Growing A Love To Read

Here's another news article that I found interesting. We're Teaching Books That Don't Stack Up by Nancy Schnog, which was in today's Washington Post. Here's a snippet to entice...

Every June, when I asked my students at a previous school to write about a favorite book of the year, they mostly gushed over two: J.D. Salinger's "The Catcher in the Rye" and F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby." For years, "Catcher" served as a successful icebreaker for my juniors, exciting debate while eliding the gender divide. Whether they admired Holden Caulfield's quirkiness or disparaged him as a jerk, both my male and female students were eager to argue about him.

So imagine my dismay when "Catcher" was demoted to the eighth or ninth grade. Apparently it wasn't sophisticated enough for 11th-graders, its language too facile, the plot insufficiently complex. That many 17-year-olds identify powerfully with Salinger's 17-year-old protagonist was a fact cast by the wayside.

But here's what a former student wrote in an essay about this book that knocked her socks off: "To my twelve-year-old self, the book didn't seem to move anywhere. I didn't understand why Holden couldn't just try a little harder at school. By tenth grade, I had been drunk for the first time. I knew rebellion against my parents, the difficulties of teenage romance, the fakeness of social interaction. As a reader in the eleventh grade, I grew close to Holden; he was a friend who understood me." In adults' determination to create sophisticated teen readers, we sever them from potential fictional soulmates.

I love the idea of kids (or adults for that matter) being inspired to read for pleasure. I could have used a bit more of that myself. Although this article is quite the opposite, discussing how academic curriculum is killing the inspiration.

I'm grateful for a mom who I remember reading often when I was growing up and I worry that I won't be setting the same example for my own kids. But besides that, Ms. Schnog also makes mention of the gender gap that prohibits some kids from enjoying their reading assignment. I remember reading an article about this before. It's interesting to think how absolutely critical it is to put more thought into how kids are trained to approach reading.

I Like Where This Is Going

A few weeks ago, when I was watching the news, there was a report about a 10-year-old girl who police had handcuffed in a school bus. Nevermind the fact that she was being unruly and likely controllable only by restraint. The mother is outraged and suing the city. But the thing I found really disturbing is that, during the interview, this little girl was wearing a t-shirt with a loose neckline that showed her cleavage! A 10-year-old. I mean, what in the world!!???

Although I have a son and no daughters, I'm sensitive to the battle it must be to raise a modest young girl. To have her think about her body as a vessel and not as an object to attract inappropriate attention. So, I was interested to read the following two articles...

A couple weeks ago, I read this article about how Keira Knightley is refusing to to allow her breasts to be enhanced for publicity photos for her upcoming film. I was really disappointed when I heard that this had been done to publicity photos for King Arthur (but only in the U.S). So, I'm glad that she is finally standing up for the right to keep small breasts small.

And then today, I ran into this article suggesting that 'tween fashion is making a move toward modesty! I'm really excited about this and hope that it sticks.