How to use this Page

Exercise your mind. Read a book . . . and make sure there are witnesses.

Lisa Harper, a friend of a friend, sent along this photo with the comment:

This picture was taken during a late afternoon/cocktail hour/al fresco impromptu reading session, that became a dinner time storyhour because they couldn’t wait to get to the end of Harry Potter #3. They are: Kory, Finley, and Ella.

Even though my husband hasn’t read my book (he says he’s waiting for the audio version), he reads regularly to our kids, especially our 6-year-old son.

Here are 5 reasons Why Our Son Prefers Dad to Read to Him:

1) Dad does character voices a lot better than Mom
2) Dad has a better recall for the intricacies of plot
3) Dad has a greater affinity for graphic novels.
4) Dad understands that even Lego magazines can be great literature.
5) He’s dad.

Many thanks for all your great work.

—

Lisa is the author of a well-reviewed, award-winning book, A Double LIfe: Discovering Motherhood.

She recently wrote a terrific article over at Literary Mama, titled “Living with Captain Underpants.”

Pam Allyn comments:

“More than ever, dads are reading to their kids. I am thrilled about this. It’s crucial that boys and girls see their dads as readers. This is the number one most important way we are going to break the negative cycle of boys as nonreaders.”

I have not read the book, and I am usually suspicious of any list of “best books for boys” because of stereotyping issues, or authors simply listing their own books, but I’m impressed by Pam Allyn.

I’m also very, very impressed with the Read Aloud Dad blog and you’ll now find it on the sidebar (which I keep over on the, er, side).

Go to this link to read what happens when Pam Allyn visits Read Aloud Dad to answer 10 Burning Questions.

A couple of highlights from Pam’s answers:

* I think it’s really more a question of what we are not doing for boys as a society. We have enculterated reading to the point where it seems uncool to be a reader if you are a boy. What is valued in the media is boys who are active and moving quickly, boys in sports, boys who are not sitting down. We also do not value what many boys like to read. We devalue internet surfing. We devalue reading nonfiction. We have to make a far greater effort to be sure we are including boys and girls in the club of reading, and help them to value their reading journeys.

* One big problem is the emphasis in the upper elementary and middle grades on the whole class novel. The whole class novel has been pretty successful in convincing boys NOT to read. The whole class novel is the single most deadly bullet aimed directly at boys’ impulse to read. The teacher has selected a book for the entire class that is about something the boy doesn’t have that much interest in, or it’s about a twelve-year-old girl.

* Here’s an article that suggests a powerful new motivational tool to get boys reading — naked girls. Meet Don Calame, author of Swim the Fly and Beat the Band.

Contends Calame:

“I sat down to write a book that would speak to the 15-year-old boy I was,” Calame said. “Be true. Be honest. Make the kids real. Make their thoughts real. If it’s not what they hear, if it’s not how they talk, they’ll put it down. [They will think] it’s like the author is lying to us. You want to get books in the hands of kids. You want them to read the next page, then the next chapter. You want to keep them reading.”

* We’re seeing this more and more — older boys modeling a love of reading for younger boys. Click here to read about these impressive young men, “Boy Group Spreads the Written Word.” You can also visit their website, SJ Boys Read, by jumping up and down on this link.

“Reading isn’t something we should do just because we have to do it. It can be fun,” said Nikhil Thumar, a seventh-grader at William Allen Middle School.

Nikihil isn’t alone in his feelings on the subject.

For the last three years, the 13-year-old has teamed with his older brother Kyle Thumar, 15, and Cameron Pendino, 15, to help run the nonprofit organization, SJ Boys Read.

The teenagers started the organization after learning that more and more young boys aren’t really that thrilled about reading.

“Our goal is to mentor young boys and show the value of reading by selecting a book title and holding events featuring discussion questions, games and prizes,” Cameron said.

And what started as a few boys gathered at a local bookstore has grown into an organization that draws dozens of boys to books and brings in authors, professional athletes and others to talk about the value of the written word.

“5 Things About Me as a Young Reader”

by Michael Northrop

1) As a young reader, I wasn’t much of a young reader. I am dyslexic and got off to a slow start. I repeated second-grade and spent the second year in a small special ed. class where they had me read the same few Dick and Jane books over and over again. It wasn’t exactly thrilling reading, but it worked well. I’m pretty sure it took advantage of the high degree of brain plasticity at that age to retrain my neural pathways. Though if you asked my teacher, she just would have said, ‘Practice makes perfect.’

2) And that may be, but the first thing I wanted to practice was the fantasy role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons. This was way before World of Warcraft or other advanced computer versions. D&D was made entirely of words, either spoken or written, and as I became more immersed in the game, I began reading the books. I poured over The Player’s Handbook, The Monster Manual, and though it was technically forbidden for a mere player like me, the impressive, tome-like Dungeon Master’s Guide. I wasn’t reading for the fun of reading, exactly. I was looking for shortcuts and clues and information, anything that could make me a better player and my characters more powerful. Nonetheless, I found myself spellbound (so to speak) by those books for hours at a time.

3) The first book I remember reading for fun was also largely because of D&D. My brother, Matt, was a voracious reader and had named his top character after a character from a book. It was the ultimate compliment in our world (I’d named my top character after a Norse god!), and I had to know how a mere book—like the ones they made us read in school—could be cool enough to cross over into the game that dominated our own fiercely guarded after-school hours. The book was The Book of Three, the first installment in Lloyd Alexander’s Chronicles of Prydian series, and after reading and enjoying it, I understood why Matt named his ranger Gwydion.

4) The next big book for me actually was assigned in school: Watership Down

Add a Comment

Brothers Andy and Aaron Zenz read to four of their nine (total) children. In math, I believe that’s called a subset. The other five children are, I presume, simonizing and buffing the family automobiles. Turtle wax on, turtle wax off; turtle wax on . . .

Aaron Zenz has illustrated many books for children, and he’s penned a pair of philosophical treatises, too: HICCUPotamus and Chuckling Ducklings and Baby Animal Friends.

——–

Aaron also blogs at Chicken Nugget Lemon Tooty and Bookie Wookie.

No one seems to know what Andy does, frankly.

This shot of Aaron, in shirt & collar, and Ofi, in harness (apparently Ofi refuses to wear a collar), was sent in by author Peter Marino, who warned:

“Ofi” is Choctaw for “dog,” so his name is Dog. But don’t say that to him . . . he gets very testy about it.

Peter Marino is the author of Dough Boy and Magic and Misery.

———–

Author Michael Northrop takes a quiet moment in Columbus Circle, NYC, to read from his new  young adult novel, Trapped.

This delicious photo was sent in by Kyra Teis, who wrote: “Great idea! I’m forwarding this request to my friends.” Actually, Kyra, I think you’ve got the great idea — yes, please spread the word. If folks don’t send in photos, then game over, the terrorists have already won.

Just so everyone knows, Kyra is a talented author and illustrator. Her books include Words Are Like Faces . . .

The Magic Flute . . .

Look! and many more.

..

Author Lewis Buzbee and his daughter Maddy tackle a big fat book.

Lewis wrote:

Five Things About Me as a Young Reader

1.  I was not a voracious reader as a child — I watched a lot more TV than I read books.  My love for reading didn’t start until I was in high school.

2.  Neither of my parents had gone to college, and were not what you would call literary.  But they read, for their own pleasure and information.  My mother read Gothic novels, the precursors to today’s Romance novels.  My father read the newspaper every morning at breakfast — he’d read it to us — and he read magazines like Argosy and True Stories.

3.  My favorite way to buy books was through the Scholastic Books catalog.  My second favorite way was at the local five and dime.

4.  My favorite early books were all very generic — The Long Bomb, Murder by Moonlight, Mystery Under the Sea, Radar Commandos. I loved those books.

5.  I can still remember the moment, when I was six, when I realized the word “says” on the page was pronounced “sez.”  That was a moment of profound understanding.

Lewis Buzbee is a San Francisco-based author of many fine books for both adults and children, including: The Haunting of Charles Dickens . . .

. . .