Answer/Quote: “Lifelong
readers do not pick up books to get better at reading; they pick up books to
hear a great story, to escape the reality of their daily existence or find
information to help in their endeavors. The story becomes an end in itself, not
requiring anything else to be done with it. In Better Than Life, Pennac (1990), offered Ten Rights of a Reader. Among them are the right to read anywhere,
to read anything, to read out loud or silently, to skip ;pages, and the right
to put down books that are no longer interesting. It is an important list to
consider as we incorporate children’s and young adult literature into our
classrooms. To Pennac’s wonderful list, we would add ‘the right not to have to
do so much @#$%^&* before or after I read.’ ” P. 241.
Comment: Whoa, Nellie. Not so fast. The author might
be referring to classroom before and after activities, especially someone
else’s questions at the end, but speculating on the nature of the story
beforehand through cover blurbs, titles and pictures, and reflecting on the
story after it’s told are important in deepening the reader’s expectations and
comprehension. And I could add some other “rights” of my own. Reading the first
and last paragraphs of chapters in information books is a good preparation for
reading. And when novels become boring as they almost always do during certain
stretches, reading a paragraph per page maintains the continuity of plot until
the reader’s interest is restored. RayS.
Title: “Integrating
Children’s Literature: When Bad Things Happen to Good Books.” Frank Serafini. The Reading Teacher (December 2011/January 2012), 238-241.
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