Growing A Reading Culture

Growing a Reading Culture

© Through the Magic Door

What is a reading
culture?

• 10% of the population read 80% of the books. 50% of the population
read no book for pleasure in the prior twelve months.
• The best first grade readers read 74 books a year for pleasure (versus
the average of 39). The best High School readers read 25 books a
year for pleasure (versus the average of 6).
• 100% of the best readers read every day versus the average of 30%.
• In a reading household young children are read to every day versus
the average of only 50%.
• The best readers spend several hours reading per week versus an
average of an hour and twenty minutes.
• The average number of books in a house is less than 10. Among the
best readers the number exceeds 200.


Can you grow a reading
culture?

Absolutely!

• There is a path to a reading culture.
• It starts at home.
• It starts with you and your choices.
• What to do? Plant the roots.


Growing a Reading Culture

Indulge Serendipity

Quiet Places Don’t Rush
Variety is the
Spice of Life

Reading Routines
Make it Personal
Meals with Discussions

Avoid Toxic Spills

• Books as punishment
• Don’t let the best be the
enemy of the good Read to Them
• Competitive reading Talk A Lot
• Books as bibliotherapy

Be Seen Reading Books Everywhere
Give Them the Power of Choice

Make Books As Important In Your Life As You Wish Them To Be In Your Child’s Life

Talk A Lot

• One of the best predictors of a child’s reading capability on
entering kindergarten is simply the volume of words they
have heard in their life to that date.
• The volume of words heard in their life is not only a
predictor for their reading ability in Kindergarten but also
their academic performance in Third and Fifth grades, i.e. it
is an action with a sustained influence.
• Volume is everything, it doesn’t matter too much what you
wish to talk about. Just talk.
Research Return

Be Seen Reading

• Be seen by your child to be reading yourself.
– If you don’t value reading, they are unlikely to do so either
• Children can be like Dr. Schweizer’s goslings, they imprint
on what they see.
• They want to grow up, they want to be a grown-up and do
what grown-ups do. That includes driving, going out,
making decisions; and yes, if they associate adults with
reading, then it means reading as well.
Research Return

Give Them the
Power of Choice

– The more unstructured the choice of reading is, the more likely
children will gravitate to those books or genres which they enjoy
– The greater variety of books to which they have access, the more
probable it is that they will find something that they love
– You still get to shape the general direction of books to which they
have access. There is every opportunity to select those books
which conform with your own values and beliefs, as long as
children perceive themselves as making the final choice

Research Return

Books Everywhere
• If you can afford it, buy a lot of books. If
not, visit and stock up at the library frequently.
– Make trips to a bookstore or the library a part of the
family routine.
• Consider more than just books.
– Newspapers, magazines, comic books; anything
that has them following a sustained narrative.
• Refresh the candidate books as often as is
practical.
– Kids love to discover new things and the easiest
things to discover are those closest to hand.
– Sometimes refresh can simply mean moving the
books around. Take from one room to
another, move from one shelf to another.
Research Return

Read to Them
Read with Them

• After the simple act of talking with your children, reading to and with
them is by far the next most important activity.
• Read to children early and often and for as long as they are willing to
be read to
– Start with short reading sessions and build the child’s capacity to sustain
attention
– Read a wide variety of genres (wordless picture books, picture books with
texts, poetry, narrative stories, etc.)
– For young children, don’t worry about reading every word or even finishing
the book. Talk about the pictures. Read only for as long as they pay
attention.
Research Return

Make it Personal

• When they are very young, snuggle up close.
• Make reading the activity with which they associate closeness, security
and comfort.
• When they are older, share your books with them, ask to borrow books
they have enjoyed.
• With young children, use books as a happy distraction from the dramas
of the moment. Cut their finger? Snuggle up and read. Cranky and
tired? Snuggle up and read. Dozy? Snuggle up and read.
• There are many ties that bind – those of the intimacy of shared reading
are among the closest and longest lasting.
Research © Through the Magic Door Return

Reading Routines

• Set aside time (as much and as often as possible) such as
in the morning, mid-day, and in the evening for reading so
that your child looks forward to that as part of his or her
normal daily activities.
• Find opportunities during the daily routine to squeeze in
extra reading
– While waiting to pick up a sibling from the bus, during intermission
at a sports game, etc.

Research Return

Meals with
Conversations

• The more conversation they hear, the more words they become
familiar with, the better they understand the ebb and flow of a narrative,
the more they understand the sequence and structure of a story – all
things that will be reinforced as they later read themselves.
• The more conversation they partake in they more the build the
disciplines of self-control (don’t interrupt), interpretation and
imagination (what did they mean by that?), sustained focus, etc.
• Discuss books you are reading and that your children are reading.
Query them (gently) so that they have to organize their thoughts and
recall what it was they read and why they liked it (or not).
• Discuss what’s going on in the world and in their lives.

Return

Quiet Places
• If possible, make sure children have a
quiet place and a quiet time where they
can always find a refuge for reading. A
time where they are free from chores, free
from disturbances, free from the here and
now.

Research Return

Variety is the
Spice of Life (next)
• Children are highly variable. Children change in highly
variable ways and at highly variable rates.
• One size does not fit all. When introducing children to the
world of reading (how and what to read), what works for
one child might not for another. One approach or one type
of book won’t always be appropriate for the same child
over time.
• Context is everything and no one knows your child as well
as you do.

Research Return

Variety is the
Spice of Life (cont’d)
• For example:
– Competitive reading is generally a bad thing but there are some
children for whom that challenge is exactly what they need.
– Trashy books are not particularly desirable but sometimes comic
books, serials, particular titles or a specific genre is what grabs their
attention and imagination and can be the means for locking in the
habit of reading.
– When you are reading with them, at some points you should just
read (let them develop the pleasure of hearing your voice and
following the story), at a later time it might be appropriate to start
coaching them on recognizing particular words or even begin
reading segments themselves. You have to be the judge of when
Research to do these things and when to back-off. Return

Don’t Rush, Don’t
Worry, Be Happy

• With the program outlined here, (good examples, good books and adequate
instruction in school), your child will master reading in an appropriate time
frame. Children’s rate of development is hugely variable in the younger years;
some capabilities are acquired more quickly than others. It will come.
• The last thing you want to do is turn children away from reading by making it a
pressured and unpleasant experience.
• They’ll get there in their own time with quiet support.
• Kindergarten to Third Grade is the period (when children are developing the
skill of reading) when people are most prone to push and try and accelerate
things.
• The best readers in the world (the Finns) do not even begin formal reading
instruction until their children are seven years old.

Return

Indulge Serendipity

• Look for your child’s magic book. Not all readers have it but many if
not most do.
– The first book they read to themselves.
– The first book given to them by a cherished family member or friend.
– The first book in which they encountered a character with whom they can
relate.
– The first book which opened up a new way of seeing things or new
prospects.
– There is virtually no predicting which book it will be, but it is probably there
and is the launch pad for all other reading.
• You never know where it might come from. Hence the importance of
many books and many chances.
Return

Don’t Let the Best Be the
Enemy of the Good (next)

• The best quality book is that which a child has enjoyed and which motivates
them to read again.
– Certainly select for the best but don’t be too concerned if your child has phases
where their preference is for comic books, series books (such as the Berenstain
Bears, Arthur, Franklin, Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, et al), heavily retold classics for
younger readers, manga, etc. They all help form and feed the habit of reading.
With a well established habit, they will evolve towards better books on their own.
– Once your child has become an independent reader the issue of values and
language in children’s books (what sorts of behavior are being held as norms and
what sorts of language is being used) becomes more of an issue. Seek guidance
from experienced librarians, reviews, or most simply, from the Red Flag section of
TTMD book reviews. In moderate amounts, inappropriate norms are to be expected
(they probably hear much worse from their peers). It is the coaching of them to
recognize those norms as inappropriate that is the challenge (and the opportunity).

Return

Don’t Let the Best Be the
Enemy of the Good (cont’d)

• Don’t be too concerned about correctness.
– Many children’s books, particularly anything more than ten or twenty years old, are
subject to charges of subtle sexism, classism, racism, etc. Every book is both an
artifact of its time as well as a victim of later fashions. The opportunity is to
encourage children to recognize the issue and understand it in its context. In most
cases, the criticisms are so refined and the charge of such an attenuated nature that
the child will never pick up on it. The difficulty is that children read at a much more
shallow level than we expect but at the same time with a far greater intensity and
attention. They don’t know what they don’t know but they can also bring unexpected
insight. In all instances – Discuss!
• Similarly, there are authors who have written wonderful children’s books but
who are later criticized for opinions that they held that were in the mainstream
of thought in their period but are no longer considered acceptable.
– L. Frank Baum of Wizard of Oz, Rudyard Kipling of Jungle Book, Joseph Conrad of
Heart of Darkness, the list is frighteningly long. Rather than gutting all the wonderful
books of yore based on present day opinions, far better to – Discuss!
Return

Books
as Punishment

• Avoid wherever possible, the situation where you threaten
to take away books as a punishment for some other
undesirable behavior.
• Conversely, especially avoid making having to read
something the punishment for some other behavior.
• The more that reading is associated with unpleasant
connotations, the less likely a child is to indulge in reading.

Return

Competitive Reading

• That which becomes a task or an obligation ceases to be
an inspiration or a pleasure.
• Most of the best readers in school are put off by the
shallow requirements of “proving” you read a book.
• “I hate a program that effectively encourages children to
lie!” Librarian

Return

Books
as Bibliotherapy
• There is a temptation, particularly with a child who loves
reading, to use books as a form of therapy to help through
bad times. These usually encompass moving house,
starting school, bullying, having to go to the hospital, death,
illness, etc.
– This is an entirely logical and natural inclination. The problem
arises when it is used too frequently. Books become associated
with bad things which becomes a disincentive to further reading.
– Where possible, for example anticipating the passing of an elderly
relative, plan ahead and introduce the appropriate books in a time
frame separate from the event. When the event comes to pass, the
child can be referenced back to the book and how a protagonist
dealt with a similar tragedy.
Return

Citations
• All of the recommendations above are grounded in
common sense, personal experience and anecdotal
experience among other people. Academic “proof” is
somewhat more treacherous ground. Many of the
elements are attested to in the literature of academia but
the nature and quality of studies and surveys can be
highly variable. Consequently, for even the most
obvious point, you can often find a study that takes
exception. Listed below are sources of data to support
each of the positions mentioned above. It is by no
means an academically rigorous exercise to test each of
the suggested actions, merely to show that there is
evidence to support them.


Talk A Lot
• The amount of verbal engagement (talking) with a child in the pre-
kindergarten years is very highly correlated with reading capability and later
academic success. The variation experienced by children in more taciturn
families and more talkative families is a factor of three and a half. By the
time they enter kindergarten, a child from a taciturn family will have heard in
aggregate thirteen million words whereas a child from a talkative family will
have heard forty-eight million words.
– Source: Research by Betty Hart and Todd Risley including Meangingful Differences in the Everyday
Experience of Young American Children, Betty Hart, 1995 and “A Natural History of Early Language
Experience”, Topics in Early Childhood Special Education, 20(1), 2000, Betty Hart and Todd Risley.
• Frequency of communication is highly correlated with vocabulary
acquisition. Three year-olds from highly communicative families had an
average vocabulary of 1,100 words versus a vocabulary of only 525 words
for children from taciturn families. Vocabulary size is correlated with IQ,
reading acquisition as well as with academic success. Between 86 and
98% of a child’s vocabulary maps to what they have heard in the home.
– Source: Research by Betty Hart and Todd Risley including Meangingful Differences in the Everyday
Experience of Young American Children, Betty Hart, 1995 and “A Natural History of Early Language
Experience”, Topics in Early Childhood Special Education, 20(1), 2000, Betty Hart and Todd Risley.

Return

Be Seen Reading
• “Children read more when they see other people reading.” The Power of
Reading, Stephen Krashen
– Morrow, L. 1982. Relationships between literature programs, library corner
designs, and children’s use of literature. Journal of Educational Research 75:
339-344.
– Morrow, L. 1983. Home and school correlates of early interest in literature.
Journal of Educational Research 76: 221-230.
– Neuman, S. 1986. The home environment and fifth-grade students’ leisure
reading. Elementary School Journal 86: 335-343.
– McCracken, R. and M. McCracken. 1978. Modeling is the key to sustained
silent reading. Reading Teacher 31: 406-408.

Return

Give Them the Power of Choice
• “. . . more leisure reading while they were in the program, but also were still
reading more than comparison students six years later.” The Power of
– Greaney, V. and M. Clarke . 1975. A longitudinal study of the effects of two
reading methods on leisure-time reading habits. In Reading: What of the future?
Ed. D. Moyle. London: United Kingdom Reading Association, pp. 107-114.
• “. . . free voluntary reading studies show that more reading results in better
reading comprehension, writing style, vocabulary, spelling, and gramatical
development.” The Power of Reading, Stephen Krashen
– Krashen, S. 1988. Do we learn by reading? The relationship between free
reading and reading ability. In Linguistics in context: Connecting observation and
understandingI, ed. D. Tannen. Norwood, N.J.: Ablex, pp. 269-298.

Return

Books Everywhere
• “A rich print environment in the home is related to how much children read;
children who read more have more books at home.” The Power of Reading,
Stephen Krashen
– Neuman, S. 1986. The home environment and fifth-grade students’ leisure
reading. Elementary School Journal 86: 335-343
– Greaney, V. and M. Hegarty. 1987. Correlations of leisure time reading. Journal
of Rearch in Reading 10: 3-20.
• “Enriching the print environments in classrooms has been shown to result in
more reading.” The Power of Reading, Stephen Krashen
– Morrow, L., and C. Weinstein. 1982. Increasing children’s use of literature
through program and physical changes. Elementary School Journal 83: 131-
137.

Continue Return

Books Everywhere
• “Enriching the print environment by means of a school library results in
more reading.” The Power of Reading, Stephen Krashen
– Cleary, F. 1939. Why children read. Wilson Library Bulletin 14: 119-126.
– Gaver, M. 1963. Effectiveness of centralized library service in elementary
schools. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press.
• “Students take more books out of school libraries that have more books and
stay open longer.” The Power of Reading, Stephen Krashen
– Houle, R. and C. Montmarquette. 1984. An empirical analysis of loans by
school libraries. Alberta Journal of Educational Research 30: 104-114.
• “The richer the print environment, that is, the more reading material
available, the better the literacy development.” The Power of Reading,
Stephen Krashen
– Krashen, S. 1985a Inquiries and insights. Menlo Park, California: Alemany
Press.
– Snow, C., W. Barnes, J. Chandler, I. Goodman, and H. Hemphill. 1991.
Unfulfilled expectations: Home and school influences on literacy. Cambridge,
Mass.: Harvard University Press.

Continue Return

Books Everywhere
• Number of books in a home correlates to test scores. For seniors in
2005, those from homes with more than 100 books scored 25-30% better
across the board (science, mathematics, civics, history) than those from
homes with less than ten books.
– Source: TRONTR page 12, US Department of Education, National Center for
Education Statistics
• It might be assumed that prevalence of books in a home is a function of
income. The data is not directly available to test that assumption.
However, another variable strongly correlated to income is available, level
of parental education attained. Children from a home where their parents
attained a high school degree and have more than a hundred books in the
house scored materially better on tests (History 5.5% better, Maths 5.8%
better, Civics 16% better and Science 17.5% better) than children from
homes where the parents graduated college but where there are fewer than
ten books.
– Source: TRONTR page 74, US Deparment of Education, National Center of
Education Statistics

Continue Return

Books Everywhere
• “Children get much of their reading from libraries.” The Power of Reading,
Stephen Krashen
– Lamme, L. 1976. Are reading habits and abilities related? Reading Teacher
30:21-27.
– Ingham, J. 1981. Books and reading development: The Braford book flood
experiment. London: Heinemann Educational Books.
– Wendelin, K. and R.A. Zinck. 1983. How students make book choices. Reading
Horizins 23:84-88

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Read to Them
• “Children who are read to at home read more on their own.” The Power of
– Morrow, L., and C. Weinstein. 1982. Increasing children’s use of literature
through program and physical changes. Elementary School Journal 83: 131-
137.
– Morrow, L., and C. Weinstein. 1986. Encouraging voluntary reading: The impact
of a literature program on children’s use of library centers. Reading Research
Quarterly 21: 330-346.
• “Hearing stories has a direct impact on literary development.” The Power of
Reading, Stephen Krashen.
– Cohen, D. 1968. The effects of literature on vocabulary and reading
achievement. Elementary English 45: 209-217.
– Feitelson, D., B. Kita and Z. Goldstein, 1986. Effects of listening to series stories
on first graders’ comprehension and use of language. Research in the Teaching
of English 20: 339-356.

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Make it Personal
• “Children who are read to at least three times a week by a family member
were nearly twice as likely to score in the top 25% in reading compared to
those that were read to less than three times a week at home.”
– National Institute for Literacy, Parental Involvement in Learning.

Return

Reading Routines
• “Parents of fifth-graders classified as heavy readers allowed their children to
read in bed more than parents of fifth graders classified as non-readers.”
The Power of Reading, Stephen Krashen

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Quiet Places
• “A good reading environment encourages reading.” The Power of Reading,
Stephen Krashen

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Variety is the Spice of Life
• “Light reading is not to be avoided but should be used as a conduit to more
serious reading.” The Power of Reading, Stephen Krashen
– Dorrell, L. and E. Carroll. 1981. Spider-man at the library. School Library
Journal
• “Reading ability is related to reading material.” The Power of Reading.
Stephen Krashen.
– Rice, E. 1986. The everyday activities of adults: Implications for prose recall.
Educational Gerontology 12:173-186.
– Hafner, L., B. Plamer, and S. Tullos. 1986. The differential reading interests of
good and poor readers in the ninth grade. Reading Improvement 23: 39-42.
• “Many children who do extensive free reading eventually choose what
experts have decided are “good books”.
– Schoonover, R. 1938. The case for voluminous reading. English Journal
27:114-118.
– LaBrant, L. 1958. An evaluation of free reading. In Research in the three R’s,
ed. C. Hunnicutt and W. Iverson. New York: Harper and Brothers, pp. 154-161.
– Bader, L. J. Veatch, and J. Eldridge. 1987. Trade books or basal readers?
Reading Improvement 24: 62-67.

Continue Return

Variety is the Spice of Life
• “Magazine reading appears to promote more reading.” The Power of
– Rucker, B. 1982. Magazines and teenage reading skills: Two controkked field
experiments. Journalism Quarterly 59: 28-33.
• “Apparently it is not the presence of television that prevents children from
reading; more likely it is the absence of good books.” The Power of
• “. . . free voluntary reading studies show that more reading results in better
reading comprehension, writing style, vocabulary, spelling, and gramatical
development.” The Power of Reading, Stephen Krashen
– Krashen, S. 1988. Do we learn by reading? The relationship between free
reading and reading ability. In Linguistics in context: Connecting observation and
understandingI, ed. D. Tannen. Norwood, N.J.: Ablex, pp. 269-298.

Return

Other Elements
• Elements of attraction – posters, displays of books, all
help draw children to reading.
• Bed lamps encourage reading
• Children tend to prefer paperbacks over hardbacks
• Book ownership
• Booktalks


Contacts
• If you have any questions about this presentation, please
feel free to contact:

Charles Bayless
Through the Magic Door®
1579 Monroe Drive, Suite F150
Atlanta, Georgia 30324

Charles.bayless@ttmd.com

Office: (404) 898-9096


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