SUBSCRIBE
SUBSCRIBE
SLJ Blog Network +
  • 100 Scope Notes
  • A Fuse #8 Production
  • Good Comics for Kids
  • Heavy Medal: A Mock Newbery Blog
  • Teen Librarian Toolbox
  • The Classroom Bookshelf
  • The Yarn
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • About TLT
  • Reviews
    • Book Reviews
    • A to Z Book Lists
    • Book Review Policy
  • Teen Issues
  • Middle Grade Mondays
  • Programs
    • TPiB
    • Tech Talk
  • Professional
    • Teen Services 101
    • Things We Didn’t Learn in Library School
  • MakerSpace
  • Projects
    • #SVYALit
    • #FSYALit
    • #MHYALit
    • #Poverty in YA Lit

April 20, 2013 by Karen Jensen, MLS

Challenge Accepted! A school librarian talks about Reluctant Readers

April 20, 2013 by Karen Jensen, MLS   4 comments

We’re wrapping up this week’s focus on Reluctant Readers with confessions from another librarian raising a Reluctant Reader and her insights. 

Confession. I am a librarian and the mother of a reluctant reader. I know! The shame! The horror! But, hold on, the story is just getting started. 

From the moment the strip turned pink I started buying books for my child. I’d wander through the shelves imagining her sitting in my lap, all snuggled up, enjoying the same stories that I loved as a child. Of course she’d go ga-ga for Dr. Seuss! Of course she’d read and love Little Women, Anne of Green Gables and Walk Two Moons. How could she not?

When she was in the third grade I gave my daughter Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, a children’s dictionary, a composition notebook, highlighters and pens. Enjoy! I told her, when you finish reading, we’ll watch the movie together.

SCROLL TO KEEP READING THIS POST

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

Imagine my surprise when, at month’s end, she handed me the book and announced that she didn’t like it and she doesn’t want to finish it. Now imagine my surprise when, over the next two years, she refused to pick up a book.

Every birthday, every Christmas, I continued to buy her books only to find them, months later in the donation pile in the garage. Where had I gone wrong? And how could I fix it? I’m a librarian, for crying out loud! Shouldn’t the love of books pass genetically to my daughter? How would I face my colleagues or show my face on campus? Me! The school librarian with the daughter who doesn’t like to read!

Then a funny thing happened. My daughter bought herself a book from the Scholastic Book Fair. Allegra Biscotti. It’s about a young girl who designs clothes and assumes the identity of a fake fashion designer, Allegra Biscotti. It made sense to me why she picked it, at the time Project Runway was her favorite show. She read a few pages and then a few pages more and before I knew it, she wouldn’t put it down. We spent an entire day at the San Francisco Zoo and at every opportunity she’d sit down somewhere and read a page or two. What luck that I had a camera with me.

Overjoyed that my child found a love of reading, I, once again, plied her books and, once again, those books collected dust. What the heck? Why wouldn’t she read what I gave her? They’re good, I’d tell her, really good, and yet, nothing, nada, zip.

It was after this experience that I learned a little something about reluctant readers. They’re picky, like a kid who won’t eat their vegetables. And, even if, occasionally, they’ll scarf down some broccoli covered in melted cheese, that doesn’t mean they all of a sudden like vegetables. But maybe they do like broccoli covered in melted cheese.

Maybe my daughter wasn’t ever going to love the books I loved. Maybe she wouldn’t read Little Women and bond with Jo, but maybe she’d bond with characters she found on her own. And maybe, just maybe, it wasn’t about getting her to change, maybe I had to change.

I adopted a new philosophy. It doesn’t matter what they read so long as they read something. And by something, I mean anything, which means it doesn’t even have to be a novel or tell a story. It just has to be words on a page. I started stocking the library with all sorts of material and watched as the books flew off the shelves to even the most reluctant readers. I may not consider Calvin and Hobbes literary genius, but it’s nearly impossible to pry it from the hands of some of my students. There’s subtleties and nuance to reading comics. The brain has to be processing and comprehending to be in on the joke.

For the kids who love video games I purchased, and continue each year to purchase, the latest Guinness Book of World Records: Gamer’s Addition. The waiting list for those books is huge. Stars Wars character encyclopedias, visual dictionaries and cross sections are never on the shelves. They are always checked out.
SCROLL TO KEEP READING THIS POST

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

Cookbooks, survival guides, graphic novels, comic books, user guides, movie companion books, I stock them all. There’s a book for what you’re interested in, I tell my students, and then I tell them the story of a girl who loved Project Runway and how that led her to one of her favorite books of all time, Allegra Biscotti.

It is my hope that by introducing kids to books that aren’t novels, they’ll get over their hesitation to approach books. I like to think of it as giving them a gateway to the written word.

It may take some time and it certainly takes some extra effort, but I enjoy the challenge of getting to know my students and finding them a book they’ll like. When we find something they like, they look forward to coming to the library and that is a huge step in converting the reluctant reader into a reader.

More on Reluctant Readers
My Confessions
What is a Reluctant Reader
Take 5: Resources for Working with Reluctant Readers
Top 10 Tips for Parents (and teachers and librarians) for Helping Your Reluctant Reader
What if We Read More?
What if it’s more than Reluctant Reading? A tween’s struggle with dyslexia

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Filed under: Professional Development, Reluctant Readers, Teen Issues

SHARE:

Read or Leave Comments

About Karen Jensen, MLS

Karen Jensen has been a Teen Services Librarian for almost 30 years. She created TLT in 2011 and is the co-editor of The Whole Library Handbook: Teen Services with Heather Booth (ALA Editions, 2014).

ADVERTISEMENT

Related Posts

January 2015

Serving Full T.I.L.T.: Sarcasm, Spice and Everything Awesome: The Developing Teen by Rebecca Denham

by Karen Jensen, MLS

January 2015

Serving Full T.I.L.T. (Teens in Libraries Today): By the numbers, making the case for teen services with demographics

by Karen Jensen, MLS

August 2014

Sunday Reflections: Sometimes You are Not the One, and That's Okay

by Karen Jensen, MLS

January 2014

Take 5: Reasons to read your December 2013 VOYA

by Karen Jensen, MLS

April 2013

What if it's more than just Reluctant Reading? A mom shares about her daughter's dyslexia

by Karen Jensen, MLS

ADVERTISEMENT

SLJ Blog Network

100 Scope Notes

The Yarn LIVE at ALA 2022!

by Travis Jonker

A Fuse #8 Production

Shining A Light Cover Reveal: A Talk with Author Veeda Bybee About the Trick With Collected Biographies

by Betsy Bird

Good Comics for Kids

Ghosts of Science Past | This Week’s Comics

by Lori Henderson

Heavy Medal

Mock Newbery Update – Our List of First Half Suggestions

by Steven Engelfried

Teen Librarian Toolbox

Book Review: The Loophole by Naz Kutub

by Amanda MacGregor

The Classroom Bookshelf

The Classroom Bookshelf is Moving

by Erika Thulin Dawes

The Yarn

Shark Week, Vanilla Ice Cream, and the Honda CRV: Bob Shea and Brian Won Team Up for ADURABLE

by Travis Jonker

ADVERTISEMENT

Related Articles on SLJ

Not Just for the Pre-K Crowd: Picture Books To Share with Tweens and Teens

My Top 20 Books of 2020 | Read Woke

Hi-Lo & Mighty Reads: 15 engaging and ­accessible series for ­reluctant and striving readers

9 YA Books with a 'Great Gatsby' Spin: Adaptations and Stories to Pair with the Classic

10 YA Sports Novels That Knock It Out of the Park | Summer Reading 2021

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. F.T. Bradley says

    April 20, 2013 at 6:47 pm

    Great post!

    I have a daughter who is a reluctant reader, and I'm an author (which is a similar boat–our house is all about books). Graphic novels got her back into loving reading. You're so right: it's all about letting her choose.

  2. Chris Kervina says

    April 20, 2013 at 11:14 pm

    I have many titles in my class library, but I have not yet hooked many of the reluctant readers. I need to expand these types of offerings and refine what I do next year.

  3. Joy H says

    April 21, 2013 at 2:17 am

    Thanks for the giveaway. I'd write more but writing on my phone is a bit painful 😛

  4. Lorena Swetnam says

    April 24, 2013 at 8:28 pm

    thanks for the valuable posts in this series! I shared with our parents and blogged about it here: http://lswetnam.blogspot.com/2013/04/building-reading-culture.html

ADVERTISEMENT

Archives

Follow This Blog

Enter your email address below to receive notifications of new blog posts by email.

This coverage is free for all visitors. Your support makes this possible.

This coverage is free for all visitors. Your support makes this possible.

Primary Sidebar

  • News & Features
  • Reviews+
  • Technology
  • School Libraries
  • Public Libraries
  • Age Level
  • Ideas
  • Blogs
  • Classroom
  • Diversity
  • People
  • Job Zone

Reviews+

  • Book Lists
  • Best Books
  • Media
  • Reference
  • Series Made Simple
  • Tech
  • Review for SLJ
  • Review Submissions

SLJ Blog Network

  • 100 Scope Notes
  • A Fuse #8 Production
  • Good Comics for Kids
  • Heavy Medal
  • Neverending Search
  • Teen Librarian Toolbox
  • The Classroom Bookshelf
  • The Yarn

Resources

  • 2022 Youth Media Awards
  • The Newbery at 100: SLJ Celebrates the 100th Anniversary of the Award
  • Special Report | School Libraries 2021
  • Summer Reading 2021
  • Series Made Simple Spring 2021
  • SLJ Diverse Books Survey
  • Summer Programming Survey
  • Research
  • White Papers / Case Studies
  • School Librarian of the Year
  • Mathical Book Prize Collection Development Awards
  • Librarian/Teacher Collaboration Award

Events & PD

  • In-Person Events
  • Online Courses
  • Virtual Events
  • Webcasts
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Advertise
  • Subscribe
  • Media Inquiries
  • Newsletter Sign Up
  • Content Submissions
  • Data Privacy
  • Terms of Use
  • Terms of Sale
  • FAQs
  • Diversity Policy
  • Careers at MSI


COPYRIGHT © 2022


COPYRIGHT © 2022