I don't want to read that!

Have you ever been looking through a newspaper and you just throw a page on the ground because there isn't any good pictures? Or the amount of very small words overwhelms you? Or you just don't want to read about how all these people died? Or who got arrested that week? Have you ever been "window shopping" books at the grocery store because you don't want to buy them and you seem to glance past certain ones saying "no, not pretty enough, no, too futuristic, ewww vampires?"

Well, these are some things that go through my head when I'm faced with reading when I haven't picked out my own books.  Kids are the exact same way, if they don't want to read something because it doesn't look intriguing, there are too many small words for them, or it has no interest to them; then they are showing signs of being non-readers. Maybe we never grow out of it, or we just have more choices when we're older, but we have to be aware of why a child doesn't want to read a book before making them read it

Just Right Books

One night you are up way past your bedtime because you can not stop reading your book until it is finished.  When you finally finish, you have this sinking feeling in your chest because "what book could you read next that would make you feel the same way?"  You feel good because you read this really stellar novel, but are equally in despair because no other book can be that good.  What do you look for in your next book?

As a teacher we teach kids to go to the library to find a "just right book," usually with the right amount of words, pictures, level of vocabulary, and ability to comprehend.  This is all well and good for elementary school kids, but as they grow older there are more things they need to look at for it to be "just right."

I encounter this all the time, I'm at the library, or talking to a friend, or just browsing through random book lists I find online.  You search for the genre, the length, the reviews on the back, if other people recommend it, if the cover speaks to you, if you've read books by that author before, if it's available,  and do you relate to the story line?

Ultimately, you won't know if it's a just right book until you start reading it.  Some books start slower than others and you might not get into it, or you might read through it and think "why did I waste my time?" Choosing a just right book is hard, so teaching students things to look for in a book will help them use their reading time wisely when they are older.  

Excuse me, I have to use the restroom.

You go here to shower and you go here to brush your teeth.  You go here to look in the mirror and you here to find peace.  Most of all you go here to read a magazine for a couple minutes before going back to real life.

Magazines capture the reader through catchy headings and vivid cover images.  Every magazine is laid out differently though, some tell you the page number on the cover and some you have to look a couple pages inside the front cover.  Either way I think about my first grade students reading their “level 16” non-fiction texts and how they are similar to the magazines I read while taking a restroom break.  I rarely read the magazine from front cover to back cover, I don’t read every single word especially if it doesn’t interest me in any way. Some people probably do.  I talked with my grandfather and he said he reads the TIME magazine from beginning to end before he is “done” with it. When I think about my strategy for reading an article I think I read the bold headings first and then the words underneath and connect it back to the bold heading so I can remember it. I also like to look at the quotes and pictures first, kind of like a picture walk, before I’m captured and sucked in to the story.

I also like to embrace the wide variety of magazines out there; they have Golf Digest for my dad,  Better Homes and Gardens for my mom, Psychology Today for my boyfriend, Seventeen for my adolescent self, Rock Climbing for my college self, and Instructor for my teacher self.  Whatever topic you are interested in, there is literature out there for you to read and absorb.  Don’t even get me started on the availability of “magazines” because they have been attached to the internet and most have applications for mobile devices and tablets.  Next thing you know everyone will just bring their handheld devices to the bathroom and not even bother with paper produced magazines.

What are audiobooks?

1. You are a small child and your Dad is reading Dr.Seuss tongue twisters to you, and they are so funny you can't stop laughing.
2.  Or you can still hear the dramatics of Munch's character yelling "It's 50 degrees below zero!" when the little boy is sleepwalking because your parents read it to you so many times you can still remember parts of it 20 years later.
3.  You start to listen to books through middle school, but in high school you tend to only hear excerpts of books as examples of literary elements.
4.  As you grow older you learn how to read print confidently and spend $5 at Walmart on a new book every time you go because there are no other places to get books and you are horrible at returning things to the library.
5.  When did I really stop listening to books?
6.  There came a time when I didn't really listen to books being read to me anymore even though I took so much pleasure in it when I was little.
7.  I've noticed when students are reading a story to me, I have to really pay attention to what they are reading or else I won't comprehend anything they just read to me.
8.  The same thing happens to me when I'm listening to audio books.
9.  Yes, I got over my problem of not returning things to the library and have started renting audio books for my long commute to and from work.
10.  I recently started listening to the book "The Shack" by William P. Young  that my Dad recommended and I've noticed that if I am not fully tuned in to the voice and inflection of the reader I become lost.  I don't know what is going on, what on earth they're talking about, it's like being stuck in the middle of a big party where you don't know anyone and there is a bunch of different conversations going on.  So far I've had to rewind at least 5 times to listen more closely.  It's hard to create that mental image without the printed text in front of me.
11.  I'm still not sure with only hearing the book one time I'm fully comprehending the intricate details of the story, when did I stop rereading?  That's a discussion for another time.
12.  I think I will keep listening to audio books because I want to get back to the reading pleasure I had when I was a young girl.

Ebook vs. Book Book

    My Dad asked me the other day, “Why did you have to go to the library?  Why aren’t you just reading on your new iPad?”  This made me think of the new literacies of today.  While I do read ebooks downloaded from the library website for 10 days at a time and they are very accessible when reading during transition times, I also enjoy a paper copy of a book once in a while.  When will this trend change?  Will the next generations be strictly ebook readers, placing virtual bookmarks, and sliding a finger or tapping a screen to “flip” backwards to reread?  Do we gain more knowledge or pleasure from reading an ebook?

    While reading Carla Neggers “Declan’s Cross” an FBI thriller with a little romance thrown in, I thought about how I sometimes read too fast to comprehend.  Just so you know, it is a hard copy version, found while browsing through the shelves of the library instead of a computer screen. I have been pleasure reading right before bed because it gives my mind something to think about other than the stress of life.  I’ve noticed that I go in and out of engagement with the book.  One minute I am reading along and connecting it with my prior knowledge of the story and the next I am thinking about what is going on in my life while still reading the words.  I have to stop and track backwards to find where I stopped paying attention to the meaning.  Meanwhile the book is falling out of my hands or I have to switch positions to see the left page or the right page.  I wonder if this is how a struggling reader reads when they know the words but cannot retell the story because they don’t know the strategy of going back and rereading? 

     My question is, is it harder or easier to focus on the meaning of the text when you are reading before bed or in the afternoon? Is it harder or easier to focus on the meaning of the text when reading an ebook or paper text?  Is it harder or easier to focus on the meaning of the text when you have to stop and look backwards?