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​I cannot take credit for the name of this tip. It comes compliments of William Pope.L, an artist. 

​Last week, I took a break from writing a quick literacy tip on purpose. There is a lot going on in real life that is tense and I wanted to give myself some time and space to be uncomfortable, engage with others, reflect on my own thoughts and actions and be ready to re-engage. I think it's important to do this in order to grow and learn as adults and be ready to teach our youngsters. 

In order to teach, I need to understand. I spent time listening and learning from others - hearing the fabric of our country speak. I am talking about the state of race relations and power structures in our country.
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I was reminded of this tip tonight. After I our little girl climbed into bed and was situated with her millions of stuffed animals and tucked in just right, and I left her to slumber, I heard her over the monitor, "I need a lullaby."

So, I went back to her room and sang her a song.

Singing and reading are a lot alike. Even for big kids. 

It's calming. It's lyrical. It has cadence. It has meaning. It helps make meaning. It's expressive.

Singing is after all, is reading with a tune. 

​In case you're wondering what that list is, you can find it here. It includes Harry Potter, The Chocolate War, Scary Stories, My Brother Sam is Dead, Fat Kid Rules the World and some great adult classics.

So then, the first thing we need to solve is having books boys like - not just the standard fare. And we can indulge their interests a little bit here. If the little boy reader in your life only wants to read dinosaur books or books about sports, do it. Or, stay with me here...farting books.

For awhile.

The goal is to get them through the gateway of reading. Once they're through, we motivate them to read more complex material (more on that in a different post, but you have to get them consistently reading first!). Boys tend to like edgier material, things that will throw the adults in their lives for a loop. Those are usually books that we don't always keep around in our school libraries. 

The idea here is to engage your boy readers. We must use the topics they like and stock their libraries full of books they would most likely pick up and find interesting. If they can't find the books that are interesting to them, they start to believe that they don't exist. And that reading is not for them. 

So, what interests them? You know your reader best, but the research bears this out. Boys tend to like:

• Books in series. Once they find one they like, they want to know there are more of them.
• Graphic Novels
• Comics
• Succinct texts - magazines and newspapers, which are not always kept in classrooms
• Books with male main characters in action settings -Harry Potter and Gary Paulsen books

​So, what are some of the banned books that are appropriate for boys in elementary and middle school?

• The Stupids Series (for younger readers) - Level K
• Goosebumps Stories, Guided Reading Levels range from O to U
• Scary Stories, Level P
• Captain Underpants, Level P
• The Adventures of Super Diaper Baby, Level Q
• The Boy Who Lost His Face, Level R
• Saga - series of graphic novels, no Level
• Bone - Ranges from Levels S to W
• Harry Potter, Level V (and bonus, there is a new Illustrated Harry Potter series)
• Harris and Me, Level V
• Athletic Shorts, Level Y
• Friday Night Lights, Level Y
• His Dark Materials, Level Z
• Fallen Angels (for middle schoolers content wise), Level Z
• A Day No Pigs Would Die, Level Z
• The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, Level Z
• Fat Kid Rules the World
• Grendel
• The Chocolate War

And bonus, a number of these are series and can be followed immediately up with the next book. Keep in mind, you can also read these with your boys. They can be your read-aloud book. 

​Let's get our boys reading enthusiastically. Enjoy!

Please share!

​I recently sent my friend a joke and her response was...

And, it totally was. But, guess what? Dad jokes are all the rage. They are good for your kid's reading. 

Reading is a complex cognitive process. There are a lot of pieces that are moving in concert to make sure reading can happen. But, our overall goal remains the same - we want to understand the world around us and when we can't experience it firsthand, we want to be able to read about it.

Understanding the world through reading requires that we are able to read fluently.

Let me break that down. When adults describe someone as fluent in a subject, we mean they can function flawlessly and without hiccups. In reading, it means that also, and specifically, reading with speed, accuracy...automaticity. Good readers do it automatically.

Fluency also includes your tempo, emphasis, inflection, tone and delivery. Essentially, you want your internal reading voice to sound like your out-loud speaking voice. Reading language should mirror oral language. This is called prosody. 

Prosody is a tough nut to crack because it can't be measured like reading speed and accuracy, so it often is ignored on standard reading measures administered in the classroom. Or it's left subjectively up to the person administering the reading benchmark. 

The scale by which we judge fluent readers in prosody looks like this:

All that to say, fluency includes reading expressively.

Prosody is what makes our speech relatable in oral language. It's what makes a story memorable. It's exactly what makes a joke funny. 

Jokes are all about delivery. A good joke-teller (and read story-teller too) leaves appropriate wait time at punctuation. They emphasize the right words to maximize the punchline. Great comedians phrase their words just right for laughter. 

Practicing jokes can make your reader more fluent overall in their reading and you have the added benefit that telling jokes is fun. 

And this is the motivator for many kids. 

Jokes have other reading benefits, beyond fluency. Aside from practicing prosody, kids also learn new words. They pick up on homophones and puns. You can talk about double meanings of words or why a joke is punny and kids will start to learn sophisticated language.

There are a few practical ways to weave jokes into your everyday routine:

• Leave cartoons or quick jokes on the table for breakfast in the morning for your kids to find
• Get a joke book to use on on your kids
• Get a joke book for your kids to use on you!
• Read comic strips from, like Dennis the Menace
• Read Amelia Bedelia books

Telling jokes to your kids is a great way to model delivery, inflection, appropriate wait time - all the elements of prosody. The more jokes they hear you tell, the better they will want to be at telling them too. 

Tell jokes! It's for your kid's reading benefit and it's fun.

Enjoy!
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P.S. Here's a tidbit. You can also find lots of jokes in kid movies. Lily's favorite? It's in Finding Nemo when the octopus gets scared and yells, "Awe, you guys made me ink!"

Here are a few practical parenting tips to help you read out loud with your older kid. 
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When you first get back to reading with your bigger kid, do it more than once per week. You'll obviously work around your schedule and your child's schedule, but start with 15-20 minutes twice per week. 

Do it early in the morning or during downtime in the afternoon. Before bedtime might seem rushed or more stressful than other parts of the day. Try it early on a Saturday morning at breakfast to start the day or late Sunday afternoon to wrap up a busy weekend. Just try it! 
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Moms do the bulk of reading with kids at home. Especially if you have boys, consider having Dad read out loud with your kids. Reading Dads are fantastic.

But also, consider other adults. Grandparents, babysitters, aunts and uncles can all be looped in here. They can read a whole book with your child or a chapter here and there. One caveat - someone needs to know the entire book so your kid can discuss consistently with the same person.
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Audiobooks are a fantastic option, especially if you want to read with your child, but aren't yourself a great reader. Or you're tired. 

A few tips with this one - still have the hard copy book so you can follow along. Listening to a book and also tracking the words has been shown to help with comprehension. Listen to the audiobook together so you can debrief together or you can stop and chat about something as you listen. 
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This is a more upfront time intensive option. In case you don't have time or your schedules don't line up at all, you can record yourself reading chapters of a book. Then, have your child listen to you reading the book, without you being there. You can set up each chapter like a track of music to listen to. 

You're still reading the book so you can still discuss it later. And, when you record, you should still stop and ask questions (just pause after you do). It might feel weird at first, but it's a great feeling to know that you are still reading to your child even if you can't be there to do it in real-time. 

​You can record yourself on your phone or use a voice recorder. We use this one in our house. For more details on recording your own audiobooks and benefits, read through this literacy quick tip. ​
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For less pressure, pick a collection of short stories to read. This is a really great collection from Louis Sachar - Sideways Stories from Wayside School. It will be quick and is appropriate for end of 2nd-early 5th grade students.

If you both don't like the book or someone is really bored, abandon the book and choose another. It's okay and a good exercise in why you don't like a book or why you don't think it will get any better. If it's not worth your time and you're not enjoying it, don't read that book. Read one you like. ​

Enjoy!

P.S. The companion post to this is What to Do with Big Kid Readers.

Kids like being storied to, too. Even big kids. If you're not a gifted storyteller yourself, you can still use picture books with big kids to tell stories. Even though they can read them for themselves. ​All you need is a good storybook, a story with some layers and good inflection. These stories are great as is, but can also be a great springboard into issues like homelessness, immigration, death and racism.

Eve Bunting is an especially good storyteller who includes many facets to her stories, but I've included others for your perusal. 
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• Fly Away Home: This is a picture book you can reader to younger kids but ultimately is about homelessness. You can expand on this picture book by talking about larger societal issues.

• Smoky Night: This hits upon the L.A. Riots and a family's need to flee urban violence. It speaks to the coming together of an unknown community against violence, all in one book.

• Crazy Hair: A whimsical rhyming book about crazy hair. This book can be used to discuss first impressions kids have about others.

• The Wreck of the Zephyr: A beautiful picture book which you can use to talk about the toughest of topics, death.

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• The Curious Garden: A fun tale of a boy growing a garden. This books speaks to environmentalism and watching things grow.

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• A Day's Work: A touching story of a young boy who helps his grandfather find work, even though he doesn't speak English.

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• This is Not My Hat: A tale of stealing and getting it back. This is a great book to springboard into heavier topics like stealing, righting a wrong and reparations.

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• Mr. Tiger Goes Wild: A fantastic tale of a tiger who wants to be his own. A great story of uniqueness and compromise. This is a good story for kids who are coming into their own and feeling left out of their community. For a bigger picture conversation, talk about people who are bullied or ostracized as minorities.

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• Mr. Lincoln's Way: This story is a straightforward bully story. Mr. Lincoln teaches tolerance and how to encourage others to be more open. But this story also turns the bully on its head, and shows that the school bully also has something positive to contribute. This is a great story to introduce the ideas of prejudice and consequences.

​​I went to a play a few weeks ago. By myself.

It was a play with dark content. I had wanted to see it because I liked the actors who were in it and thought the story sounded interesting, thought-provoking and entertaining. So, I went.

I was one of the only people there by myself. I didn't think it would be a big deal and it wasn't...

Until it was.

​As I was leaving the theatre, I saw pairs of people around me discussing the play. I could overhear snippets of conversation - "I didn't buy the love story part..." - "I liked the set design - that made it more believable as a story..." - they were all debriefing the play.

I so badly wanted to jump into anyone's conversation - I needed to discuss and debrief too!

Alas, no one I knew could debrief with me because I didn't share the experience. Even now, as I reflect, there is still a void. I couldn't fully analyze the material and therefore couldn't come to appreciate the play as much. I realized, it's part of why you don't see people going to the movies on their own very often. Part of the value is being able to share the experience and then talk about it afterward.

​Reading is no different. 

​We read out loud to our kids from birth on. Sometimes before. But something happens when kids get a bit older and it seems like.....we suddenly stop. At first, it might seem like a fantastic adventure into independence. We're proud of our kids when they can read on their own - and they want to. After all, isn't this exactly what we've wanted?
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​Hooray, we cheer! And, we savor those few stolen moments on our own - now not having to shoulder reading every night to our kids. Or when our kids aren't tired for bedtime, but can sit and read their own book triumphantly, it feels awesome.

But, we miss things too. Our kids, who we know so well when they are young, start to become a little strange to us. We might miss what their favorite book is, because we're not reading it together night after night. Or, we don't know what they are reading because we haven't read the book at all - so there is no dynamic way to talk about it together.

There is a part of them we stop knowing when we stop reading with them.

But of course, this is part of growing up. Right? Yes, it is. But we can and should hold on longer.

Let me make my case based on research.

The reason for reading aloud to our kids when they are little are many. It helps build confidence and motivates young ones to want to grow up and be able to read on their own. But, it's also to support a love of reading, to build a reading community at home and to be able to allow you to spot any gaps in your child's understandings as they read. When you read and think aloud with your kids, you are showing them how good readers ask questions about what they are reading. You are exposing them to vocabulary and explaining new words.

You are helping them to understand. And you are showing them that reading is important and enjoyable. You are giving them someone to talk about the book with - you have a book club of two. 

None of this changes when they learn to read on their own.

As Nancie Atwell, a prominent reading researcher, notes about middle school students, "Everyone is enthralled by  good read-aloud...it becomes a bridge for kids, taking them into territories they might never have explored because they don't yet have schemas for a genre, subject, author or period...And they provide a communal reading experience in which we enter and love a book together."

She follows this up with mentioning that she only reads literatures she, herself likes. I am a big proponent of this - Read joyfully. Together.

In a recently published study, researchers compared comprehension levels of students after they have read through passages silently, on their own to valid comparisons from kids in 1960. The findings reported were a little startling. Kids in 2nd grade comprehended more or less on the same level as their counterparts in 1960. After 2nd grade, the growth curve for kids now is less than that of the kids in 1960. In other words, our kids now are not doing as well as kids who were in school in 1960 when it comes to reading comprehension. 
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In short, 

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​And we've known this. In 2000, the National Reading Panel concluded that there was not enough evidence to support sustained silent reading as a practice on its own in classrooms to effectively increase comprehension. This would extend to its use at home, too. 

The add-on conclusion to this is that it can be difficult to gauge comprehension when kids engage in silent reading. Teachers know this and they use silent reading time to conference with kids, check-in and track progress. Teachers ask their students to keep reading journals and reflect on their reading. Silent reading in school is not usually just silent reading - it's packed with extras.

There is usually a class read-aloud in your child's classroom all the way up to 8th grade and sometimes into high school. Sharing books allows for discussing together - and for evaluating comprehension. Reading aloud allows teachers the opportunity to model good fluency, explain vocabulary, ask questions and have a shared, bonding experience with their students. 

This is not to say that silent reading is not at all useful. It is. It allows for choice, a little experimentation and independence in reading. Those are all important for motivation - a key component in creating happy readers.

But having stories read out loud to kids, is still one of the best evidence-based ways to teach good reading habits to kids. Even as they get bigger. 

Enjoy!

P.S. This is not a stand-alone post. There is a companion post with suggestions on how to do great reading with your older kids at home so that it's not overly burdensome and enjoyable for you both.

I mentioned a couple studies above that you might be interested in reading more fully. If you are, here are downloadable pdf files for the studies.

Alexandra N. Spichtig, Elfrieda H. Hiebert, Christian Vorstius, Jeffrey P. Pascoe, P. David Pearson, Ralph Radach (2016). The Decline of Comprehension-Based Silent Reading Efficiency in the United States: A Comparison of Current Data With Performance in 1960. Reading Research Quarterly, 51(2), 239–259. ​

National Institute of Child Health & Human Development. (2000). Report of the National Reading Panel. Teaching children to read: An evidence-based assessment of the scientific research literature on reading and its implications for reading instruction (NIH Publication No. 00-4769). Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.