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[CCBC-Net] sci-fi readers
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From: Benita Strnad <bstrnad>
Date: Mon, 08 May 2006 11:28:41 -0500
The popularity of the Harry Potter books is a phenomena that simply escapes me. In fact I don't believe that they really are reading these books. I think that sci-fi books are for middle school and above, and younger readers have problems with them for several reasons. Length of book is one of them, as many times they are excessive in length. Complicated plot and characters that often times morph from one personality type to another. Time travel back and forth in rapid succession. I can understand adults and older children reading it and
"getting it" when it comes to sci-fi, but when I hear about second graders reading these tomes with enthusiasm I am doubtful about their authenticity. It is an extremely precocious child who can read a sci-fi or fantasy book at the age of 7 and understand it. The reason is developmental level.
I spent some years as a school librarian and during that time the Susan Cooper books "The Dark is Rising" series and Lloyd Alexander's "Prydian Chronicles" had just been published. I was a K-12 librarian in a small rural school in Kansas at the time. I simply devoured both series of books and thought that the kids would love them as much. I was disappointed.
What I discovered was that students starting somewhere in about 4th grade (age 10) to 5th grade started to like the books because they could pick up on the deeper meanings of the stories, and catch onto subtleties and nuances in plot and characterization. But the biggest problem for children was being able to put things into some kind of time line continuum. The Susan Cooper books involve time travel and the children could not differentiate between the past and the present. They could not make the jump back and forth. Recently I have seen the same problem with Cornelia Funke's "Inkheart." Some of the young readers could not get it that some of the major characters were read from a book. Likewise, same type of problem with the "His Dark Materials" books by Phillip Pullman.
It was later while reading some material on developmental stages of children that I relearned that children have a skewed sense of time. For them there is on the present and the concept of past and future is a very short blip. For adults the timeline is much longer. This is illustrated by the fact that when asking children to wait for Christmas when it is six months away is nearly an impossibility. Six months to them might as well be ten years. When Will jumps back in time to the Roman days of Britain children could not follow that jump in "the Dark is Rising." The idea of Lyra living in an alternative universe that might be parallel to the one in which we live in in "The Golden Compass" is a concept that many children do not understand at early ages. Perspective on time was also a problem when I tried to get students to read "The Eye, the Ear, and the Arm" as well. (I loved that book! and thought its take on culture and the setting to be so unique.) I simply could not get anybody below seventh grade to even look at "The Blue Sword" because the jumps in time were too complicated for readers. (for me as an adult reader these were some of the greatest pleasures to be found in McKinnely's books, including the Jackaroo series.)
I love sci-fi fantasy literature and read it regularly, but I find that like books on many difficult subjects, for children to fully understand what they are reading they must reach a certain developmental level that allows them to place the time in the story in the right perspective. It takes guidance and instruction to help students understand what they are reading. Since some students can comprehend the concept of movement back and forth through time before others it is difficult to present this material in a classroom setting. I believe this is one reason why so many really good sci-fi books are not used in classrooms. (the other reason is the controversial nature of sci-fi.) For some reason in my experience boys were generally a year to a year-and-a-half behind girls in the being able to distinguish between past, present, and future while reading.
I believe that the reason why very young children are reading (and remember I question the use of that term) books like Harry Potter, His Dark Materials, etc. is that they are being read to, or they are using visual learning. In other words, adults are reading out loud to younger children, or these young children are going to see the movie and then reading the books. Both auditory and visual learning is more advanced at earlier ages than is reading comprehension.
Having said all of that there are always exceptions to the rule. I remember my first encounter with a precious reader vividly. He was in second grade. "Dragon of the Lost Sea" by Laurence Yep had just arrived in our library. It had a beautiful dust jacket on it, and it attracted this young boys attention. He begged and begged to be allowed to check it out. This is a book that was recommended for middle school children. At first I said no, but a couple of days later my conscious was bothering me. I subscribe to the line of thinking that if the subject matter is above the level of the reader they will quickly become bored and put the book down. I figured that there was no harm in letting him check that book out. The worst that could happen was that he would get bored and bring it back.
The next week he was back in the library waving that book in my face and so excited asking me for another book just like that one. I was astounded and didn't readily believe that he had read the book, but I gave him "Over Sea Under Stone" by Susan Cooper. Later I talked with his teacher and asked her if he had read that book. She said with an exasperated smile that he had indeed. He was reading it every spare minute of time in the classroom. He had it open in his desk and was reading it by holding the desk open while she was trying to teach other lessons. He wouldn't put it down!
I think that was one of the highlights of my life as a librarian, but it doesn't happen most of the time with second graders and sci-fi books.
Date: Mon, 08 May 2006 11:28:41 -0500
The popularity of the Harry Potter books is a phenomena that simply escapes me. In fact I don't believe that they really are reading these books. I think that sci-fi books are for middle school and above, and younger readers have problems with them for several reasons. Length of book is one of them, as many times they are excessive in length. Complicated plot and characters that often times morph from one personality type to another. Time travel back and forth in rapid succession. I can understand adults and older children reading it and
"getting it" when it comes to sci-fi, but when I hear about second graders reading these tomes with enthusiasm I am doubtful about their authenticity. It is an extremely precocious child who can read a sci-fi or fantasy book at the age of 7 and understand it. The reason is developmental level.
I spent some years as a school librarian and during that time the Susan Cooper books "The Dark is Rising" series and Lloyd Alexander's "Prydian Chronicles" had just been published. I was a K-12 librarian in a small rural school in Kansas at the time. I simply devoured both series of books and thought that the kids would love them as much. I was disappointed.
What I discovered was that students starting somewhere in about 4th grade (age 10) to 5th grade started to like the books because they could pick up on the deeper meanings of the stories, and catch onto subtleties and nuances in plot and characterization. But the biggest problem for children was being able to put things into some kind of time line continuum. The Susan Cooper books involve time travel and the children could not differentiate between the past and the present. They could not make the jump back and forth. Recently I have seen the same problem with Cornelia Funke's "Inkheart." Some of the young readers could not get it that some of the major characters were read from a book. Likewise, same type of problem with the "His Dark Materials" books by Phillip Pullman.
It was later while reading some material on developmental stages of children that I relearned that children have a skewed sense of time. For them there is on the present and the concept of past and future is a very short blip. For adults the timeline is much longer. This is illustrated by the fact that when asking children to wait for Christmas when it is six months away is nearly an impossibility. Six months to them might as well be ten years. When Will jumps back in time to the Roman days of Britain children could not follow that jump in "the Dark is Rising." The idea of Lyra living in an alternative universe that might be parallel to the one in which we live in in "The Golden Compass" is a concept that many children do not understand at early ages. Perspective on time was also a problem when I tried to get students to read "The Eye, the Ear, and the Arm" as well. (I loved that book! and thought its take on culture and the setting to be so unique.) I simply could not get anybody below seventh grade to even look at "The Blue Sword" because the jumps in time were too complicated for readers. (for me as an adult reader these were some of the greatest pleasures to be found in McKinnely's books, including the Jackaroo series.)
I love sci-fi fantasy literature and read it regularly, but I find that like books on many difficult subjects, for children to fully understand what they are reading they must reach a certain developmental level that allows them to place the time in the story in the right perspective. It takes guidance and instruction to help students understand what they are reading. Since some students can comprehend the concept of movement back and forth through time before others it is difficult to present this material in a classroom setting. I believe this is one reason why so many really good sci-fi books are not used in classrooms. (the other reason is the controversial nature of sci-fi.) For some reason in my experience boys were generally a year to a year-and-a-half behind girls in the being able to distinguish between past, present, and future while reading.
I believe that the reason why very young children are reading (and remember I question the use of that term) books like Harry Potter, His Dark Materials, etc. is that they are being read to, or they are using visual learning. In other words, adults are reading out loud to younger children, or these young children are going to see the movie and then reading the books. Both auditory and visual learning is more advanced at earlier ages than is reading comprehension.
Having said all of that there are always exceptions to the rule. I remember my first encounter with a precious reader vividly. He was in second grade. "Dragon of the Lost Sea" by Laurence Yep had just arrived in our library. It had a beautiful dust jacket on it, and it attracted this young boys attention. He begged and begged to be allowed to check it out. This is a book that was recommended for middle school children. At first I said no, but a couple of days later my conscious was bothering me. I subscribe to the line of thinking that if the subject matter is above the level of the reader they will quickly become bored and put the book down. I figured that there was no harm in letting him check that book out. The worst that could happen was that he would get bored and bring it back.
The next week he was back in the library waving that book in my face and so excited asking me for another book just like that one. I was astounded and didn't readily believe that he had read the book, but I gave him "Over Sea Under Stone" by Susan Cooper. Later I talked with his teacher and asked her if he had read that book. She said with an exasperated smile that he had indeed. He was reading it every spare minute of time in the classroom. He had it open in his desk and was reading it by holding the desk open while she was trying to teach other lessons. He wouldn't put it down!
I think that was one of the highlights of my life as a librarian, but it doesn't happen most of the time with second graders and sci-fi books.
-- Benita Strnad Curriculum Materials Librarian McLure Education Library The University of Alabama Time is the speed at which the past decays. Cloud Atlas by David MitchellReceived on Mon 08 May 2006 11:28:41 AM CDT
