What Did I Do on My Summer Vacation? I Read a Pile of Books
As I mentioned in my last post, readers evolve and change to keep our reading habits going for a lifetime. I’m not the same reader I was when I was twelve, thirty-six, or fifty-four, but some aspects of my reading life have remained consistent for a long time. Summer remains one of my favorite times for reading lots of books.
After we were too old for daycare, my three siblings and I stayed home most of the summer. We didn’t go on vacations much. In Texas, it’s too hot most of the day to play outside. We stayed inside the house or backyard, as our mother directed. Our parents worked all summer and we watched a lot of cable TV.
As the eldest, I was in charge. I hoped every day that my two sisters and brother would be quiet enough that I could read on the couch. I bribed them with promises to play or draw with them, so I could read in peace for an hour. I think I taught all three of them to read, so that we could have silent reading time.
After my parents got home and the sun was lower, we often ran outdoors to ride our bikes or walk down to a friend’s house. My sister, Abbie, and I would walk a mile to the Hurst Public Library once a week. A special privilege for the two oldest girls.
I chose my library books by length for most of junior high. A random criterion, but there was logic behind it. I needed a long book that would last me a week until we returned. I wanted one book to keep track of and only one story to consume my attention.
As an English teacher, I have learned that young adult literature existed in the 1980’s, but I didn’t see much at the time. We had The Outsiders, of course. We read it in seventh grade. My classmates and I thought it was cool that S. E. Hinton lived just a few hundred miles north in Oklahoma. Our daughters read The Outsiders in seventh grade, too. They were surprised that S.E. Hinton was still alive. Ouch.
V. C. Andrew’s Flowers in the Attic books and The Diary of Anne Frank were passed among the girls at my school. I read them, too. I also read Stephen King and John Irving. Long books like The Stand and The World According to Garp. I read anything that was made into a television miniseries (precursor to todays’ limited series) like Roots by Alex Haley and Herriot’s All Creatures Great and Small on PBS. My reading choices were influenced by movies, television, and popular culture. I was in drama and debate classes, and I read plays and poetry sometimes, too. Drama class was the primary space where I was introduced to authors and poets of color, like Maya Angelou and Nikki Giovanni.
I didn’t receive reading suggestions from adults like librarians or guidance about what to read. My parents didn’t monitor what we read. I roamed the library and chose whatever looked good to me. Over time, I found authors, genres, topics, and styles of writing that resonated. Fed with my library card, I developed my reading preferences and tastes through free summer reading. It was a successful combination of access and choice.
Here in Texas, summer is winding down and another school year has begun. Because of access to books through school libraries and classroom collections, many students will have increased exposure to books. Additionally, schools and libraries typically offer assistive technology and other aids for readers who need additional support with reading.
It follows that many kids will read more after returning to school. Along with expanded access, they receive more consistent support for reading. Teachers and librarians promote books and teach students the knowledge and skills they need to become confident readers. Caregivers often emphasize daily reading more during the school year.
They may be in the minority, but there are students who will read less after school begins. Librarians often meet these readers during the first few days of the school year. They might be seeking other readers. They might want approval for their reading interests. They are always looking for books.
It may take weeks before teachers bring their students to the library for checkout. Unwilling to wait, these avid readers spill into the library and try to check out books before the class lists are complete. Joyful readers just want to read.
Along with this momentary decrease in book access, kids who read over the summer may experience a dip in reading motivation because they often lose the ability to choose what they read. Their personal interests and reasons for reading recede behind school demands (and limitations) on their reading lives.
Back to comprehension questions, vocabulary work, projects and tests. Back to reading five books in eight months instead of a book a week. During the school year, readers often invest more time completing reading-related activities—filling out worksheets, answering questions and discussing texts as a group—than they actually spend reading at school (Lesesne, 2010).
While students need high-quality reading instruction and exposure to notable texts and thinkers throughout history, it’s unlikely that many young people will become lifelong readers through academic reading alone. Reading engagement increases when readers receive encouragement for pursuing their own inquiry and interests. Readers further build reading preferences through free choice (Miller & Kelley, 2013).
Along with academic reading goals, young readers benefit from personal goals for reading. No fourth grader announces, “I want to work on my fluency this year.”
That is a teacher’s goal. As a new school year begins, value young reader’s personal reading goals, too. While teaching them how to read, never lose sight of the end goal—engaged readers who find reading beneficial for their own needs.
Time, access, choice, community. These four components support readers at school and home. One way or the other, transitioning back to school requires changing your reading habits. Readers must adapt. When can you find time to read? How will your book access change? Who will become your reading community? Talk with young people about how school affects their reading lives in both positive and negative ways.
Do they lose reading time or gain it when school starts? How can they carve out more time?
Does their book access increase? What types of books have they found that they didn’t know about before? What authors have they discovered?
Does their access decrease somehow? Do they need assistive technology or some other support? What can be done to address it?
Do young people have readers their own age to talk with? What sort of books are popular with their classmates? What interests them (or doesn’t) about reading these popular books? What books are not popular with the mainstream that kids think should be more well-known? Value the reading experiences and preferences students bring to school.
Invite young readers to develop their own reading goals. Whether kids walked into school as engaged readers or not, all of them will read more with your support and encouragement now.
What would they like to accomplish as a reader this school year? Are there specific books, authors, series or topics they would like to read? How do they want to challenge themselves as readers (and writers)? How can reading help them pursue their own interests? What personal reading goals can they set this year?
If you’re returning back to school as an educator, caregiver, or student, I wish you the smoothest transition possible. I hope you discover new books to read and new readers to share with this year. If you have special ways to kick off a new year of reading, please share them. We can all participate the excitement!