Burst into Reading: Hello, Reading is an activity that covers so m...

Who Reads What and Does it Matter?

         There is a lot of controversy about whether children should read series books, graphic novels or even sometimes, Harry Potter books (because of the magic).  In my opinion, if a child is interested in reading anything (appropriate, of course) then let the child read.  The concern about series books is that they, like sitcoms, are repetitive in theme and often not "deep" reading.  In reality, series books give children (and adults) the opportunity to really know the characters, what their traits are and how they might likely react to a given situation.  This allows accurate predictions based on inferences derived from the characters' personalities.  Graphic novels allow children to read more than just the text.  They learn to read the surrounding picture, the characters' expression and understand the format of this comic style writing. For instance, a "say balloon" is round without scallops. (see below) So, this basically become the text structure of a graphic novel.

          But, paramount in getting children to read is interest in the topic.  Sometimes teachers need to BUILD that interest.  That's why we must know our books.  If a second grader is really into Encyclopedia Brown books then perhaps that child would love another mystery solving series such as Cam Jansen books.   On another note going back to "building interest," I have found that sometimes we must hand children books they didn't know they wanted to read.  In high school we had required reading.  I chose from the selection given, the book, The Grapes of Wrath.  At that time in my life,  I would never have chosen this book on my own, but it still remains one of my favorite books...