my life (a high school friend died, I was helping with research for my math advisor [not bad, just time-consuming], and I had about 300 miles of driving each week, living in two places), I took a YA Lit course with Dr. Susan Steffel (and fellow NBC member Sarah Andersen!). I couldn’t believe what we were doing. We were enjoying books. And these books were powerful. I had never even heard of books such as Speak and Monster, or authors such as Chris Crutcher and Lauren Myracle before this class. I needed these books. I needed something to pull me along through that summer. These books did it. They brought me back. I don’t want to get too dramatic, but who knows — they may have saved my life.
What made them matter? They were (and are) good. They’re real. And we read them not to over-analyze every last detail about them. We read them because they were stories that we needed to hear, written in wonderful ways. That’s what reading is? I HAD FORGOTTEN! It had been so long! “Oh, reading!” I wanted to cry out, “You don’t suck! You never changed! I’m sorry I left you. Please take me back!”
And it welcomed me back, with open arms. Now, a full-fledged, card-carrying member of the Nerdy Book Club (do we have cards yet?), I consider it my honor to not allow another Brian Wyzlic to make it through school like I did. Reading is awesome. We need to shout that from the rooftops.
Great post, Brian. Thanks for sharing your journey.
Thanks, Colby! It felt good to write that out and to share it.
Loved your post, Brian. I like your writing style, and I appreciate you sharing your story with the Nerdy Book Club Members. Reading does welcome us back – again and again.
(P.S. I would love to have an NBC card, too.)
Thanks, Cynthia. I think last night’s #titletalk was a good reminder as well that we all get in ruts, but reading is always there for us if we keep at it.
*searches for NBC card and trophy, panics, settles for NBC t-shirt and coffee mug*
I agree, Brian, great post. I’m watching my older son now, who was a crazy-avid-3-novel a week reader through the beginning of middle school then completely stopped reading by 8th grade. This year in 11th grade, his non-honors English teacher is actually inspiring him to love the books they read (if not to read outside of class) including even the *coughs* classics, like Death of a Salesman and now, Ethan Fromme. (sp? never read that one). Amazing what an enthusiastic teacher can do to a kid’s perception about books. I hope he will return to reading as avidly as he once had. Maybe one day he’ll write a post like this, too. 🙂
We’ll get going on that trophy, really! Or maybe you’ll just have to get another book out there for us to award again 🙂
Hooray for that teacher! If he’s loving them, there’s a high likelihood that he’s actually reading them, too! That’s a pretty good start to being a lifelong reader.
Love your post, Brian. I know many people that followed the same path you did in middle school and high school. Glad you came back and can now help others.
Thanks. I’m always trying to keep my students from following the path to non-reading I took. Also, happy birthday!
I loved it, Brian- well written!
Thanks, Mom! 🙂
I kept reading, but the books I loved were not in school. I think it’s interesting you remembered missing that recess & re-reading Freckle Juice. Our memories work in mysterious ways. I’m glad you discovered YA & that brought you back. I’ve been a middle school teacher for a long time, now a lit coach & loved all those books as did my students, who sometimes professed they too didn’t like reading anymore. Maybe it’s the leap from the younger ‘fun’ books to more serious topics and young adolescents have too much else they’re dealing with. Anyway, your post made me think about that change, which I did see in some of my students. Now, how to make it different! Thanks!
“Maybe it’s the leap from the younger ‘fun’ books to more serious topics and young adolescents have too much else they’re dealing with.”
I think that’s a large part of it. I also think that well-written YA lit can help make this leap much less daunting. The topics can be introduced in books that are still fairly easy and fun to read. Then the “classics” aren’t as scary, because they’ve already been reading books about the same things. My latest favorite: The Pull of Gravity for Of Mice and Men.
Love this post, although the reality of it breaks my heart. I had a high school volunteer in my elementary class and when we interviewed her the answer she gave to “What’s your least favorite subject” was “Reading”. Gasps echoed throughout the room, the loudest one from me.
Before I knew it the kids were calling her on it and telling her titles she should read, and we veered her back to the NBC girl she had started out to be in life. Sometimes you’ve got to catch them sideways.
The two videos will be promptly shared with my HS teaching friends and relatives.
Some long posts are long because they contain so much value.
Thanks!
How fantastic — elementary schoolers giving suggestions to a high schooler!
I’ve heard anecdotal stories of how elementary school students’ favorite subjects are math and reading. Then we get to high school, and those are pretty much last and next to last. Something’s gotta change!
Thank you for your comments 🙂
Terrific post, Brian. I appreciate that you shared just how far you can get by fake reading, rather than going the route of saying how not reading held you back from academic success.
And, I love that it was YA that brought you back to the Nerdy Book side.
I always have that in the back of my mind when I assign something. “Could I earn an A on this without having read the book?” If the answer is yes, then there’s some changes to be made.
And yes, YA is pretty good like that!
Brian I had no idea you fell off the reading wagon, but I’m so glad we had Steffel’s class together. Because of your experience, I’m sure you relate that much more with your reluctant readers. Have you told them this story? I bet they’d love to know that you weren’t always an enthusiastic Nerdy Book Club member 🙂 Great post!
We start each year off with a short get-to-know-you activity, and I participate as well. One of the things we ask is for our favorite and least favorite subjects. The looks on their faces when their literature and math teacher tells them that his least favorite subjects were literature and math is priceless!
P.S. I don’t mean to keep commenting as “Mrs. Andersen.” That’s for my blog b/c I use it with my students. Le sigh.
Brian, it’s so interesting that your reading story is being posted today because mine will be next week and our stories are so similar. In fact, your story just reinforces the research I’m doing in my grad school class right now about why high school students need choice in their reading lives at school.
High schoolers are still abandoning reading in favor of exactly what you did – read a few pages and check the Spark Notes. I did it, you did it, and many more students will continue to do it until we show our kids that we care about their reading lives, not just what they “need” to know.
Thanks for sharing! The Nerdy Book Club has shown me that so many of us come to our renewed love of reading from the same place. I’m so glad to have you in my company. 🙂
I look forward to reading your post! Are you going to pepper it with some of your research?
Many of my students don’t know about SparkNotes, but those who do were pretty shocked when I suggested they use it to aid their reading of Tom Sawyer. I think what you mentioned is the key — we actually care about their reading lives.
So happy you’ve finally shared your perspective out here – and it’s such an important perspective for all of us to remember that our students experience as well. Your writing always inspires and entertains me, and I’m so glad you’ve found a way to share that voice and bring your love of writing to a wider audience! I’ve known since we first started our “sister classroom” experiment that it was going to be fun to work with you, and I knew you were a kindred soul as an equally passionate teacher of reading. I’m thankful for twitter bringing us together and proud to call myself a fellow NBC member. Now, how can we get those cards made up?!
Jumped on to thank you for sharing–and with such writing prowess. As a teacher, your story gives me hope that when kids cash in/shred/stomp on their NBC cards, they may still come back. We are incomplete creations, after all.
Apparently I’m not the first one to agree with you that the NBC card is a great idea.
Dear @origamiyoda, will you please make us cards? {and laminate them!}
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