Harriet the Spy. Curious George. Homer Price with his donut machine Three of my favorite childhood friends. I would travel around the world and back with them, my ticket to these places being a local library card.
Now, kids aren’t even getting off the tarmac of their imagination, as some won’t read anything longer than a tweet.
In Asia, there were those stereotypical students–—mostly girls– who’d read anything, including the ingredients on a package of spiced chicken feet.
But the boys?
Forget it. They wouldn’t read anything other than the cheats codes to Mind Craft.
They’d mumble their excuses with pouty cheeks and Chicken Little style specks,
“Mrs. Mac, do we have to read?”
“Can’t we watch the move instead?”
As an edu-mentor to language learners (and former urban youth worker) I was perplexed. How could I create a craving for reading the way McDonald’s creates a craving for fries?
After a lot of gray hairs, I discovered a few tricks.
I started by not working against the flow.
According to research, reluctant boy readers are motivated by technology while girls are not.
Yeah, that seems sorta obvious. But allowing boys to use an e-reader, a boy’s interest in reading bumped, while a girl’s slumped. (The research was done by Annette Caldwell Simmons School of Education and Human Development,at Southern Methodist University, not just me in a classroom in a remote corner of China). So, be sure to have a collection of books in both paper and electronic form.
Next, be sure to have a collection of books, period.
I spent a lot of time “binging” books for reluctant readers. (googling was blocked half the time). Plots and protagonists fortified with MSG to create an insatiable craving for literacy. My Western-idolizing crew couldn’t get enough of realistic role models in contemporary conflict. Holes, Outsiders, Maniac Magee. I found the Young Adult Libarary Service Association had a good list, stuff that both edu-mentors and kids would enjoy.
If they won’t read, read to them.
Read your faves out loud. No matter the age of a student, reading out loud is beneficial, making them want to read more on their own. According to people smarter than me, it can create a craving for reading in that child.
If their attention spans can’t handle anything longer than a tweet?
That still might be enough words to get them hooked. Below are the first 140 characters of some of my favorite young adult novels.
HOLES
There is no lake at Camp Green Lake. There was once a very large lake here, the largest lake in Texas. That was over a hundred years ago. Now it is just a dry, flat wasteland.
HARRIET THE SPY
Harriet was trying to explain to Sport how to play Town. “See, first you make up the name of the Town.” Then you write down the names of all of the people who live in it.
TOP TEN WAYS TO RUIN YOUR FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL
Tony Baloney stuck his head out of the fifth grade boy’s restroom and whispered, “Psst, Mo.Over here.”Mohammad bin Abdul Hamad bin Jamluddin bin al-Rashid looked up
OUTSIDERS
When I stepped out into the bright sunlight from the darkness of the movie house, I had only two things on my mind: Paul Newman and a ride home. I was wishing I looked like Paul
MANIAC MAGEE
They say Maniac Magee was born in a dump. They say his stomach was a cereal box and his heart a sofa spring. They say he kept an eight-inch cockroach on a leash…they say.
More quick tips to reading out loud:
Download this free pdf from RIF, or Reading is Fundamental. .
Email me if you remember their jingle.