June
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How (Not) to Win at Reading by Lisa Graff
When I was very young, I eyed thick books the way I imagine climbers eye Mount Everest—as something to be conquered. Smart people, I had deduced, read long, important books, and more than anything I wanted to win at reading. In third grade, while my classmates (the suckers) were reading Frog and Toad Are Friends and Amelia Bedelia, I was tackling the largest book on my mother’s bookshelf: Moby Dick by Herman Melville.
Oh, what glee I felt at writing down that title on my third-grade reading log each evening!
I spent several weeks with Ishmael and his buddies, diligently reading my fifteen minutes a day, before my mother posed a cautious question.
“Do you like this book?” she asked me.
I found the question absurd. Of course I didn’t like Moby Dick. I had no idea what it was about. But as far as I was concerned, “liking” and “understanding” were irrelevant. What mattered was that the book was enormous and difficult.
Melville and I soon parted ways, much to my shame. If reading big, important books was for smart people, I figured, then I wasn’t smart. I had lost the battle, and so I washed my hands of reading for good.
This might have been the end of story, if not for a guest at my birthday party a year later, who gave me the book that would change my life: The Baby-sitters Club #25: Mary Anne and the Search for Tigger.
Never had I felt so connected to a character, so enthralled by a story. Ishmael had nothing on these baby-sitters.
Over the next few years, I devoured every Baby-sitters Club book I could find, sometimes reading two a day. I could tell you anything about the girls from Stoneybrook, from who had the dreamiest boyfriend (Mary Anne), to which baby-sitter dotted her i’s with hearts (Stacy). Were the books great literature? No, sir. Did I adore them? Indeed I did.
I once overheard a friend of my mother’s fretting that I was far too smart for such books, and that I shouldn’t be reading them. To which my mother, the librarian, replied simply, “Reading is reading. When Lisa is ready, she’ll move on.”
I did move on. After I’d exhausted the baby-sitters, I found other stories. Books by Roald Dahl, Beverly Cleary, Louis Sachar, Agatha Christie, Louisa May Alcott. In high school I would turn to “important” literature again—One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Candide,Sophie’s World—but this time I was reading because I wanted to, not because it made me feel smarter. At last, I’d discovered the truth about reading.
It should be fun.
It doesn’t take fine literature to hook a kid for life. Sometimes the books that make grown-ups scoff are the very books that children are desperate to gobble up. But after they gobble up those books, if we’re really lucky, they’ll ask, “More?”
And that’s when you know you’ve won.
LISA GRAFF is the author of A Tangle of Knots, Double Dog Dare, Umbrella Summer, The Life and Crimes of Bernetta Wallflower, The Thing about Georgie, and Sophie Simon Solves Them All. A former children’s book editor, she’s now a full-time writer and adjunct professor. Originally from California, she lived for many years in New York City and now makes her home just outside Philadelphia. You can visit her online at www.LisaGraff.com and on Twitter as @lisagraff.
A few years ago, a student of mine checked The Holy Bible out of the library (grade 4.) I hadn’t thought of it this way, but he was definitely trying to win! I checked in with him a week later and he said, “It’s so boring! All this stuff about creating the earth!” LOL
My dad called my book choices “mind candy”. He meant it to be negative, but I sort of liked the idea of my brain wanting to devour something so pleasurable! It ultimately drew me to some great books as well. Thank you for sharing!
I had a ton of my 3rd graders carrying around Harry Potter, back in the day. They could no more read them than they could launch the space shuttle (also back in the day). When I was little, I always picked fat books (that I WAS able to read), since my mom only brought us to the library once a week and we were only allowed to take one book. The fat ones lasted longer….
Now I know why I love all your books, Lisa. I read every Babysitter’s Club book, too. I can not wait for my copy of Absolutely Almost to get here. As soon as I’m done, it will be added to the Madeleine School library here in Portland, Oregon.
I loved the babysitter’s club too! (I was desperate to be Stacey or Claudia). There’s something comforting about reading a new book full of characters you already know and love. In that way, series are great for reluctant readers. Come to think of it, I still enjoy a good series.
And of course that’s why we need Captain Underpants…:)
I wish every school administrator would read, and understand, *this* is how you win at reading. Simply enjoying and devouring books.
I understand they want us to have students read books based on their lexiles or “stretched reads” those that stretch them beyond what is comfortable. However, as I’ve been telling them for years, if we don’t first get kids to buy into reading by letting them read things THEY enjoy, we’ll never get them to the next step. They will never learn that reading can be, and should be fun.
I think this is such an important post. I remember when my daughter (who is now a very smart grown up) read every single Pony Pal book there was. A very wise children’s bookstore owner told me to relax and let her read. She told me that my daughter would move on when she was ready and she did. I just finished reading Absolutely Almost last night. As I read the scene about Captain Underpants being a baby book, my stomach turned because I know that there are parents of my students who say those things to their kids. I’m bookmarking this post to share with parents who might question whether or not what their children are reading is appropriate or not. Thank you for sharing your experience.
Yes! Yes! Yes! I hate it when those little guys are carrying around “cool books” and I know they are not really reading or ready for them. As a K to grade 7 school librarian, I shudder at some of the books parents think are appropriate for kids. The Hunger Games is one example: I just don’t get that parents would buy this for their 8 year olds. I had a mom come and tell me her 5 year old was ‘reading’ the Hobbit. OMG! Sure he’s a strong reader, but when a kids is taking a couple of months to ‘read’ a book…. that’s why I suggest that kids have more than one book on the go at a time – so I can recommend titles they will love to read.
I love working in the library during the summer, because with the pressures of school lifted, I’m more able to say to parents trying to guide their kids’ book choices, “Let them read for pleasure!” (just as you adults do, I do not add aloud!)
We’re reading Absolutely Almost as a read aloud now, and one of my readers used Albie’s experience with Captain Underpants to describe his reading experience so far: everyone telling him what to read, not listening to what he wants to read. Great post!