What (or who) made you a reader?

[Disneefun]

I'm currently reading "The Dumbest Generation" and the author spends a lot of time lamenting the decline in reading in the US. I know that reading is declining generally, but I also know a lot of people who still read (witness the length of the "What are you reading" thread here).

So I'm curious about why some people turn out to be readers and others can't stand it. If you're a reader, what do you think made you that way? Your parents? A favorite teacher? Some book that you just loved and launched you on to others? A librarian? You just liked to read?

For me it was a combination of very literate parents who read to me all the time and used books as rewards, and a teacher in grade school who encouraged me to read whatever piqued my interest. Neither my parents nor this teacher ever judged what I read or put restrictions on it. They just let me go and to this day I'll read anything, including the cereal box at breakfast.

Side story: I was in the library the other day and this kid (he was probably seven or eight-ish) comes running up to his mother with a stack of books from the kids section. The mom starts looking through them and says, "Oh you saw this movie," Oh, you've already read this one" and, "This is too young/old for you." By the time she was finished culling his choices, she'd whittled a stack of maybe ten plus books to one. The one he had left was evidently not something he really wanted (that or he's just sick of mom's BS) because he just put it down and said, "never mind."

I thought it was so sad. Who cares if the kid has read it before? Who cares if he saw the movie? Who cares if he's reading stuff that's a little young or a little old for him? (The books were all kids books, so it's not like the ones she was judging as too old for him were things like Lolita or IT. They would have been challenging for him, but appropriate content wise.)

This woman had the beginnings of a reader on her hands, but she pretty much squashed it right there. It was just depressing. And we wonder why kids don't read?

 

[DebIreland]

Both my parents were avid readers and my Dad in particular found great comfort and joy in reading. He always had a book in his hands! As a treat every couple of weeks we would be brought to town to buy a new book. It was always such an exciting day!

He passed away a few years ago and the one thing I wanted as a keepsake of his was his Sherlock Holmes collection which is battered and torn and sitting on the shelf in front of me. He must have read it cover to cover 50 times!

 

[DisneyBamaFan]

Both of my parents were avid readers. I learned to read before I was 4 years old. I am one of 4 children, and only two of us are avid readers. Not sure why I am - I always have been, since before I can remember. Neither my older sister, nor my younger brother, read. They are both very bright, but neither likes to read.

My wife and I are avid readers. My oldest son is also, but my youngest son hates it. No rhyme or reason in our family. Same exposures - different outcomes. People are just different.

 

[PeterPan09]

Both my parents were avid readers and my earliest memories are of my Dad reading to me, and sitting on his lap asking him what that word was or what that word was in the book he was reading. I can't remember a time when books weren't a part of my life.

Mom is still an avid reader, but Parkinson's has taken reading away from my father and that is one of the greatest tragedies of the disease for me. He could have survived being more immobile, but losing the ability to lose himself in a good book has taken such joy from him that it's downright cruel.

Like the OP I was never discouraged from reading anything, and I still read everything that I can get my hands on. One of the best days of my life was when I got my first library card, and my favorite day of the week was library day. I was able to read anything I wanted, and if I didn't understand something I was always free to ask my parents.

My goddaughter was raised partly in our household filled with books and reading and also by her father and grandmother-all avid readers. She turned 25 this year and I got her a Kindle, which she tells me is the best present she ever got and she's reading even more with it. I love sharing books with her, we read the Harry Potter series together, read The Help together, books by Pat Conroy, and classics like To Kill a Mockingbird. I'm confident that she too will raise children who love reading.

I really think that if you want to raise a reader, be a reader. They'll read if they see you gathering enjoyment from it.

 

[KimR]

Wow, that's just sad. I didn't even realize that reading was declining. You'd certinaly never know it around here. All 3 of my girls are avid readers, the older 2 especially. In fact, much of our dinner conversation revolves around books.

Reading is very nearly an obsession with me (remember Burgess Meredith in the Twilight Zone?) and I can even remember getting reprimanded when I was a child and teenager for reading too much! I don't really know what to attribute it to other than it's just part of who I am. I've loved reading for as long as I can remember and I actually consider it one of my basic needs along with food, water, and sleep. My kids jokingly call books my 'crack'.

 

[hopemax]

My Dad says, one day when I was 4, I saw him reading the newspaper. I pointed to a word, and asked what it was. It happened to be the word oil. After he finished, I took the paper and circled all the oils. So my Dad showed me the word "the" and a few other words and I circled them too. The next day, my Mom went to the library and asked where she should start to teach me to read, since it appeared I was ready. The librarian gave her "A Duck is a Duck."

A similar thing happened to friends of ours. The Mom was making a cake one day, and her daughter, also 4, asked how she knew how to make a cake. Mom explained that she read the directions. So daughter equated reading with making a cake and decided that knowing how to read was a very important thing to know!

Neither of my parents are avid readers. My Dad got into computer engineering when it was just becoming a big field and had a couple years of college, but didn't finish. My Mom was never a good student but did go to a fashion college for a year. It's not like they were teachers who emphasized good reading habits or anything like that. I think the opportunity came up and they were able to recognize it for what it was, and push me in the right direction.

Sometimes I wonder how my life would have turned out if, instead of teaching me the word "the," my Dad would have yelled at me for destroying his newspaper.

 

[RitaE]

I came from a family of readers and I'd say my number one thing is that my fun reading.

Was never logged. In fact, my Mother hardly ever even asked if I had finished my books.

Was never tested for comprehension.

Was never limited in WHAT I could read. My parents took me to the store or library and told me to pick out what I wanted. If it was comic book okay. If it was a history novel that was {correctly} predicted I'd put down after 7 pages --- that was okay too. If it was too easy or too hard, no matter.

I was never bribed to do it. Why would you have to bribe somebody with rewards or certificates to have fun?

I was invited to treat my books like crap. They got thrown under beds, drowned in bathtubs, left all over the place, food and drinks spilled on them. You name it and I did it. I could scribble in them and fold down page corners. I could give them to friends. Books were meant to be used and the consequences be darned. Actually one of the biggest reason I went primarily to eBooks and I rarely check-out library books is that I still treat my books like crap.

 

[KimR]

RitaE, that's my big complaint with the schools and all their emphasis on logging minutes, accelerated reader, and summer reading. On the one hand, it's great that they encourage reading; however none of my kids ever got into AR. My youngest complains that she doesn't like it because the entire time she's reading a book she has it in the back of her mind that she's going to be tested on it, so she can't relax and enjoy it for what it is. That makes perfect sense to me.

And the logging of minutes - reading was never part of homework for me, but rather my reward for when homework was done (or sometimes before homework was done I never really pushed my kids to get their 20 minutes of reading done or to be the top achiever in AR points. Granted, those types of incentives might be helpful for more reluctant readers, though. I was just thankful that my kids enjoyed reading and I wasn't going to mess with that.

 

[NMAmy]

My parents, my sisters, my aunt and cousins, my great-grandmother, and my grandparents were all big readers. Books were everywhere, everyone read for fun, and shared books around. Christmas was always interesting because one of us would always be nagging someone else to hurry up and finish their Christmas gift book so we could read it, too.

DD is a reader, too, and thank goodness because I would have been so freaked out by a kid who didn't like reading. Like me, she carries a book everywhere but even I don't stick a book in my bag at WDW. DD does. She likes to read on the bus.

 

[MrsPete]

I became a reader for several reasons:

My dad was a reader.

We didn't have nearly so much "stuff to do" as kids do today. We lived on farm, so we had the great outdoors, but we we had few toys. We had one TV when I was very small (13" black and white), then it broke. We got another (and an Atari pong game) about the time I was halfway through high school. But reading was always available.

Although my mom wasn't much of a pleasure-reader (can't sit still), she had loads of reference books about cooking, crafts, farming, canning, and other topics that interested her. While my dad set an example of reading for pleasure, my mom taught us to go to books when we needed to know how to do something.

Though it wasn't her thing, my mom also encouraged us to read for pleasure. She always wanted to see what we'd chosen from the school library, and she made a point to take us to the public library in summer /on school breaks. At one point, I came home from school without a library book. My 2nd grade teacher said she wasn't going to allow me to check out books; she said my reading skills were improving faster than the other kids, and she wanted me to stop 'til they caught up. My mom put a stop to that in a hurry.


As for my own kids . . .

My own kids are both readers. One caught onto reading instantly, while the other wasn't quite so fast -- but they both became readers. I helped the slower reader by laying in bed with her at night "taking turns" reading. At first I'd read a page, she'd read a page. As her skills improved, I'd read a chapter, she'd read a chapter. The series that really helped her was The Warriors by Erin Hunt. She was very into the storyline, but reading it on her own was a little too daunting; the taking-turns was perfect for her.

The #1 thing kids need when it comes to reading is PRACTICE. They aren't going to become fluent readers if they only read at school. I saw my kids grow by leaps and bounds in 1st and 2nd grade as they were required to read for homework.

When my girls grew old enough to read chapter books, I often read their books after they went to bed, and we'd discuss them. We'd talk about whether such-and-such character had made the right decisions, we'd predict what was going to happen next, and so forth. For both of my girls, Harry Potter was the series that really helped them learn to think about and discuss literature; and the #1 thing we discussed was whether Snape was good or bad. They were so interested in the story, and they'd dig up all the evidence they could.

I think it's easier to make a girl into a reader. More series books are available for girls, and series books are so wonderful for kids: Once they're "into" the characters and the plot, they want more, more, more. Girls are less likely to see reading/doing well in school as "uncool". Having said that, my brothers are all readers, and my sister isn't. For all my brothers, the book that was their turning point was Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

 

[ZephyrHawk]

My dad was not much of a reader (he is more so now in his retirement), but my mom was an English and Literature teacher.

 

[cats mom]

Can I go down a bit of a different road? My kids are in a school district that is so focused on AR / RC performance it makes me want to scream!

While well intentioned, I think all too often those programs make kids approach books as tasks, and reading becomes a chore you must endure to prepare for a test. Honestly I've seen it take much of the enjoyment out of reading, even for kids who were readers before they got hammered with AR /RC requirements.

I think kids need to be given the freedom to fall in love with books in their own way. IMO reading to prepare to take a mandatory multiple choice test because you must earn x number of points by x date is not going to be that conduit for most kids.

It's certainly not the whole answer, but maybe a part of the puzzle?

 

[Diznotyzed]

I don't remember my parents reading to me, and though my dad occasionally read for pleasure, I don't remember my mom ever picking up a book. When my older sister started school I really wanted to learn to read, too, and I taught myself by picking up the school library books and "Weekly Readers" she brought home. I remember my parents being stunned when out of the blue I started reading out loud to them. I just *needed* to read.

 

[agnes!]

I bet the mom in the OP just didn't want to help Johnny carry those books.
And she's probably feeling pretty proud of herself for not having *any* to carry home, nevermind that she squashed his joy as if it were a bug.

I was allowed to read anything and everything I wanted to read. Read "Gone With the Wind" when I was in 4th Grade, read the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy when before I was out of 6th...read everything I could get my hands on. I was always allowed to order as many of those Scholastic books as I wanted. I read the entire Edgar Rice Burroughs "John Carter of Mars" series when I was in elementary school and all of his Tarzan books.

When my DD was in 2nd Grade I read her the 1st Harry Potter book. I then moved on to the 2nd one. By the time the 3rd one came out, she was able to read it by herself. By the time the fourth one came out I was buying two copies pre-release off of Amazon so we could each have our own copy and not have to share - we'd each finish our new "Potter" book in a weekend.
About the only thing I told her to wait to read was the last book in the Golden Compass series, I thought it was a little too advanced for her (I think she was in 4th or 5th grade). She read all the L. Frank Baum Oz books, read all the Chronicles of Narnia books, etc. She started on the Lord of the Rings I think around 5th or 6th Grade but only made it through the Hobbit, The Fellowship of the Ring and half of The Two Towers...the sheer volume of Tolkien's descriptive narrative got to be a bit too much.

One of the most frustrating things for her in high school was she never had time to just read during the school year, she'd usually tear through a ton of books over the summer...the entire Isaac Asimov "Chronicle" series, Ray Bradbury, the Frank Herbert "Dune" series and so on.

And, yes, we kind of hated all those read/awards programs and those read-for-"fun"-but-only-from-our-approved-list-and-now-you-have-to-do-a-report-over-the-summer programs.

agnes!

 

[Disneefun]

When my older sister started school I really wanted to learn to read, too, and I taught myself by picking up the school library books and "Weekly Readers" she brought home.

Oh, man. Flashback. I remember Weekly Readers. I hadn't thought of those in years. Thanks for the trip down amnesia lane.

I think other posters hit on something else that helped me and that was that reading wasn't "tracked" unless it was for something special like a summer contest or the like. If I got halfway through a book and hated it, it was on to the next thing without any judgment or commentary.

My favorite English teacher once said, "If you get fifty pages into a book and you're not into it, you might as well put it down and move on because chances are you're not going to get into it." Of course, that didn't apply to anything we had to read for HIM.

To this day I find that he was right more often than not. Rarely do I plug on past 50 pages in a book I'm not enjoying to find that it gets better. There have been exceptions, of course, but often he was right. (I will give big books a bit longer since they have more set up to do.) That rule sort of set me free in reading because I never felt like I had to keep going if I hated something. I always sort of felt like, "Hey, if the English teacher says it's okay, then it's okay."

 

[MrsPete]

Can I go down a bit of a different road? My kids are in a school district that is so focused on AR / RC performance it makes me want to scream!

While well intentioned, I think all too often those programs make kids approach books as tasks, and reading becomes a chore you must endure to prepare for a test. Honestly I've seen it take much of the enjoyment out of reading, even for kids who were readers before they got hammered with AR /RC requirements.

I think kids need to be given the freedom to fall in love with books in their own way. IMO reading to prepare to take a mandatory multiple choice test because you must earn x number of points by x date is not going to be that conduit for most kids.

It's certainly not the whole answer, but maybe a part of the puzzle?

I agree. The intention is good, but it doesn't work. The people who come up with these ideas are thinking that families who otherwise aren't inclined to read will do so because it's a school assignment . . . wrong. If I've learned anything by being a teacher, it's that a whole lot of families just don't care. They'll skip the assignment and not think twice about it.

On the other hand, this AR thing "punishes" the best readers. My SIL complained about it, explaining that at the beginning of the year they test the kids to figure out their Lexile level (reading level), and the kids are required to pick something "on their level". So a great reader like my niece was forced to read a long chapter book (like Harry Potter) to get maximum points in elementary school (and her competative nature made her want the maximum points), whereas a poor reader could get by reading Curious George. Even a kid who enjoys reading will feel pushed if she's told to finish a big book like that in a week. My SIL says it did affect her enjoyment; she began to see it as a task, an obligation rather than something to be enjoyed and savored.

I'm just as glad we never had this program in our schools.

 

[MoonFaerie]

I don't know. I don't remember either of my parents reading much, nor do I remember being read to as a child. I started reading at 4, and I read a ton. It's really my biggest complaint about being back in school - I have virtually no time left for reading outside my textbooks. I've been reading the same book since early August, and usually I'd have a book I enjoy done in 2-3 days max.

Both of my kids are readers. Even better, while they both primarily read fiction (Babysitters Little Sisters for DD, Wimpy Kid and Spiderwick for DS), they both frequently read non-fiction for fun too.

 

[snapppyd]

My Mom loved to read. When I was a kid, back in the late '50s - early '60s there were no video games, etc. You used your imagination. Anytime I said I was bored she told me to go read a book.

Then I had a wonderful high school English teacher who made me want to read even more. When I started working and riding the subway reading a book was a way to "escape" my surroundings.

I still love to read - I should really make more time for it - sadly I allow the internet to occupy too much of my time these day.s

 

[pixiefairy]

My grandmother. We used to go to the library almost daily. She devoured books. I got to be the same way and I still am. My dh is also and avid reader. My 16 year old is my only child who didn't get bitten by the book bug. All of our others are big readers (some just learning). I really think seeing us read so much has made a big impact. I hope they keep it up..my eldest did read as a younger kid, but lost interest as he grew older. Maybe some day he'll pick it back up.

 

[lacrosse_lady72]

Harry Potter. Or I guess you could say J.K. Rowling. I was 10 when the first book came out but I read the first for a summer reading assignment where we got to choose an "easy or fun" book for the seventh grade. I picked HP out of a friend's suggestion. I loved it.

I hated reading. HATED it. So much that I would (shamefully) do my friends math homework (I loved math) if they did my reading homework. When possible of course. Unless, for some reason, it was the Boxcar Children series, I read all of those. I have always been someone who only likes to read what they want to read. This helped my mom recognize too, that I like series and we were able to go from there.

IB English was a struggle for me sometimes because I was forced to read over 30 books over the two years. Tess of the d'Ubervilles stands out as being the worst. I finished it at least. But there were also some books that today, I re-read for fun like The Plague and The Stranger by Camus.

I read a lot now, but only things I want to read and that I am really into. I don't finish more books than I do finish.