Swear Words in Space

It has often been repeated in this blog but it is worth saying again: the answer to the question “What should kids read” is simple.  “Let them read what they want.”

My 7^th grader came home about a week ago saying more than just a monosyllabic “Fine” when I asked him about his day. “We had advisory in the English room today and since I was bored I picked up The Martian and started reading it. It is so awesome!”

The Martian, by Andy Weir, is terrific. Fast paced, exciting, grounded in real science and incredibly funny, it focuses on Mark Watney, the sole inhabitant of Mars. His fellow astronauts had to evacuate the planet during a dust storm that nearly killed him. Now stranded on the planet, with no way to signal to Earth that he is alive, Mark must find a way to survive. Armed with his engineering skills, smarts, a few disco sound tracks, some potatoes and a streak of black humor, Mark makes like the Bee Gees in stayin’ alive.

The book is also liberally peppered with expletives, starting with the very first sentence. I wish I could quote it here.  

The  #*$@! makes sense.  If you were the only person on Mars you would not talk like a Victorian schoolmarm; you would talk in four-letter words. The language is a realistic part of the landscape of the book and not added for shock value or false titillation. In fact, it adds to the humor and makes Mark Watney a much more believable character.

But did I want a 12 year old to read it? I confess I did hesitate, briefly. This is pretty grown-up language. Could I suggest he wait, just a bit longer, to read it?

But then again, was it really so bad? Certainly there are many more vulgar things out there, in rap lyrics, and some Internet pages. What if Jon Stewart weren’t bleeped out? There is no violence in the book and certainly no sex. Mark is the only person on the planet, remember.

For the record, when I read this book about a year ago, I loved it instantly and knew my son would too. And when the movie comes out in December, we will be there together. I just hoped he might wait a bit longer. Maybe read the new Adam Rex first. Try some classic science fiction next.

But the day he came home having started the book at school, I found our copy, gave it to him and said “Enjoy.” For one rainy weekend, he read constantly, laughing often, forgetting to check his phone. If he had to stop to do something else, he would complain “But I’m at the most exciting part.” When he finished, he said “This is the best book EVER!” He has since recommended it to all his friends, a few teachers and possibly random strangers. It is that kind of a book.  

This is what happens when you just let kids read exactly what they want. 

Musings by our guest blogger

I have been thinking about Lindi’s last post on diversity in books and made a discovery. Here is what I have been reading lately:

• ·       An autobiography in verse about an African American girl growing up in the 60’s and 70’s
• ·       Fiction about a young white girl in New York in 1986 whose beloved gay uncle dies of AIDS
• ·       Novel about a young white girl who is raised with a chimpanzee for a sister
• ·       Fantasy about modern Canadian dragon slayers
• ·       A largely autobiographical novel about a girl from Zimbabwe who moves to Michigan
• ·       Non-fiction account about 4 undocumented teens from Mexico, now living in Phoenix, who make a robot and against all odds defeat the team from MIT in a national competition

                You probably noticed it before I did – the novels are about white girls, while the non-fiction is much more diverse.  And yes, you could say it is just my reading this month, but I think it represents a bigger picture. Diversity is lacking in mainstream fiction. Everyday day there are novels published about white characters. Many are excellent, beautifully written, compelling stories. The ones I listed here do have some diversity in them – the gay uncle, the chimpanzee sister, and the Canadian dragons. But who tells the story of learning from her mother how to obey the segregation laws of the South without making trouble – the author herself. Who can describe the longing for guava and the games she played with the other children in the shanty town called Paradise – the author herself. No one else was telling their story so they wrote it themselves. As for the Latino robotics team – it is now a major motion picture but if the author had not followed up a spam-like press release he received and got to the beginning of the story, it might not have been told.

                What I’m trying to say is that diversity should not be delegated to the non-fiction and memoir sections of the library or bookstore. There should be as much diversity as possible in all forms of writing. Documentaries about overcoming challenges and winning the competition should be balanced with everyday stories featuring a variety of characters. If diversity in books acts as a kind of map, then we all need many more signposts and illustrations along the way.

Titles mentioned:

Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson

Tell the Wolves I’m Home by Carol Rifka Brunt

We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler

The Story of Own: Dragon Slayer of Tronheim by E.K. Johnston

We Need New Names by NoViolet Bulawayo

Spare Parts: Four Undocumented Teenagers, One Ugly Robot, and the Battle for the American Dream by Joshua Davis

#WeNeedDiverseBooks

There are some givens in a school library: Guinness world records books and Garfield comic books will circulate until they fall to pieces. Second graders will want to read what their big brothers and sisters are reading, even when those books are really aimed at older readers. Kindergarten girls will want Cinderella books and they don't mean Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters.

Wait. What?

Yes, John Steptoe's stunning, award-winning book, which retells a Cinderella-variant from the Shona people, is just not attractive to young girls. Year after year, we look at which books didn't circulate, evaluating for whether to weed them from the collection, and way too often they are the books with people of color on the cover. The need for children to see themselves in books, in movies, on television, in video games is no longer debated, although the need is still acute. Christopher Myers writes in the New York Times, it is not so much mirrors, as maps. "They are indeed searching for their place in the world, but they are also deciding where they want to go. They create, through the stories they’re given, an atlas of their world, of their relationships to others, of their possible destinations."

But here’s the thing. White kids need diverse books too. When statistics show that whether one believes the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson was race-based is likely to depend on whether you are white or black; when in 2008 some white conservatives stated that Michelle Obama didn’t “look like a First Lady”; when there continue to be disproportionate rates of black suspensions in school, black incarceration in prison, black foreclosures in the housing market -- this simple fact becomes very clear: white and brown kids, male and female and transgender kids, Christian and Muslim and agnostic kids -- we all need to see maps for all kinds of people.

And isn’t that the beauty of story? That by reading or listening to or watching another’s story, we are reminded of our common humanity and our different experiences.

How to Raise a Reader, Part 2

Okay, so little Chumleigh or Dot can read, but he/she doesn't love it. How can you make your child (or student) love books?

You can't. Can you make me love football? No. We are all different and, theoretically at least, we appreciate that, right? Richness and variety and all that jazz (which I'm not so fond of. I prefer pop, to be honest). Yeah, well, we love the diversity of life until someone we love doesn't love what we love. Did you follow that? I love romance novels, therefore my daughter must love romance novels. I keep giving them to her, but she just won't give them a chance. I know as soon as she does, she'll love them, just like I do. Right? Meanwhile she wastes her time on short stories. What's up with that? You get no time to fall into the story and it's over. Ick.

Do you understand how ridiculous my position is? You can't make your child love reading just because you do, or even worse, just because you think they "should."

Stories on the other hand -- well, I believe story is one of the strategies humans use to make sense of the world. Luckily there are plenty of places to get stories outside of books: music, movies, theater, tv, jokes, video games, art, play, storytelling. The list goes on and on. Encourage telling stories with your children -- tell stories to them, help them tell their own, talk about the stories in songs or games, talk through what's going on with LEGO and building blocks and cooking and dress-up and . . . and . . . and.

It's true that in our culture reading fluently is crucial. I'll admit that. The way to become fluent is to practice. So the way I interpret that first question -- how do I make my kids love reading -- is to ask how do I get my kids to read more, to read fluently? Choice. See "How to Raise a Reader, part 1."

Thanks to J.K. Rowling, fantasy reigns right now in the publishing world. That's okay. So what if little Chumleigh won't read anything else? Who's he hurting? If you want him to try a little historical fiction, read it out loud to him. Invest your own time, if it's that important to you. Don't ask him to give up what little choice and free time he has just because you want to expose him to historical fiction.

What if little Dot doesn't read in her spare time at all? Is she a fluent reader? If so, then who's she hurting? If she isn't, you making her read a whole book isn't going to help. Meet her where she is -- soccer rules, iPad user guide, song lyrics, blogs, even -- gasp -- gaming cheat codes. Talk about what you are reading; share recommendations and listen to hers. Share your stories with your kids and ask them to share theirs with you.

In short, relax. Enjoy your children and students. Talk about and share stories, encourage them and trust them to find out for themselves what they love and why.

How to Raise a Reader, Part 1

As school librarians, we are often asked how to make kids read more. Here's my answer based on years in a school library as well as having raised three grown children who all love to read. The most important thing is choice. Let them read what they want. I'm going to say that again.

Let. Them. Read. What. They. Want.

Got it? That means if they love to read comic books, let them read comic books. If they will only read horse stories, let them read horse stories.

If you are concerned that your child won't try anything new, remember that reading is a hard skill to learn and  practice makes perfect. They are practicing. Familiarity with the plot or format means at least one less thing to worry about as they read. Have some faith that your child's reading tastes will progress. Honestly, do you know any adults who still read the Hardy Boys for their own pleasure?

Absolutely introduce new stuff. Make variety available by borrowing library materials on your own account. You must be willing to invest your own time and resources in this endeavor, or your child will wonder just how valuable it is. Read new books or genres out loud to them. Miss Manners had a brilliant strategy to get kids to read: read out loud to them until you get to a cliff hanger, then perkily say, "Okay. Lights out." Of course you have to make sure they have a working flashlight first.

I'm a big advocate of reading aloud, but it's important that it is pleasurable for both parties. Years ago, I had read three Redwall books by Brian Jacques out loud to my then 9-, 10- and 12-year-old children. It was great; I did the voices and we relished every feast day menu, going so far as to plan our own, until they realized Deeper-n-Ever Pie was made out of vegetables. By the end of number four, the fun had worn off for me and I told them it was time to read them themselves. "But," whined my 9-year-old, "I can't read that well." "You're going to want to practice then," I said without pity. There were just so many great stories to share with my kids, I didn't want to spend any time on books that weren't fun for me too.

Read aloud with your kids as long as they will let you and schedules permit. I'm pretty sure that we read our last novel together the summer my oldest son got his driver's license, but 15 years later we still take turns reading aloud picture books on Christmas Eve.

If you need strategies for opening up a non-reader's mind to new stories, try making bargains -- "I'll read Knuffle-Bunny (even if it's for the umpteenth time), if I also get to read one chapter of The Children of Noisy Village." The bargain must be reasonable (i.e. one chapter, not the whole book) and you must have read Knuffle-Bunny or whatever so often that you both have it memorized. Trust that their tastes will change, and that all too soon you'll be wishing you had even one more snuggle with a contented, sleepy preschooler and Mo Willems.

The point is that when reading is pleasurable, they do it and they'll keep doing it. Kids stop reading because it becomes work: textbooks and class reading and beautiful passages analyzed to within an inch of their lives. Of course there are things that we have to read, but that's not what makes us fluent. Being fluent is what allows us to read the necessary stuff. Encourage reading fluency in your children by honoring their choices.