A tweet and the ensuing thread caught our eye this week initiated by @MrsTwit

 

It started up a very interesting discussion here at LoveReading. I experienced similar comments as a child as I was deeply reluctant to let my Roald Dahl and Enid Blytons go. It didn’t mean that was all I read but I just loved them so much and read them again and again. Still do! 

We need to make sure we keep kids engaged and don’t push them too hard with book selection. As a parent, I have been guilty of the same thing, encouraging my kids to go beyond their comfort zone and try something a little different but it also makes me smile so much when I see my Tom Gates-obsessed 7 year old reading the books for the gazillionth time. 

Schools too though need to understand the importance of personal choice in developing that reading for pleasure mentality. Free choice is a powerful motivator for a child to read and it’s key for developing lifelong readers. Independently choosing something to read demonstrates a true intent to read.  They are motivated, engaged, excited.

As Hilary McKay of Skylarks’ War fame commented on Twitter: “What nonsense. I am 59 and I read The House at Pooh Corner last night.” Bravo, Hilary! Who doesn’t love a bit of Pooh Bear?

It is all too easy as a parent to become overly motivated to thrust your kids into books you think they should be reading rather than what they want to read. As Alison David says in the Egmont Print Matters Research: “Even if the child’s choice might not be what the parent would wish for, it should never be discouraged.  All reading is good reading, whether facts or fiction, whether magazine, annual, comic strip, graphic novel, picture book, series or literary fiction.”

Greg Heffley aka Wimpy Kid is wonderfully funny and recounts his stories in his unique “doleful, deadpan way together with the action-filled comic strip style illustrations”. We love Wimpy Kid at LoveReading4Kids; the latest book The Getaway is a Book of the Month this February. 10, 50 or 100, we don’t care. Grab a copy and enjoy!

For all you teachers and school librarians out there we also thought it was worth reminding ourselves of the Skeeters, K.  et.al. piece of work: The Top Five Reasons We Love Giving Students Choice

Choice empowers students

Valuing student choices values the student

Choice leads to real and meaningful conversations

Choice helps establish and deepen relationships

Choice leads to independence

Choice is key for developing readers as is teachers’ knowledge of children’s own reading practices and preferences beyond school. Another fascinating and worthwhile read is the work on Reading for Pleasure by Teresa Cremin and her team at  Open University.  It examines children’s and teachers’ reading lives, and establishes effective ways to support Reading for Pleasure in schools.

Schools, teachers and school librarians want to engender a lifelong love of reading in their pupils and develop exciting and varied list for pupils….Parents want to buy books that engage, excite and challenge their children and that their kids love…And everybody wants children to love reading for pleasure. LoveReading4Schools is here to help!

Here at LoveReading4Kids and LoveReading4Schools, our job is one of curation, one of selecting and recommending books we love and we think kids will love too. It’s about helping kids find their next favourite book, author or series. A book for every mood, every age, every interest. Whether you’re 5 or a big kid at 50.

Whether you’re a reader, a parent, a carer, a teacher or a librarian let’s all remember that great things happen when we read. Reading is reading is reading.