reading for pleasure is not dead

[Donna Steel Cook <donnacook@mailcity.com>]

I'm going to get on my soapbox here for a minute.
I hope I'm "preaching to the choir" and the choir does not take offense.

Reading books for pleasure is not a thing of the past.  If it were, what explains 
the record sales of books this past year?  People are reading for pleasure more 
than ever before in the history of the world--which is astonishing, considering the 
distractions which never existed before.
      A school librarian is not doing her job unless she is the leading reading 
advocate in her school.  Kids and teachers should expect her to be promoting 
reading at every opportunity.  Where there is no opportunity readily available, she 
should sit down and concoct one.
    Grab the opportunities that others have put in your lap.  Teen Read Week, Read 
Across America,  Banned Books Week.  Are you doing something for each of those 
weeks?  Look at the library.  Are your books turned cover-art out so the kids can't 
resist them?  Are you displaying new books prominently?  Are you sending teachers 
promotional info when new books arrive?
     When teachers look at their school librarian they should think, "Good.  Here 
is the partner who will help me turn these kids on to reading."  If they don't 
think that when they see you coming, there is a huge problem with your job 
perception.  When kids see the librarian coming to teach in their classrooms, they 
should think, "Here she comes again to tell us about good stuff and how we can get 
this assignment done better.  She is a nut about reading, but, hey, this is an 
education."
     Look at bookstores bursting with customers; look at Amazon.com's main man on 
the cover of TIME--the Man of the Year; look at more kids graduating from high 
schools in America than in any other time in history.  If your high school library 
isn't "the center of the school," the fault is not the kids.



---
Donna Cook, Nacogdoches, Texas :
Teacher/Librarian Central High;
District Coordinator, Central ISD;
Library Consultant, Douglass ISD;
"Minister of Information" First Baptist.
donnacook@mailcity.com
409-853-9345





On Fri, 7 Jan 2000 16:41:00    Dan Kissane wrote:
>In my opinion,
>Reading has turned into information retrieval. That is, people used to
>read for pleasure but the movies and Tv really do a better job of
>providing the pleasure aspect in many ways.
>
>Reading is now a tool for information retrieval.
>Don't these kids love to browse the web? Hey, that is reading, it is just
>not traditional pleasure reading. But if they get pleasure from it, and
>they are reading, then it is pleasure reading.
>
>If they like the magazines, buy more magazines. Give the people what they
>want.
>Comments?
>
>
>
>> with the lack of high school school students who simply do not like to read
>> for pleasure.  Period.
>> I have noticed that in this year of my first experience of librarianship (as
>> I am a clerk only), that of course elementary students and books go
>> together.  But when you get to the 8th through 12th grades, these students'
>> only interest in reading for pleasure when they are in the library is
>> through magazines only.
>> And when I put books back on the shelf, I see so many books that are just
>> waiting to be read and the adventures and places they can take you.
>> In closing, with all of the experience on this list, how in the world do you
>> encourage reading in high schoolers?  Thanks in advance for any replies.
>> Best regards,
>> Brigid Heckman
>> > Library Clerk/Teacher Aide
>> > Greenwood Central School
>> > Greenwood, NY 14877
>> > brig@infoblvd.net
>>
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>
>Dan Kissane
>Systems Librarian
>SUNY College at Oneonta
>Oneonta, NY 13820
>dfk@oneonta.edu
>
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LYCOShop is now open. On your mark, get set, SHOP!!!
http://shop.lycos.com/

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