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[CCBC-Net] Books for Struggling Readers
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From: Steward, Celeste <csteward>
Date: Thu, 2 Nov 2006 12:42:56 -0800
Deborah--This is so true about the informal book club. As a parent, I still read aloud to my 12- and 10-year old. Sometimes we discuss the chapter but other times we just enjoy the story before lights out.
As my children become more self-sufficient, I find that reading the same books maintains our connection. Every day, my girls venture further out of the parental sphere and move toward lives of their own but sharing books and reading aloud always pulls us back to a familiar place.
Most recently, I have turned my 12-year old on to The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan, Shug by Jenny Han, Al Capone Does My Shirts by Jennifer Choldenko, and Deliver Us From Normal by Kate Klise. My oldest doesn't read everything I bring home. Half of the books go back to the library without being read. But when she finds something interesting, we generally discuss the story...and to my surprise, she moves on to read the sequels. She also has a friend who likes to read and we've starting passing books around. So, now her friend has entered our literary world too and I feel like less of a shadow in the junior high society.
Celeste Steward
Collection Development Librarian, Children's Services Alameda County Library 2400 Stevenson Blvd. Fremont, CA 94538
-----Original Message----- From: ccbc-net-bounces at ccbc.education.wisc.edu
[mailto:ccbc-net-bounces at ccbc.education.wisc.edu] On Behalf Of Hopkinson, Deborah Sent: Thursday, November 02, 2006 12:19 PM To: James Elliott; horning at education.wisc.edu; ccbc-net at lists.education.wisc.edu Subject: Re: [CCBC-Net] Books for Struggling Readers
While I have some specific books to suggest, I also have some thoughts on this not as a reading expert or librarian, but as a parent.
My son was adopted at age six from Russia, and had an early speech disability. Reading and the desire to read have always been issues. We pursued several strategies over the years, in addition to the help he got in school. One of the most important was to keep reading aloud to and with him -- all the way through high school -- stopping often to discuss (because then you see where there are sometimes surprising gaps in concepts or understanding). For books to meet outside reading requirements we looked for obvious things: short chapters, high interest, humorous, action (Holes, Lost on a Mountain in Maine, Because of Winn Dixie all were favorites).
But as a struggling reader Dimitri also missed out on the sheer pleasure of reading -- the underlying rhythms and sounds and pleasures of good, sophisticated literature and storytelling. So we also pursued audiotapes in the car selecting books with rich language (Richard Peck's A Long Way from Chicago, The Moorchild). I can imagine Al Capone Does My Shirts or The Sea of Trolls would be great.
Whenever I talk to parents I make a huge point about encouraging them to keep up with and read children's literature themselves, and develop sort of lifelong book clubs with their kids. I think this is even more important with cuts in school libraries. Sadly, after elementary school neither of my kids ever had a public school teacher who recommended books or even seemed to have heard of the award-winning books my kids were doing reports on for outside reading.
Deborah Hopkinson Director of Foundation Relations Oregon State University Foundation
_______________________________________________ CCBC-Net mailing list CCBC-Net at ccbc.education.wisc.edu Visit this link to read archives or to unsubscribe... http://ccbc.education.wisc.edu/mailman/listinfo/ccbc-net
Received on Thu 02 Nov 2006 02:42:56 PM CST
Date: Thu, 2 Nov 2006 12:42:56 -0800
Deborah--This is so true about the informal book club. As a parent, I still read aloud to my 12- and 10-year old. Sometimes we discuss the chapter but other times we just enjoy the story before lights out.
As my children become more self-sufficient, I find that reading the same books maintains our connection. Every day, my girls venture further out of the parental sphere and move toward lives of their own but sharing books and reading aloud always pulls us back to a familiar place.
Most recently, I have turned my 12-year old on to The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan, Shug by Jenny Han, Al Capone Does My Shirts by Jennifer Choldenko, and Deliver Us From Normal by Kate Klise. My oldest doesn't read everything I bring home. Half of the books go back to the library without being read. But when she finds something interesting, we generally discuss the story...and to my surprise, she moves on to read the sequels. She also has a friend who likes to read and we've starting passing books around. So, now her friend has entered our literary world too and I feel like less of a shadow in the junior high society.
Celeste Steward
Collection Development Librarian, Children's Services Alameda County Library 2400 Stevenson Blvd. Fremont, CA 94538
-----Original Message----- From: ccbc-net-bounces at ccbc.education.wisc.edu
[mailto:ccbc-net-bounces at ccbc.education.wisc.edu] On Behalf Of Hopkinson, Deborah Sent: Thursday, November 02, 2006 12:19 PM To: James Elliott; horning at education.wisc.edu; ccbc-net at lists.education.wisc.edu Subject: Re: [CCBC-Net] Books for Struggling Readers
While I have some specific books to suggest, I also have some thoughts on this not as a reading expert or librarian, but as a parent.
My son was adopted at age six from Russia, and had an early speech disability. Reading and the desire to read have always been issues. We pursued several strategies over the years, in addition to the help he got in school. One of the most important was to keep reading aloud to and with him -- all the way through high school -- stopping often to discuss (because then you see where there are sometimes surprising gaps in concepts or understanding). For books to meet outside reading requirements we looked for obvious things: short chapters, high interest, humorous, action (Holes, Lost on a Mountain in Maine, Because of Winn Dixie all were favorites).
But as a struggling reader Dimitri also missed out on the sheer pleasure of reading -- the underlying rhythms and sounds and pleasures of good, sophisticated literature and storytelling. So we also pursued audiotapes in the car selecting books with rich language (Richard Peck's A Long Way from Chicago, The Moorchild). I can imagine Al Capone Does My Shirts or The Sea of Trolls would be great.
Whenever I talk to parents I make a huge point about encouraging them to keep up with and read children's literature themselves, and develop sort of lifelong book clubs with their kids. I think this is even more important with cuts in school libraries. Sadly, after elementary school neither of my kids ever had a public school teacher who recommended books or even seemed to have heard of the award-winning books my kids were doing reports on for outside reading.
Deborah Hopkinson Director of Foundation Relations Oregon State University Foundation
_______________________________________________ CCBC-Net mailing list CCBC-Net at ccbc.education.wisc.edu Visit this link to read archives or to unsubscribe... http://ccbc.education.wisc.edu/mailman/listinfo/ccbc-net
Received on Thu 02 Nov 2006 02:42:56 PM CST
