Fascinating piece, I love finding out more about why kids choose the books they do. When I ask kids in my life, the answers are often not what I would have expected...showing how important it is to talk to kids about their reading vs guessing why they like things. #KidLitUK - ThreadSky

louiestowell.bsky.social • 101 days ago

Fascinating piece, I love finding out more about why kids choose the books they do. When I ask kids in my life, the answers are often not what I would have expected...showing how important it is to talk to kids about their reading vs guessing why they like things. #KidLitUK

Reposted from Jon Biddle

I love this blog from David and Alice Reedy about what influences children's reading choices. Familiarity, representation, perception of own reading development, design of the text and illustrations, and much more. It would make a fascinating conversation with a class.

collins.co.uk/blogs/the-bo...

Comments

helodare.bsky.social•101 days ago

❤️

sallynicholls.bsky.social•101 days ago

When I ask my eldest what he wants to read, he just says "Something funny." Humour is so important to him and there seems to be less and less of it as he gets older.

vagariesofmine.bsky.social•101 days ago

When my son was around 11, his choices were based around adventure *with significant lore*. The first series he really got into was Percy Jackson, he became a junior encyclopedia of Greek myth. When the book he wanted wasn't in a stock, a lovely assistant suggested Chris Bradford's Young Samurai 1/

vagariesofmine.bsky.social•101 days ago

Great rec, entertaining, high adventure & well-researched- son became a junior encyclopedia of Edo era Japan & samurai. Now he's in his early 20s & we've lost him to Tolkien. All these books gave him a deep appreciation for world-building & research which he now uses to write his TTRPG homebrews

louiestowell.bsky.social•101 days ago

This is the sort of story I LOVE! (I once went down a samurai wormhole for work, when I was in non fic, and I'd love to go back down it some time...)

vagariesofmine.bsky.social•101 days ago

Enthusiastic and knowledgeable bookshop assistants are truly a blessing. That guy heard "I don't know what I want to read" and, with maybe three or four questions picked out a book that was an instant and lasting hit.

louiestowell.bsky.social•101 days ago

That's brilliant. God bless them and librarians!

louabercrombie.bsky.social•101 days ago

My 14yo son used to be an avid reader but rarely picks up a book these days. I’ve got round it partially by subscribing him to Private Eye because he reads the news. He’s always been into nonfiction too. I’m learning to not apply my own fiction reading habits to him.

tobebooks.bsky.social•101 days ago

I think this is a lot of kids. Non fiction is so underrated in reading for pleasure. A lot of them love Bill Bryson also QI books are a hit. If you want to pitch some last ditched attempts at fiction, try something like Man in the High Castle, alternative universes do well with this crowd.

louiestowell.bsky.social•100 days ago

Ooh or some short SF stories? The ones who walk away from Omelas is a great thought experiment of a story.

louiestowell.bsky.social•101 days ago

that was kinda me at that age but I also read comics. But satire was a big part of my reading across magazines and books.

louabercrombie.bsky.social•101 days ago

Yeah he’s enjoyed the odd graphic novel. I wonder if I might try buying him a comic. Any recs for a teen with grown up tastes?

louiestowell.bsky.social•101 days ago

How weird does he like? I just read Soft City - very old, very weird. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Soft-City-Pushwagner/dp/1681370468

louabercrombie.bsky.social•101 days ago

No idea! I’ll ask him!!

louiestowell.bsky.social•101 days ago

Oh and Saga, Wicked and the divine.

louiestowell.bsky.social•101 days ago

For less weird but really good, I'm a big fan of the Once and Future series (amazon link for lazy googling sorry https://www.amazon.co.uk/Once-Future-Vol-Kieron-Gillen/dp/168415491X)

lomquiche.bsky.social•101 days ago

I volunteer in a secondary school library & it was interesting to see that, when asked, some kids wanted to have non-fiction, like books on nature, trains or cooking.

I bought some Attenboroughs, etc at a local charity bookshop and they were delighted.

Our son devours Doctor Who mags even at uni.

gilibug.bsky.social•101 days ago

Once when I was hand-selling books at a fair, a little boy came who looked absolutely angelic: big-big eyes with long lashes, a head of loose black curls. He leafed listlessly through books so I offered to recommend and asked him what he likes reading about; his face lit up and he said: “VIOLENCE!”

audryt.bsky.social•101 days ago

Sounds like me when I was little. "Unicorns! That stab scary monsters!"

louiestowell.bsky.social•101 days ago

YESSSSSSSSS!!!!!! How many killings!!!!

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