A Mom Pal with young elementary kids asked me how she can get her kids to read. She’s frustrated that her kids only read what’s assigned in class and don’t want to read outside of school. This is a common complaint that stems from a common misconception.
“What do they like to read?” I asked, so I could recommend books tailored to each child’s interest.
“I only want them to read classic literature,” Mom Pal replied.
And that’s the problem. When parents say we want our kids to read, what we really mean is that we want them to read only serious books. I fell into this with my first kid, CB. I wanted him to read to become smarter.
I got CB educational books for every possible interest he had. When CB played basketball, I got books on basketball history, training, and technique. Then, to inspire him, I got books on Michael Jordan, NBA teams and players, and famous coaches.
If we visited a museum, I got activity books on art, artists, and museums. When CB was three, we visited New York, so CB had lift-a-flap book on airports and airplanes, then we read a NY guidebook together. Holidays were history lessons on Easter, Halloween, and Christmas. We even have a children’s encyclopedia of the Bible.
CB was a willing nerd collaborator. He read whatever educational publication I gave him—— science books, illustrated dictionaries, car and tech magazines, and puzzle books. CB even started to read some kids’ classics. I felt like a Valedictorian Mom who was breeding a Da Vinci-Tesla.
So when my second came along, I call him Thursday, I thought he would follow the pattern set by CB. I also thought I would get more mileage out of the books I bought for CB.
Read just for the sake of it
But Thursday was visual. He preferred perusing colorful picture books from the time he could sit up at six months. No matter how I tried to get him interested, Thursday did not like to read educational books—-or any book outside of school
I couldn’t understand it. How could I spawn a kid who doesn’t like to read?! It must be from his father’s side.
So what do I do? I had to quickly revise my vision of what it meant to Get Your Child to Read. It was no longer about getting the child to read for knowledge. What mattered most was to get him to read from a young age
until he developed the habit of reading.
But how do you hook someone on reading? The same way a teen becomes a weekend drunk. By making it fun.
How do you make reading fun? Definitely not with Shakespeare. Find out what’s fun for your child.
In Thursday’s case, he loved comic books. I noticed he kept rereading my old Calvin and Hobbes collection by the genius Bill Watterson.
Now before you turn up your intellectual noses, I too used to look down at comic books as not-really-books. Though I spent many fun summers with Garfield and Archie’s, I never considered them real reading. They’re like cookies. Delicious but not nutritious. But Thursday was starving literary so I had to feed him what he’s willing to digest, even if it wasn’t to my taste.
Comics are now published as books geared for kids and teens.
Comics aren’t what they used to be
I was surprised by how much comic books have changed from newspaper Sunday cartoons to full-blown published books. Since the late 1990s, there have been many bestselling comic book series led by toilet-humored Captain Underpants, Big Nate, Geronimo Stilton, and the now classic Diary of a Wimpy Kid.
Once Thursday began to enjoy reading, I had to maintain the momentum. My other kids consumed comics too.
To feed The Cubs’ hunger for comics, we went to the library’s Graphic Novel section and discovered more comic book series like Dog Man, reissued books on Garfield, and adaptations of superheroes like Superman and Spiderman.
There were also humor comic strips for teens like Zits and Foxtrot. Later, The Cubs read chapter graphic novel series like The Spy School Secret Service, The Babysitter’s Club, and Smile by Raina Telgemeier.
For older kids, there were chapter books with fun drawings like The Spiderwick Chronicles.
There were also illustrated versions for book series like Harry Potter, graphic novels for classics like The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, and a manga for Alice in Wonderland.
But just because I let The Cubs read comics doesn’t mean they can read any old trash. This is still reading, so I made sure they read quality comics with good writing and excellent art, like Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman.
Make it a habit
The library is a rich source of free tax-paid books and reading resources. I’ve always taken CB to the library’s story times. So now Thursday had to come along too. After story time, both kids freely browse the library to choose their own books to borrow.
It’s important to let the child choose what books he can read because nothing is more oppressive than to have their Tiger Mom force them to read about Another Boring Guy.
Our weekly library trip is a part of our family routine. The kids already know when we will go to the library that the night before, they prepare their book bags and fill it with books to return. This becomes our weekly reading habit.
My kids also join the library’s Summer Reading Program where they read a set number of books to earn prizes.
But the simplest and hardest thing I had to do was to read to The Cubs every night. It’s not because I want to spend any more time with them after a full day of catering to their needs. A parent who spends time to read to a child tells the child: that he is special, that he can rely on this private time with his parent, and that reading is so important that his parent will drop everything just to read with him. The child snuggles into the warmth of close reading as he listens to the calming voice of the parent, who at this brief time is not nagging him.
Linking reading to a fun, or at least fond, memory like nightly story time with a parent will make the child associate reading with pleasure. If the child associates enjoyment with reading, then he’s more likely to recreate that enjoyment by reading.
Other book-related fun activities
I looked for opportunities to fuel The Cubs’ interest in comics. One was a Comics Convention held at our library where a guest artist and writer would speak. We attended as a family, listened to the talks, tried the various activities, looked at the comics on display, and came home with gift bags of free comic books, comics samplers, and art supplies.
My Dad used to illustrate for Sampaguita comics so one Christmas, I gave The Cubs colored pens and their own blank comic books for them to draw their own stories. Of course, they made fun of each other through their comics and filled it with their sophisticated fart humor.
I also got them activity books where you draw your answers or fill in illustrations.
I also borrowed nonfiction books on design, architecture, drawing, and how to draw comics. Even if they were barely perused, it still likely influenced their tastes.
Comic book superheroes have expanded into nonfiction for all ages.
I took my cue from the moneymaking maven Marvel and gifted Marvel and DC character encyclopedias. Thursday loved reading about the superheroes, their origin stories, and development. He even wrote, produced, filmed, and edited stop motion movies of Night Wing.
Of course we watched all the superhero movies too. Since My Cubs read the comics first, they knew when the storyline deviated from the original.
The best influence of them all is still from peers. Since they study in Silicon Valley, kids talked about books, along with movies and music. My kids heard about new books from their friends who were discussing it. So they’re not left out, they quickly checked out the book so they could be part of the conversation. I just love nerd friends.
Did it work?
Comic books are harder to write than books because the stories are constrained by small panels and limited words. When my Dad drew comics, he had to leave space for the dialogue.
The small space forced the writers to tell their story in the fewest words and panels possible. It had to be tight yet engrossing. Very few novelists can do that.
Thursday got used to reading gripping stories that he easily transitioned to book series like Alex Rider and The Mazer Runner. Till now he can’t tolerate badly written stories.
I’d love to tell you that The Cubs are all super bookworms like me. But YouTube’s got them by their eyeballs. They also claim they’re “busy” with college and work.
I still try to entice my kids to read by borrowing books they might like and leaving it on the dining table and by the bedroom. Sometimes I see them peruse the books but I don’t want to ruin reading for them by imposing it.
As for Mom Pal, I dragged her to the library that same day and picked a bagful of comics for her kids to sample. I told her to make weekly library trips, go to story time, and read nightly. Most of all, the kids have to choose their own books. And it has to be fun for the kids.
A few months later, I saw Mom Pal at the library lugging two heavy bags of books. She happily told me that her kids now pester her to go to the library so they can browse and get more books. Now they don’t want to go home!
Ivy is a lawyer turned columnist. For comments, questions, suggestions, email me at IvyDigest@gmail.com.
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