BFTP: Little bunny books - reading despite school
Saturday, January 25, 2014 at 08:04AM A weekend Blue Skunk "feature" will be a revision of an old post. I'm calling this BFTP: Blast from the Past. Original post January 21, 2009. Dr. Joyce shared a very good article on why "pleasure reading" is important this morning. Librarians, if you have not read it, move Krashen's Power of Reading to the top of your reading list - and then make the connection between his research and your work to your admins, parents, and teachers.
As I remember the story, grandson Paul came home one day from first grade and declared that he didn't like to read anymore. Coming from a "reading" family, this wasn't received particularly well. A little investigation by his parents discovered what Paul really didn't like was reading the required materials in the reading series. He called them "little bunny stories." The happy ending is that Paul's parents visited the library and bookstore and found books more suited to his reading interests. Mostly Dave Pilkey Captain Underpants books (that his grandfather enjoys as well).
I'm thinking of this bit of family lore as I read Kelly Gallagher's e-book, Readicide: How Schools Are Killing Reading and What You Can Do About It.
Gallagher defines:
Read-i-cide:noun, the systematic killing of the love of reading, often
exacerbated by the inane, mind-numbing practices found in schools
and suggests that
...rather than helping students, many of the reading practices found in today’s classrooms are actually contributing to the death of reading. In an earnest attempt to instill reading, teachers and administrators push practices that kill many students’ last chance to develop into lifelong readers.
Gallagher offers solutions to schools creating alliterate graduates - one of which is reading for fun. I wish the author had a more positive view of libraries - he insists that classroom libraries best serve kids. This is something the profession needs to work on - emphasizing the school library's role in creating classroom-housed collections.
I often wonder just how much I would read if I was permitted to read only a certain number of pages per day (NO READING AHEAD), only could read things that were interesting to female elementary teachers, on which I had to complete worksheets, do vocabulary drills, etc.. Is it any wonder why video games look good to kids?
Paul's story had a happy ending despite his school, not because of his school. Paul didn't like reading at the time because he was a good reader, not because he was a poor reader. How sad is it that for all those children who don't come from such superior genetic stock that schools are not helping the struggling readers and are destroying the successful ones?
Share this book, along with Krashen's Power of Reading, 2nd edition, with reading specialists, teachers and parents. But only if you care if the next generation reads more than chat boxes.
Reader Comments (4)
I started reading when I was 4 and was probably at about a 3rd grade level by the time I entered 1st grade. I distinctly remember one hated assignment -- I was assigned reading material well below my ability level that I was to read out loud to my mother. To add insult to injury, although I didn't know it at the time, my mother hated, hated, hated being read to. Fortunately, it didn't make me hate reading, just the assignment.
Hi Kathy,
This sounds like my daughter - a proficient reader when she entered kindergarten. Happily, like you, she retained her love of reading and school despite some ridiculous assignments.
Doug
Doug, We just added Battle Bunny by John Scieszka http://www.amazon.com/Battle-Bunny-Jon-Scieszka/dp/1442446730 and it reminded me of your Little Bunny post. Battle Bunny is the book kids would love to read.
Hi Kathy,
From the preview on Amazon, it looks just like something one of my grandsons would have done to a book! Thanks for sharing it. I'll have go get a copy.
Doug