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Revitalizing the Culture of Reading

By Susan Koehler on July 25, 2024 / Articles, children's bookstores, For Librarians, For Parents, For Teachers, kidlit / 1 Comment

Picture a 12-year-old. It’s 8 p.m. on a school night. Homework is finished, responsibilities have been fulfilled, and it’s wind-down time. What will they choose to do with this time? According to current surveys and sales records, it’s unlikely that this young person will be picking up a book to read.

“Is There a Reading Recession?” This is the title of a recent article shared on the Scholastic Blog. It echoes the concerns expressed in a previous Mixed-Up Files post about “The Middle Grade Slump.” A documented decrease in middle grade book sales is a symptom. The real issue is the sharp decline in the amount of reading that kids up to the age of 18 engage in for pleasure.

Maybe reading for pleasure is a thing of the past. It’s a hobby. There are other hobbies. Reading is just a skill-set learned in school, right? Wrong. The benefits of reading for pleasure are broad and well-documented. Reading for pleasure builds empathy, social adjustment, and self-esteem. Research has shown that reading for pleasure boosts academic achievement and is associated with overall success in life.

However, according to a National Literacy Trust survey, children’s engagement and enjoyment in reading are the lowest they’ve been in two decades. What can be done to reverse this trend? We need to revitalize the culture of reading, and it’s up to adults to lead the way.

Parents

Parents are the most important stakeholders in creating a culture of reading. From the earliest ages, before children have even developed language, books should be shared. Sharing a book between parent and child enriches children in multiple ways. It builds vocabulary, introduces children to concepts of print, and creates a positive emotional climate around reading. As children age, even if they can’t remember these shared experiences, they are stronger readers who maintain the positive feelings developed in that early emotional context.

Even when children begin to read independently, it’s important to continue to read TO the big kids. When adults read aloud, they model prosody, which is the rhythm and intonation we use to be expressive with language. They model respect for the act of reading and appreciation for books. Children’s vocabulary and comprehension skills are built through listening, and the positive emotional climate around the act of reading is nurtured and sustained.

Visiting libraries and bookstores sends an unspoken message that books have value and that reading is part of your family culture. Parents are the most crucial influences in creating a culture of reading, and by reading to, reading with, and reading alongside children, parents demonstrate a dedication to and appreciation for reading.

Teachers and Schools

As a veteran teacher, I can personally attest to the importance of classroom libraries, shared read-alouds, and a dedicated time for daily individual reading. However, increased demands on instructional time creates overburdened schedules, and current concerns over book challenges have created a culture of fear in many schools.

Most educators understand that teaching reading skills must go hand-in-hand with fostering reading engagement. Literacy-rich environments are necessary in order for students to develop as readers. But teachers can’t do this alone. Parents and administrators must support immersive literary atmospheres in classrooms.

Classroom libraries should be well-stocked with a diverse selection of genres and reading levels so that students can identify their own preferences as readers. Virtual and in-person author visits generate great hype around books and should be scheduled throughout the year. Grants, partnerships with independent bookstores, and relationships with businesses and community organizations can help fund author events.

Finally, teachers who develop a positive climate around books are those who model a love of reading. They read aloud to students daily and build connection and community through literature. They talk about reading, discuss books they love, and provide recommendations based on students’ individual interests and preferences.

Librarians and Booksellers

Let’s create some hype around books! The July 8, 2024 issue of Publisher’s Weekly showcased the activities of some forward-thinking booksellers who have been successful at revitalizing reading among young patrons. Subscription boxes, themed dinners, and author visits have all proven effective in engaging young readers in the pleasure of reading.

Big box stores are now selling kids’ books, and the accessibility of literature at the same place where families might be shopping for clothing, school supplies, hardware, or groceries deserves attention. These stores should be encouraged to provide a wide variety of books for every age and type of reader.

Libraries can (and usually do) engage in programming designed to inspire a love of reading. Book clubs, community reads, and thematic events can draw young readers in and help them connect with literature. Reading aloud to the youngest readers while also providing a safe space for teen readers is a true balancing act. As showcased at the recent ALA conference, librarians are heroes, whether or not they wear capes.

It’s Time for Action

Let’s return to that 12-year-old. Maybe it’s laughable to assume that there’s any downtime. Between extracurricular activities, often-excessive amounts of homework, and the lure of ever-present electronics, even if there is downtime, why would a kid choose to read? Our culture has changed…but it’s not the kids who changed it.

The benefits of reading for pleasure are well-documented, and the trend away from reading for pleasure is not shifting toward the positive. It’s time to reverse the trend. A cultural revitalization that includes an appreciation for books and a habit of reading for pleasure is needed, and it’s up to the adults to make it happen.

Interview With Author Carly Anne West

By Lisa Schmid on July 14, 2024 / Articles, Author Interviews, New Releases / Leave a comment

I’m thrilled to welcome Carly to discuss her new book, THE GHOSTS OF NAMELESS ISLAND (Andrews McMeel Kids 7/23/24). I recently met Carly at ALA and fell in love with her and her hilarious/spine-tingling middle-grade novel.

I am delighted to say we share the same publisher, and our ghost stories release on the same day, which makes me feel even more of a kinship with her. (HART & SOULS)

So . . . If you’re in the mood for a spooky summer, we’ve got you covered!

Now it’s my pleasure to introduce you to the fabulous Carly Anne West . . .

Lisa: Tell us about THE GHOSTS OF NAMELESS ISLAND

Carly: GHOSTS follows Gus Greenburg, a kid with an unlikely (and unwelcome) gift—he can see ghosts. While this didn’t used to be the biggest deal in the world, it’s become a bigger deal now that Gus and his mom have moved to Nameless Island and into the infamous Rotham Manor, an old mansion replete with ghosts ready to haunt the heck out of Gus. And these ghosts play by a different set of rules than the others; they can hurt Gus. Now, Gus must find out what happened to the ghosts and discover their identities before they can pass on to the next realm and leave him alone. Fortunately, he’ll have some help ghostbusting with his new friends, Tavi and Miles.

Lisa: How did you come up with the idea?

Carly: I’ve always felt that the most potent hauntings come from unfinished business, and Gus is dealing with a great deal of unfinished business with a missing father in his life, so it made sense to me that he would be parsing out mysteries about people whose lives ended perhaps before they expected them to, and I really liked the idea of a kid who was dealing with his own anxieties helping ghosts that were experiencing their own sort of turmoil. And it takes place in the Pacific Northwest; having lived there, I know it’s an area rife with haunted stories.

Lisa: Did you base characters on people you know? If yes, spill the beans!

Carly: I mean, don’t all writers create their characters out of composites of people they’ve known in their lives?  No one character is anyone specific, but there are certainly aspects of the characters that have special qualities similar to important people in my life. We’ll find in the second book that Gus is an artist; so is one of my kids. We’ll find out later Tavi is a soccer player like my other kiddo. Miles is Korean-American; I live in Korea. So there are elements of real-life in there, absolutely.

Lisa: How much of your real-life experiences play a role in the stories you tell?

Carly: Honestly, I think I write for middle grade and young adults because those times in my life (and so many people’s lives) were/are so difficult. It’s maybe a bit cathartic to write about a time when I felt so out of control; maybe controlling the narrative now is one way to take back some of the power I felt unable to possess back then. There are also plenty of emotions from that time period that cling to adulthood (frustratingly), so in a way, what I’m writing can feel timely, whether I want it to or not.

Lisa: Which books did you like to read when you were a kid? Do those books influence your writing?

Carly: I was a little late to the reading game. I was good at reading the required books, but when it came to reading for pleasure, I had a tough time finding what my niche was. I knew I liked scary stories, but once I’d burned through all the Christopher Pike options, I was stuck. I probably started reading Stephen King too young. Once I started down that road, I knew horror was my thing, and that absolutely influenced my writing. I knew I was attracted to scary stories, and the scarier the better. There was something delicious about the anticipation of a supernatural scare, that lingering suspense. Fear is such an ancient, lizard-brain sort of emotion. I love playing with notions that creaky and dormant.

Lisa: What advice would you give twelve-year-old, Carly?

Carly: Oh dear. That poor girl. She struggled. A lot. Twelve years old was not a good age. I would tell her that she is most definitely not the only one feeling the anxiety she is feeling, and that emotion isn’t alien but an actual clinical function she’ll be taught to deal with down the road. Same with the panic attacks. I’d tell her that the people who seem super important in this moment won’t mean so much in a year or two, and in fact, she won’t even remember their names. I’d tell her that her body is beautiful the way it is. I’d tell her she’s so much stronger than she thinks she is. She’ll be okay.

Lisa: Have you ever seen a ghost?

I’ve heard a ghost. It murmured in my right ear. I was unpacking books in our new apartment in Alameda, CA late one night. My husband was asleep in the bedroom, and all at once, all the sound emptied from the room, like a vacuum sucked every drop of air from the atmosphere. Then, I heard a very close murmuring against my ear. I whipped around thinking it was my husband sneaking up on me, but no one was there, and when I ran down the hall to catch him in the act, he was dead asleep. When I returned to the living room, the sound was back, the murmuring was gone, and all had returned to normal. The next morning, my husband was putting books away in the same spot, and he yells “What?” to me. I come around the corner, and he’s like, “you were mumbling, I couldn’t hear you.” He heard the same thing I heard, in the same spot. The murmurings happened right next to a closet in the living room. The entire time we lived in that apartment, our cats would never go in that closet. They would get close, then freeze, stare into an upper corner of the closet, lay their ears back, slowly slink away, and dart around the corner.

Lisa: If you could talk to a ghost, what would you say?

Carly: Well, to the one in Alameda, I said, “You were here first, so the place is yours. Please just let us stay in peace. I think we can live here together.” And we did for three years with almost no other incidents. Just a couple of spooky moments.

Lisa: I know you are a plotter . . . How do you outline an entire story? What is your secret? (asking for a friend)

Carly: So, I should probably qualify this. I’m a plotter, but only to an extent. I don’t start off that way. I typically start with an emotion, something I know I want my main character to be going through. From there, I often pick a setting, as the setting usually becomes something of a character in the story. Then I’ll just sort of see what sprouts with that emotion and that setting. I only really start plotting once I’m about a third of the way through writing scenes. That’s when I realize I need to start building out a sort of scaffolding to hold the story together. I’ll break out a giant sketchbook and make either a timeline or a scene-by-scene summary, but even then, there are holes and scribbles and a million and one changes. I rarely if ever write in sequence, and I almost never know how a story is going to end. My characters almost always surprise me.

Lisa: Last, but most important . . . What happens next with Gus?

Carly: HA! He’s going to surprise me, too! But I at least know where he’s headed in Book 2. You can expect more ghosts than you bargained for in the first book, some friend drama that Gus didn’t sign up for, noxious dogs, therapy speed-dating, intrepid librarians, bootlegging, Cat-wrangling, and so much more.

Lisa: Thank you so much for chatting with me today. I’ve got goosebumps from your ghost story. So creepy! I once lived with a ghost that occasionally turned all the lights on in my house after I went to bed. I just assumed she didn’t like the dark.

Spooky . . .

And dear reader, if you have a ghost story, please share in the comments. We’d love to hear your chilling tale.

Happy haunting!

All About Carly Anne West

Carly is the author of the YA novels The Murmurings and The Bargaining and the Hello Neighbor middle grade series of novels. She is also a collaborator on the Fazbear Frights novels with Five Nights at Freddy’s. Carly Anne lives in Seoul, Korea with her husband, two kids, a very small cat, and a very large dog. Visit her at carlyannewest.com, on Twitter @carlyannewest1, on Insta @carlyannewest, and on FB at carlyannewest.

The Joys of Exploring Books Together

By Jo Hackl on July 8, 2024 / Articles / Leave a comment

We all know that reading is a great solo activity. There are many ways to make reading a communal experience as well, whether that community be a group of students, your family, or some fellow reader friends. Exploring books with others is an excellent way to deepen relationships, create lasting memories, and engage with literature in a richer sense. Below are a few suggestions for creating group activities around exploring books. I invite you to try a few this summer.

Reading Aloud

Why should reading aloud end after early childhood? We don’t suddenly stop finding pleasure in being read to or in giving voice to a fictional world. The great thing about middle grade fiction is that it has something to offer everyone, meaning the whole family can enjoy a middle grade read aloud session before bed. Teachers can create common ground and bonding in their classrooms by reading sections of a novel out loud to their students or letting their students take turns reading aloud. Whoever the readers are in your life, get creative and get everyone involved—you’d be surprised how much fun you all have.

(P.S. – listening to an audiobook together is another great option––especially for family car rides!)

2. Bringing Books to Life

One of my favorite ways to get everyone engaged with a book is to bring an element from the book to life. Most authors have activities on their website, and I am no exception. The activity ideas I’ve created for my book Smack Dab in the Middle of Maybe are an example of what I mean by bringing a book to life and most of these activities can be used with any middle grade book you are reading, including these great books by From the Mixed Up Files of Middle Grade authors. You can find a link to those books here. You can do a group scavenger hunt to find items mentioned in the story in the real world, research the setting of a book together to make the fictional world come alive, and create a playlist of songs that relate to the chapters in the book. You can find more activities here.

3. Literary Inspiration

In a similar vein, there are many ways to use a book as a springboard for your own creative project. You can work individually or as a group to create a blackout poem from one or more pages of the book you are reading and stage a performance of your poetry for the group. You can imagine what happens after the story ends, write a new chapter that begins after the last chapter of the book, and share your chapters with your group. You can work with your group to act out your favorite scenes in the book you are reading. You can also create a book menu, looking up and making recipes that the characters in your book might eat during the story.

4. Bookish Conversations

Finally, get chatting! Take advantage of the discussion questions at the end of the latest novel you’ve read. Get curious with some friends. Verbally dissecting literature is a great way to build critical thinking skills. When discussing a book, keep in mind the themes, characters’ motivations, setting, and especially anything that really got you thinking or feeling.

Reading is a way to bring loved ones as well as new friends together. Exploring books together creates excellent opportunities for communal learning. I hope you’ll be inspired to read aloud, get creative, and have some great conversations.

Want some more ideas? You can check out the books and links below.