Thursday, June 26, 2008

Read All About It!

So a recent New York Times article mentioned that Laura and Jenna Bush had come out with a book that was intended to get kids excited about reading. Taking a look at the book on Amazon, it seemed to be pretty standard children's book fare. I find it hard to believe that a child reading this book would suddenly say, "You know? They're right, I should read more. It's fun!" I feel as though Lynn Gatto has the better approach. Give kids the option of what they want to read and they'll find something that interests them. Furthermore, make reading a necessary part of achieving some other goal - like building a butterfly farm - and they'll understand its purpose and usefulness. Someone mentioned this sort of thing in class. Kids aren't going to read because there's a poster in the library that says "Shaq Reads." They need to find their own reasons to read.

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