First rule of getting kids to read: read to them. Second rule: (let them/help them) find things they like. Third rule: it’s not about you. If what you want is a kid who *is seen to read* Proust rather than Bunny vs Monkey, you’ve missed the point. - ThreadSky

harkaway.bsky.social • 86 days ago

First rule of getting kids to read: read to them.

Second rule: (let them/help them) find things they like.

Third rule: it’s not about you. If what you want is a kid who *is seen to read* Proust rather than Bunny vs Monkey, you’ve missed the point.

Comments

rupertstubbs.bsky.social•86 days ago

Though if you want to give them the opportunity to expand their reading (once they have the reading bug), the best thing you can do is not have too many kids/YA books in the house. I ran out of kids books so I ended up reading - and enjoying - Burgess, (Kingsley) Amis, Robert Ardrey, and many others

the-great-beast.bsky.social•86 days ago

Ah yes, a childhood favourite, À la recherche du temps Lapine et Guenon.

thecorpsie.bsky.social•85 days ago

The book with no pictures is brilliant for reading to kids. Explains the power of books and uses evocative fonts, makes the adult be silly. It's just fun on so many levels.

maveness.bsky.social•85 days ago

I don’t lie to people - when they ask why I have a broad vocabulary, I tell them “because of romance novels”. Not because of classic literature. Historical romance with tons of research and flowery language did it for me.

adela42.bsky.social•86 days ago

There is something very proustian in bunny vs monkey...

ylee.bsky.social•86 days ago

1. Read to them
*2. Let them see you reading*
3. Let them find things they like
4. It's not about you.

parallax2112.bsky.social•86 days ago

Worked for me. My parents didn't have many books in the house, but were dedicated library members and read voraciously. I became a librarian (now a technical author) and have far too many books as a result.

andrewpurcell.bsky.social•86 days ago

Also, reading to children at bedtime is one of the greatest pleasures of being a parent. There is so much drudgery involved elsewhere, it would be madness to miss out on this golden moment of shared enjoyment. Our 11-y-o still loves it and I'll be sad when he 'grows out of it'.

catvincent.bsky.social•86 days ago

Because of this oddness I didn't get into comics until my 20s... with Hellblazer. In retrospect, my career path since makes more sense!

harkaway.bsky.social•86 days ago

Probably more qualified than John at that point

catvincent.bsky.social•86 days ago

I would not dream of disrespecting my esteemed colleague... and never friend.

thecamarilla.bsky.social•86 days ago

I'm not sure a child is equipped to understand the legal nuances and constitutional implications of Bunny V. Monkey, to be honest.

harkaway.bsky.social•86 days ago

So much of parenting is about strategically getting out of the way.

catvincent.bsky.social•86 days ago

I was That Kid: read all the kid's books in local library, so they gave me adult tickets. Before 10, I had closed shelf access.
I was reading Crowley and de Sade and Leary before I was ten.
My parents never got in the way, and I owe them for that.

harkaway.bsky.social•86 days ago

NB: it doesn’t actually have to be you. Ideally, yes, because it’s lovely, but not everyone can do that. Time, sight, literacy, shyness… not everyone can read to their kid. It’s a joy if you can, but if you have to pass it off to friends, relatives, librarians, teachers… that’s okay. Good for you.

eigon03.bsky.social•86 days ago

My step-sister had the most boring reading voice imaginable, so reading a story at bedtime was a chore to get through for her kids. She tried, but really someone else needed to do it

mole9.bsky.social•86 days ago

My grandfather sat me on his knee as a toddler and read to me. He'd read it again if I enjoyed it, then again, and would miss words out. I'd complain that he'd missed something and he'd say, "Oh? What?" and make me point to the word and tell him what it was. I loved this. (1/2)

mole9.bsky.social•86 days ago

Our terrifying primary school headmistress called me (scared witless) out of reading classes and sat me in her office, with the instruction "Come here from now on when you have reading lessons. Take a book from that {huge!} case, read it, put it back, then read another one." Thank you, Mrs Short 🙏

mole9.bsky.social•86 days ago

Apropos of Nick's original post, I should add my parents fed my major comics habit as well. They didn't mind what I was reading, as long as I was reading something.

libbysjournal.bsky.social•86 days ago

That’s amazing.. I don’t know if you realized it or not but that’s really good way to get kids to learn

mole9.bsky.social•86 days ago

Worked for me. My grandmother on the same side never failed to buy me a book if we were out. They didn't have a book in the house between them, but they certainly encouraged and indulged my reading appetite.
(other than a Dennis Wheatley book I chose about 11...I had to take that back)

docseuss.bsky.social•86 days ago

I remember an article by a guy who was super mad that everyone was reading The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, and he was like "you should read real fiction" and listed off a bunch of authors. So I checked them out. Every single one was writing about upper middle class people who hated their lives.

docseuss.bsky.social•86 days ago

So I started making a note of everything each of these stories had in common, and came away feeling like all of these were just... bad self-inserts? A university professor cheats on a spouse with a student? They're dissatisfied with their family life? Is this all literature is supposed to be?

docseuss.bsky.social•86 days ago

as for me, it was Terry Pratchett who helped me relearn how to read and write when I first got disabled. It was Jedediah Berry and later Scott Lynch books that helped me after the hospital visits and before the physical therapy. I particularly love epics, like Gilgamesh, which is weird as shit.

karen-newcombe.bsky.social•86 days ago

Gilgamesh! Those opening lines about the gorgeous city. And to us, really weird! Imagine sending a female church deacon out to seduce a hairy homeless wild man so he’ll become tame enough to become the president’s best boyfriend and they can go hunting together! 😂

libbysjournal.bsky.social•86 days ago

If you’re truly motivated, you can get to a storytime nearly every day. And please please can I employ you take your children to the library as young as possible… it will do good things

harkaway.bsky.social•86 days ago

Oh, incidentally: when I said “this is something authors just know”: I meant that we don’t. We’re not specialists in getting people to read. Being an author does not give you a special conduit to the readiverse that you can bestow with a touch, alas.

harkaway.bsky.social•86 days ago

That said: if you’re an author, you will get asked this question, and it’s probably a good thing if you have an answer.

dawnxianamoon.bsky.social•85 days ago

Also things aren't binary! In 5th grade I read probably dozens of Sweet Valley Twins & Babysitters Club books (junk) but ALSO read Shakespeare of my own accord because I was so enthralled with a high school production of A Midsummer Night's Dream I saw on a field trip.

dawnxianamoon.bsky.social•85 days ago

No one made me stop reading the junk, and no one told me that Shakespeare was too hard. They just let me loose.

* Hilariously my dad handed me Jane Eyre in 5th grade too. I definitely didn't understand everything at that age, but I understood enough to love it & went back to it when I was older.

dmisemer.bsky.social•85 days ago

Animorphs to Encyclopedia Brown to Sherlock Holmes to Agatha Christie to J.K. Rowling (damn that woman) to Stephen King to R.L. Stine to Dean Koontz to @chuckwendig.bsky.social to Kevin Anderson and on and on and on. (I started at 8 because I could barely read and was pretty embarrassed.)

andraswf.bsky.social•86 days ago

The Readiverse of Madness

riverlorien.bsky.social•86 days ago

Exactly - reading anything at all that genuinely engages the child's interest will help keep their focus and allow them to progress. (We thought our parents didn't know that we were 'sneaking' extra reading time with torches under the bed covers at night!)

muninnherself.bsky.social•86 days ago

This is so true. (I am not a parent but my own parents were brilliant at this - the balance between security and freedom.)

gneill.bsky.social•86 days ago

Bunny vs Proust though? Now you're talking...

vistagmedia.bsky.social•86 days ago

Now seeing a cartoon that needs making: Bugs Bunny in “Remembrance of Turns Past Albuquerque” wherein he browbeats and mocks Proust mercilessly as only Bugs can do

johnj.bsky.social•86 days ago

Yep, my parents read to me very early, signed me up to the library at 5, signed me up to join the adult library at 11, when the official age to move over was 14. I've read voraciously all my life, worked in public libraries for 15 years, and so far I've worked in publishing for over 35 years.

johnj.bsky.social•86 days ago

And they never said 'Don't read that.' At eleven I was reading James Bond, Charles Dickens and The Iliad. And watching and enjoying Shakespeare plays on TV with my dad. Who was a London docker.

johnj.bsky.social•86 days ago

Comics were also an entry to reading. One of my older cousins worked for WH Smiths and I got seven comics every week from the time I was 5...LION, TIGER, EAGLE, ROVER, WIZARD, VICTOR and HOTSPUR. I was very lucky...

mephisto731.bsky.social•86 days ago

Yes.

Also, Bunny vs Monkey is amazing

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