While this might be a bit off-topic for our coursework, I must vent a bit about the issue of a students' right to personal choice when it come to library selection. Just this week, I had two different, well-meaning moms approach me and ask me to keep their primary boys from selecting 'junk' during library book exchange. By junk, they were referring to the widely-purchased, and well-regarded DK Readers series, levels 1 - 4, which feature eye-catching 'boy' subjects such as Batman, Spiderman, and Star Wars. Apparently, Guinness World Records and Ripley's Believe It Or Not also fall in the 'junk' category, along with pretty much anything that his not a standard 'chapter book." One rather bewildered third grader usually comes to library time armed with a sticky note from home bearing titles from which he is 'allowed' to choose. Needless, to say, this boy does not really enjoy library time, and is anxious to find a book from his 'list' so that he can breathe a sigh of relief.
Luckily, one mom approached me at a time in the day when I actually had time (!) to give her a little tour of the library and a "talking to." I explained that students get required reading in their classrooms, at-home reading books from their teachers, etc... that library time should be THEIR time to choose a book of interest to them, not necessarily one at their particular reading level. In fact, if all students were ONLY allowed to take out books at their reading level, then library time would literally take hours.
The word needs to get out about multi-literacies. The act of reading is an all-encompassing technique which involves visual cues, prior knowledge, connection-building, visualization, and questioning. It is not simply the ability to decode words.
The venerable Ron Jobe stated it best in his book, Info-Kids: How to use nonfiction to turn reluctant readers into enthusiastic learners when he described the the critical importance of 'appeal.' Children will not choose books that don't hold some sort of personal appeal or connection for them. Once that connection is made (a 'gross' cover, a familiar character in the title, a creepy-crawly photograph), students will naturally want to read about that topic.
In the end, does it really matter if our students are reading chapter books or graphic novels for pleasure? Think about the wide range of 'pleasure' reading that adults do: newspapers, magazines, comics, TV guides, blogs, Facebook conversation threads, MSN headlines... it is ALL reading and it is ALL valid.
As Jobe concluded, we must give ourselves and our children 'permission' to pursue our own interests in reading.
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Works Cited:
Jobe, Ron (2002). Info-Kids: How to use nonfiction to turn reluctant readers into enthusiastic learners. Markham, Ont: Pembroke Publishing
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