<p>about what children in school are reading these days. For methodological reasons, it may not be an exact picture of what kids read, but it’s probable that typically kids read less and lower quality books than they did when I was a kid. My eleven-year-old recently finished reading an unabridged version of Oliver Twist, which is one classic book mentioned in the study.</p>
<p>I just read that article, and thought it was ridiculous. It found that the most read book among high schoolers was “To Kill A Mockingbird.” How many of you think that’s because high schoolers chose to read it? The theme of the article was that Harry Potter wasn’t at the top of the list–but when you look at the lists of books, from about seventh (or maybe eighth) grade on, the Harry Potter books were the ONLY ones on the list that were probably not assigned reading, or at least books on reading lists. Many of the books on lists for younger kids were also obviously books they had been assigned or given in the classroom.</p>
<p>In our district there is somewhat of a controversy between sticking to old classics and reading newer literature.</p>
<p>I think there needs to be a little of both - there is only so much time in the school year so sometimes as newer books become classics the older ones go away.</p>
<p>My kids all read “To Kill a Mockingbird” in 9th grade. Funny but the accelerated reader program lists it as a 5th grade book. The material is much better suited to teens, IMO.</p>
<p>My two older kids were/are avid readers. Even in college they read for pleasure. They enjoyed some of the “old” lit but clearly have their favorites in contemporary literature.
My oldest loves “Candide” to this day, owns her own copy and reads it occassionally. She also read “Catch-22” in 10th grade and loved it.</p>
<p>None of my kids ever got into Steinbeck or Dickens they way I did - this makes me feel old and a little sad.
They had a tendency to read and enjoy books that I had no idea were controverisial until after they had read them!
Bridge to Terabithia, The Golden Compass, Harry Potter - etc.</p>
<p>My youngest sadly belongs to the “Spark Notes” generation. She has read the “Spark Notes” on the AP Eng Lit reading list. No time to get through all the book. We will see how that works out for her…</p>
<p>Hunt, you are a little wrong. The high school list for top-10% readers, at least, was primarily NOT assigned books. The only clearly assigned books were To Kill a Mockingbird and Farenheit 451. Maybe Elie Wiesel and Chaim Potok, too (although my guess is that there were plenty of Jewish kids in their small top-10% high-school sample). The others were all Harry Potters, Eragon, Orson Scott Card, Dan Brown. (Still depressing, for me.)</p>
<p>I’m just going by the list in the newspaper. For high schoolers, the top five were To Kill A Mockingbird, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Of Mice and Men, Harry Potter and the Sorceror’s Stone, and A Child Called “It.” The headline of the article emphasized that Harry Potter wasn’t No. 1. My point is really in line with what you are saying, JHS–the newspaper really missed the point, and seemed to be reporting that kids were CHOOSING to read the classics, which I don’t think is true at all. Very few are reading To Kill a Mockingbird or Of Mice and Men because they choose to–it’s either required, or is on a list of books from which they can choose.
This is why you will find that many high schoolers have read “classics” like “Anthem” and “The Pearl” even though (in my opinion), they are drek. Of course, they will also have been forced to read some very good stuff, like “Invisible Man.”
I also wonder whether the quality of literature that kids actually choose to read has declined that much–a lot of the stuff that was popular in bygone years (Hardy Boys, etc.) isn’t all that great. When I was a teenager, I was reading the Tarzan books, Robert A. Heinlein, and lots of other sci-fi, including plenty of junk, along with a percentage of quality stuff. I don’t think I was all that unusual, at least among kids who read anything.</p>
<p>I have to agree with Hunt. Besides, it’s ridiculous to compare the readership of Dr. Seuss and that of Harry Potter.<br>
Also agree that the children’s books and young adult fiction of my own youth were not any better than those of today. This is another example of boomer nostalgia.</p>
<p>I just took a look at the actual study, and JHS is right–the real story is not “To Kill A Mockingbird,” but Harry Potter. It’s pretty clear that for middle schoolers and high schoolers, and especially for the best readers, they ALL read the Harry Potter books, and the Lemony Snicket books as well. I noticed a few other things too: the Harry Potter books were the first challenging books that kids read at an early age. Among strong early readers, the Mary Pope Osborne books are popular (my kids read these as early chapter books).
The other thing I noticed, especially in elementary and middle grades: boys read what they want, and girls read what they are assigned.</p>
<p>Younger D attended a school with social justice studies integrated into the curriculum. In 5th and 6th grades I led one of many weekly book groups in the school and in 5th grade my book group read TKAM. It is a great book, important topic and a fantastic movie that we watched afterwards.
Now I think that 5th grade is a little young to deal with the issues presented in depth, but I didn’t get any guidance from teacher in choosing material, and they were already reading other books by choice, like Moby Dick. ( which I have never gotten through in my life!- but in third grade, their teacher had read the first two Harry Potter books to them in the classroom, which turned many of them onto reading)</p>
<p>But love TKAM.
My D who is now in high school, has read one of my favorite books this year, Heart of Darkness, for class but it wasn’t her cup of tea. However, she likes Dickens and while she also had to read him for AP lit , she is currently re-reading Great Expectations at a pace that is more enjoyable for her.</p>
<p>I personally would be happy if children read more of any type of book. Even the best students often seem like they have to be prodded to read. I loved books as a child and teen, and I would read more novels now, but I always feel guilty that I have other work that needs to be done. Even now if I read for fun, it is generally non fiction . I wonder if high school kids feel like that (too much other work.) </p>
<p>In the lower grades, I wouldn’t buy a too busy excuse. Instead other activities are more “interesting.” We wanted to have a book club after school in my kid’s grammar school some years ago, and this did not interest enough children to make the club go. </p>
<p>With some of the classics, the stories are set so long ago that the context requires some background info. Personally, although I read many classics, I really never liked Dickens, except for A Christmas Carol. I thought that science fiction was great, but it seems so out of fashion now. Too bad.</p>
<p>I thought that the girls of the pre teen/early teens liked The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants books, which are ok for fun reading.</p>
<p>In fairness to my own children, while I grew up watching my parents read, my children have grown up watching me interact with other people in online discussions, so they see a person who used to read a lot more dead-tree materials who now reads lots of electrons on screen. My children do read books. I was surprised that the Philip Pullman books didn’t appear higher on the lists mentioned in the newspaper article–they are being read avidly in my house recently. My oldest son DEPLORES Eragon and other works by the same author and participates in an anti-fan site in which teens discuss how to write better than the standard of writing achieved in Eragon.</p>
<p>A problem I find is not the distinction between good literature and bad fiction but assigned and non-assigned books. Telling kids of a certain age that they must/ought to read a certain book is the kiss of death. And many of these kids resist analyzing plotlines, psychology, language, etc… S2 was hooked onto Redwall in third grade by a volunteer whose 4th grade reading group had chosen the first book in the series. He spent the rest of the year reading all the others then published. I did not have to bribe him into reading.</p>
<p>My problem with my 8th grader is not that she doesn’t read but she reads too much! Instead of studying or doing homework she is reading a book. Her school uses the AR testing. She is not into taking the tests so usually takes the minimum. To Kill a Mockingbird was her summer reading last summer. At first she didn’t think she would like it but she eventually got so into it that she was reading it when I drove her in the car. Her entire grade had to take the TKAM AR test when school started. I just looked at the list up to 8th grade. Most of the books are required reading at our school. Aside from Harry Potter and Lemony and Eragon. For 8th grade girls two of the Clicque series made the list. That is the stuff that many 8th grade girls are reading. Gossip girls type of junk. My D loves realistic fiction but will add in some other types of literature. Her favorite is Sarah Dessen who was not on the 8th grade list.
One change over the years with the AR program was in the beginning the students had to pick a book off the list that the school had purchased the test for. It eliminated many of the books the kids would pick on there own. Now you can read almost anything since the tests are available online.</p>
<p>I guess schools must assign Night quite a bit. I can’t imagine kids finding it on their own. Back in the day, The Diary of Anne Frank seemed more widely read, and I did not see it on the lists (did I miss it?)</p>
<p>I think the methodology of using accelerated reader tests had a lot to do with the results. Lemony Snicket is a fast easy read and there are lots of them. No wonder he dominated so many lists. Few school systems continue the program into high school so the lists become consirably more suspect. Given that the lists for high schoolers typically had them reading only 5 or 6 books in a whole year, you have to wonder if they read any books for pleasure at all. Interesting that the reading level of the books peaks at 6.7 in 7th grade for the best readers and seems to go downhill from there. Seems unlikely, though of course plenty of good books aren’t particularly difficult to read.</p>
<p>I don’t know that reading habits have changed much. I read very few classics for pleasure in high school. I mostly read historical novels and sci fi for pleasure. My kids are similar. They enjoy very, very few of the books they have to read for school. My younger son was sighing that last year Romeo and Juliet was probably the best of the bunch. </p>
<p>I ran the Reading is Fundamental program at our kids’ elementary school for several years. (We provided a wide selection of books four times a year, the kids could pick whatever they wanted from our assortment.) The books our kids liked were on most of those lists. Most kids in our school really seemed to enjoy RIF days. I think if you encourage pleasure reading you can help create readers.</p>
<p>Tokenadult, I agree with your kids. Eragon is derivative and poorly written.</p>
<p>I’m surprised “The Outsiders” gets assigned. S and I read it last summer, and we both hated it. I think it gets assigned because it was current when teachers were growing up, and they liked it back then so assign it hoping it’s “meaningful” or some such to today’s kids, but it comes across as incredibly dated. </p>
<p>“A Child Called It” is dreck; it is horribly, terribly, badly written. If one is going to have a kid read about horrific child abuse – not that I’d recommend it – “Running with Scissors” could be a viable choice; the writing is certainly far better than “A Child Called It,” though the topic and events are definitely not for the faint-of-heart nor the young.</p>
<p>S had to read “Night” this school year for his English class; he’s not read “Diary of Anne Frank” yet.</p>
<p>He has read all the Harry Potter, Lemony Snicket, Redwall, Narnia, Stitch in Time, and Wheel of Time series books on his own. Except for two of those, so have I. :D</p>
<p>Tokenadult, I agree with your kids. Eragon is derivative and poorly written.</p>
<p>but you have to admit, kids are not the only ones who have rewarded bad writers.
I can think of a lot more that write for adults. ( John Grisham anyone?)
;)</p>
<p>Garland:
My S is involved in a math enrichment program. The kids can’t have enough of it. But the teaching method is radically different from the way I (and probably you) learned.</p>
