CSM: Dickens anyone?

Parent Cafe
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<p>Great post, Desp. I think the house drenched with reading (read alouds, piles of books everywhere, mom and dad always reading) is definitely the single biggest difference in whether a kid reads for pleasure.</p>

<p>I ask my college students what books they’ve read for pleasure. Often, none, in their entire lifetime. Some claimed they’ve never finished a book, any book. Some will say that a book we 've read is the first book they’ve ever liked (the Kite Runner was a huge favorite). Last semester, just for the heck of it, I threw 1984 at them, and we had some of the best classroom discussion I’ve ever had (and this is freshman comp, mostly low income, first gen, inner city kids). You never know what might get them reading.</p>

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<p>At some point in elementary school my kids were asked to count the number of books in the house. My son was practically in tears. We estimated the numbers was probably well over a thousand, I think. The teacher took pity on him and said he could just do his room.</p>

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<p>My soph D was an early reader and good writer, but now has no interest in reading, recreational or academic. Damn you, itunes and Facebook. I desperately try to get her to try new books; she’ll select vapid teen-lit and then I am stuck between accepting those or nothing at all. Help! Any suggestions for authors?</p>

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<p>My soph nieces who like vapid teen lit had to read Life of Pi last summer and really liked it.</p>

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<p>Mini: My S’s exposure to Dickens was through Hard Times!</p>

<p>A lot of posters are ignoring adolescent psychology. Teenagers will naturally blow off anything adults tell them is good for them and seek out what is forbidden. There’s a good reason all of us 17 yr old girls read Lady Chatterley’s Lover (in French translation): we’d read about the court case and wanted to know what is was all about. A lot of it went well over our heads, especially the sexual language that had got the novel into legal trouble. This was the same group of girls who complained about assigned readings. A year later, I was in a town where Banned in Boston was guaranteed to produce a hit. </p>

<p>S never touched a book on the summer reading list put out by teachers. But it was his idea to take Godel Escher & Bach on the family vacation after 6th grade.</p>

<p>So Terry Pratchett is not Thomas Pynchon. But he is darn funny, and funnier still when you get what he is parodying. For example, Interesting Times is, er, more interesting if you know something about recent Chinese history. And no, it’s not on an assigned reading list. But the fact that my S has read every single one of his books to me suggests that reading for pleasure is not an oxymoron as far as teenage boys are concerned.</p>

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<p>“Mini: My S’s exposure to Dickens was through Hard Times!”</p>

<p>Great! Never met a high school teacher who would dare to teach it.</p>

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<p>Desp: I did not see your post before. It’s great! We pretty much followed the same parenting style. As soon as S could read on his own, I asked him to do so (so that I could read my own books). He only turned to me for words he did not understand. An early fascination with dinosaurs made for a hugely polysyllabic vocabulary. I also suggested that if he wanted more information on some topic, he look it up in books (especially effective since he usually wanted to know more about science)</p>

<p>Mathmom, S read Ender’s Game some time in 5th or 6th grade. He came down to dinner in tears one evening because the story was so sad. But he finished dinner early so he could get back to it! I suspect Orson Scott Card is the Mormon author JHS mentions in his post.</p>

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<p>I went to a public high school that was completely awful in a lot of respects, but one of the things it got right was requiring Jane Eyre for freshman Honors English and Great Expectations across the board for all freshmen. At the time, we thought it was torture and always tried to out-complain each other about how much we hated the books, but it gave us a great base in classic writing styles, characterization, and vocabulary. By struggling through the classics when I was in ninth grade, I got to the point where the more archaic language didn’t bother me, and when I read other books from that time period, both in and out of class, I could actually enjoy them instead of just seeing them as evil required reading. I’m actually taking a seminar on Austen and Dickens that starts tomorrow, that’s how far I’ve come from cursing Jane Eyre’s existence. I’m really excited about it actually, since Pride and Prejudice is one of my favorites (how can you not love Pride and Prejudice?).</p>

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<p><a href=“how%20can%20you%20not%20love%20Pride%20and%20Prejudice?”>quote</a>.

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<p>Answer: easily, if you are a teenage boy. As Hanna said, it’s chick lit. Superior chick lit, but chick lit nonetheless. I happen to love Jane Austen, but then, I’m not a teenage boy.</p>

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<p>“An early fascination with dinosaurs made for a hugely polysyllabic vocabulary.”</p>

<p>LQTM! My son was a dinosaur freak. By 3 he had memorized the information in at least 12 dinosaur books and was mesmerized by all those discovery channel “Walking with Dinosaurs” shows. Dinofest was in Chicago when he was 4 (a major traveling exhibit - goes to lots of international cities - very cool) and he blew some paleontologist away by identifying the dino the leg bones came from. He couldn’t read yet - just figured it out from his own knowledge. Kids are absolute sponges.</p>

<p>Ender’s Game is terrific. Also introduce your children to the banned books lists (Google it and tons will come up). That’s always intriguing. Also, anything by Avi is great.</p>

<p>“how can you not love Pride and Prejudice?”</p>

<p>No idea. I hooked my husband on Austen using P&P - sent it with him on his trip to Thailand. He loves Austen now. Northanger Abbey is also a favorite of mine.</p>

<p>“At some point in elementary school my kids were asked to count the number of books in the house. My son was practically in tears. We estimated the numbers was probably well over a thousand, I think. The teacher took pity on him and said he could just do his room.”</p>

<p>Sounds familiar. I think we might have around 1800 books at this point, but we may be in for a reduction (some old textbooks, etc. that I used to use for teaching). It’s a little sad, though, that the lack of household books has become so common that an elementary school teacher would assume there’s not many in the house. Of course, it’s a correct assumption most of the time, but still.</p>

<p>Another trick for parents is that it’s important to read whatever book your child is reading - either before or after they read it. That way, you can discuss it with them. Not only does it emphasize the importance of family reading, but it shows your interest in what they are doing and gets them thinking at an early age about how to “talk out” a book - a great prereq to the analytical stuff they’ll get in high school. My husband and I discuss our reading with each other, too, so he hears it a lot. If my son reads a book I haven’t, I’ll ask him how it was and if he liked it, I’ll ask to borrow it. He’ll peruse my bookshelves, too. Incidentally, I never told him he shouldn’t read a book because it would be too hard for him. If it was, he’d figure that out fast enough, but sometimes he’d surprise me (like when he read Journey to the Center of the Earth in 2nd grade, mainly because of the dinosaur on the cover). He may not even understand the whole thing, but I figure he’ll come back to it again when he’s older, and then again older still.</p>

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<p>I don’t buy the P and P is chick lit theme here, folks. Only if you are reading for surface level plot alone, and somehow I doubt that Hanna and Marite are!</p>

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<p>When DS1 was in thrid grade, his teacher had the kids do a “math treasure hunt” of things in their homes. We counted 600 kids’ books at that time. Heaven only knows how many we have now, but we have a bookcase in the bathroom!</p>

<p>DS2 had to read Last of the Mohicans in 8th grade – everyone in his class hated it, including him, and he’s a history/military buff. DS2 will take Shakespeare any day. He read Kaffir Boy in 7th grade (very powerful, very explicit) and loved it. He’s also read a lot of Stephen Ambrose. He’s my reluctant reader unless you can hook him.</p>

<p>DS1 sings the praises of Orson Scott Card, too. </p>

<p>He also said Guns, Germs and Steel (which he read for AP World History) was more enjoyable than anything he’s read in English class, though I do recall him liking The Odyssey. DS1 devours books like candy. His Bar Mitzvah tutor suggested he read Great Expectations as he entered high school, but he just couldn’t stomach it. (Even I quit reading it 2/3 of the way through.)</p>

<p>Both kids read The World is Flat, and it has been the source of many interesting discussions at our house. At our house, we are probably all somewhat guilty of reading history at expense of literature. The only chick lit I like are the classics, but I much prefer history in any event.</p>

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<p>sorry for posting on the parents board again!
I agree, that most the books they make us read in HS aren’t very good. Maybe its just the teachers I’ve had, but I haven’t been interested in any of the books since freshman year. I did like Jane Eyre, alot of people I know didn’t. I didn’t finish P&P (was reading it on my own) because of school, etc. I loved the movie though! Also the comment about Steinbeck, I read Of Mice & Men for school. I didn’t get that book at all. Who would write something like that?!</p>

<p>But I think the books they make us read in school deters others from reading in their free time. If students are only exposed to – books, and some hate reading… I wonder why? </p>

<p>I read all the time and I love what I read. As for the chick-lit, I don’t read that. I’ve read some Gossip Girls because it circulated in middle school. Not that my parents would let me within an inch of those books. lol My sis reads alot of chick-lit by Meg Cabot. Just not my thing. I’m more into the historical fiction novels set in England in the early/mid 1500’s. Like; The Other Bolyen Girl, etc, a good book right now that I’m reading is Forever Amber.</p>

<p>We’re reading Huck Fin in English. I’ve already read it… well, most of it. (just moved/changed schools so repeating some stuff/ very behind in other stuff.)Reading it this morning made me sleepy. lol I can’t follow reading schedules, so if I can’t read books all at once, I usually don’t finish. Well, when they are not very interesting. </p>

<p>But, haven’t read any Dicken’s, or really anything like that. We never read those in school. We haven’t really read any classics that I can think of. Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, ummmmm, if there was anything else it has slipped my mind. </p>

<p>Though I’m planning on majoring in English, so… huh :P</p>

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<p>Garland:</p>

<p>Maybe chick lit is not a good description (I don’t read chick lit, so I would not know). But the plot of P&P is not one that will appeal to boys.<br>
Many boys read for surface information rather than for character, tone, etc… My S who devoured Godel, Escher & Bach in 6th grade on his summer vacation thought that Crime and Punishment was a real bore. I had to help him think through characters and discuss the themes of ethics and religion, etc… to get him past the "nothing happens in this book "reaction. Interestingly, this is the same kid who chose a college course where the readings included St Augustine, Nietszche, and other authors concerned with ethics and religion!</p>

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<p>It is chick lit. It just happens to be early 19th century chick lit written by an enormously talented author. Its continuing popularity to this day puts the lie to the notion that the so called “archaic” language of that era cannot speak eloquently and powerfully to today’s readers.</p>

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<p>Another thought:</p>

<p>The article seems to be a variation on the theme “the kids aren’t reading.”
Well, kids are reading, but not the type of books that the author deems worthwhile.: Lemony Snicket, Harry Potter, Piers Anthony, Terry Pratchet…
But then, it helps to remember Dickens’ target audience (yes, he and his publisher had their eye on the market, same as publishers of chick lit and other despised genres). That target audience was not 9th graders. Most 14 to 18 year olds in Victorian England were not reading. Period.</p>

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<p>And those upper-crusters in the fancy schools were definitely not reading Dickens.</p>

<p>When I attended Oxford 1971-1973, the B.A. in Modern English literature ENDED in 1689 (the Glorious Revolution), though one could take ONE tutorial in the early English Romantics.</p>

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<p>For some reason, younger son just didn’t click with Harry Potter. He only read the first two. Siblings loved them (me, too) – older daughter couldn’t get enough, and can’t wait for the next one’s release. Hadn’t thought of Stephen King – it’s worth a try, as this one has a quirky sense of humor and a taste for things that are a bit different.
Thanks!</p>

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<p>Re: the 14 year old boy – how about Dean Koontz or Michael Crichton? As I said before, I don’t really care so much about what kids read as long as they read. These authors write in a style that may appeal to a young man.</p>

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<p>Ah - Lot’s of votes for Ender’s Game - had forgotten about that one! Lots of great suggestions here-</p>