Tip for our young readers who always want more!

22 May, 2019

I've already told you that my husband teaches literature at college, right? So you'll understand that our house is covered in books! We have six well-stocked bookshelves that we empty and fill over time. During one of our recent long conversations about changing the world, he confided that, over his 12 years of experience, he had observed a decline in his students. Evidently, his CEGEP students are finding it increasingly difficult to concentrate and to read texts longer than two pages. According to him, the hyper-stimulation associated with screen use is largely responsible for this phenomenon.

This conversation got the little hamster in my head working (who must be so exhausted from running!) and a few days later I came up with a new trick for my children-readers-future-CEGEP-students. Do you remember the mandatory readings in CEGEP? Some were wonderful discoveries, others a real torture. Nevertheless, you had to make the effort to read what was required, as it was a compulsory test. This is how I got through certain books that seemed boring at first glance, whose plot took time to develop, but which, once the first 100 pages were passed, became extremely interesting. If they hadn't been imposed on me, I would have missed out on several very interesting works that shaped my experience as a reader and helped me grow intellectually.

My children are already very good readers. Since they were very young, I've given them reading tokens. Every evening, we have a 20-minute period where everyone reads what they like or silently flips through the pages of a book. Each period of quiet, attentive reading allows them to collect a token from the General Store. My oldest likes to read comic books and short novels. His younger brother, on the other hand, swears by documentaries and informative magazines. For them, these are comfortable readings that satisfy their current desires. However, I wanted to take them a little out of their comfort zone, to get them to read books that go beyond their interests. If your children have reached a fairly high reading level, you're going to love what follows!

So we introduced a corpus of mandatory readings of two or three books per year, just enough to take them out of their comfort zone, but not too much so as not to discourage them. I really like new children's literature, but it was important to me that my children know the great literary classics, those that have stood the test of time, those that everyone read in their childhood... or should have read! So I bought about twenty books that they will have to read between the ages of seven and thirteen. In each of the books, we have glued a library card where all family members will have to write their name once the book is read, as well as a rating out of ten. Of course, we parents will also have to read each of these novels and fill out the card to set an example, but also to be able to discuss them with them!

Here is my list of great classics, which will certainly inspire you:

7 years old:

8 years old:

9 years old:

10 years old:

11 years old:

12 years old:

13 years old:

It's not always easy to motivate children to start a new book that doesn't seem to interest them at first? Very often, I read the first few pages with them to help them get into the story and establish the characters. I leave them to themselves once the plot is well underway and their curiosity is piqued. These moments of shared reading stimulate their interest and make them want to dive into the book themselves without my help. As Philippe Meirieu so aptly puts it in his book How to Help Our Children Succeed, "parents have a role to play, to soothe anxiety, calm the fear of the unknown, walk a bit of the way with the child... then tiptoe away to let them enjoy the joy of discovering new pleasures of understanding."

Finally, to give them a little extra boost, I grant 20 tokens from the General Store for each finished book (with or without my accompaniment!). You can adapt this idea according to your child's reading abilities. One book per year may be enough at the very beginning; the important thing is that it is just challenging enough to allow them to experience success and not get discouraged!

For more reading suggestions, I invite you to consult this article from La Presse or to get the book 1001 Children's Books You Must Read Before You Grow Up. Also discover our little tip that will allow your children to keep track of their favorite readings!

 

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