Getting children to want to read

I thank you for the responses in your recent column about helping kids become interested in reading. I could not help but notice, however, that although all of your book suggestions were wonderful ones, they all fit one genre: Classic Western Fiction. As this is the tradition grew up on, it is easy to suggest these books off the top of our head. However, I work with middle school youth who often have no interest in reading, and I find it is because they have not been exposed to a wide enough variety of books to find their special interest.

I suggest when parents take their children to the library, be sure to visit all sections! Some kids are turned on by non-fiction, others poetry, others Latin or African authors. Perhaps the student who is so interested in transformers would prefer books on science and technology. I had a student who had no interest in books until he started reading books from his Mexican heritage. I personally did not enjoy reading until well after college, when I discovered the joy of autobiographies (no one helped me notice that the only books I did like in school was the "Little House" books or, later, Diary of Anne Frank).

Please remind your readers that there is something out there for everyone--and not everyone is initially turned on by the "classics." And that is okay: Expose the students to a wide variety of books (and even magazines), and who knows where it may lead. The goal is just get reading!

You make an excellent point. I was making specific suggestions for the family of the ten year old who wrote in to me. We need to turn our children on to reading at a young age. There needs to be a hook, and it does not need to come in the form of classics. Do not rule them out, however, for the Little House books and Diary of Anne Frank are classics as well. Good books are good books.

As a middle school teacher, you know the ropes. I absolutely agree that magazines, newspapers, novels, short stories, and even comic books (an almost lost art) are all equally desirable. We just want the children reading and longing to read.

Families should regularly frequent libraries. The catalogues are amazing and children should learn to search for their interests. The reading list website http://www.californiareadinglist.com is also an important tool. Find books at your child’s reading level so that the content is doable.