Cheat Sheet is a ”help desk” for parents. Please e-mail your parenting or education-related questions to email@example.com. Our virtual team of experts will weigh in with their advice. Questions and answers will be posted on this blog.
QUESTION: I’m a parent of a 9th grade student who doesn’t like to read. There are thousands of books, but he claims that he can’t find a topic or subject that really interests and motivates him to read in his spare time. Are there any tools (questionnaire, reading assessments, book lists, etc) that could identify suitable books that my teenage son might enjoy and would encourage him to read?
ANSWER: Although I am an avid reader and writer and have been most of my life, I can remember feeling exactly the same way when I was in 9th grade. I couldn’t find anything that I wanted to read.
I think the first step for you as a parent — and I sense that you have done this already — is to give your child free reign. By taking a step back and allowing young readers to choose for themselves, you can convert an obligatory activity into a wide-open opportunity. Ideally, perusing the library or bookstore should produce an appetite for reading. If it doesn’t, here are a few other ideas.
1) The British web 2.0 tool “What Should I Read Next?” is fun to play with. It isn’t designed specifically for kids, but most 9th graders read on an adult level. It works like this: enter the name of the last book you enjoyed. The program produces a list of books you might want to read based on the preferences of other readers who enjoyed that book.
2) Some teens prefer social over solitary activities. Although a 9th grader may not be interested in a book club, there might be other ways in which reading could become more social. By 9th grade, students are often interested in books that expand what they know of the world, and they can discuss these books in a sophisticated way if you encourage them to share their opinions and listen to what they have to say.
3) This may sound like a cop-out — I don’t mean it as such — but you might have to expand your idea of reading by including magazines, Web sites, blogs and graphic novels.
The goal is to help your child develop the love of reading and have faith that the ability to discriminate between trash and treasure will follow.
— Robin Reagler, executive director of Writers in the Schools
ANSWER: I would encourage her to go to the Lexile Web site and use the Find-A-Book tool. This tool uses both a questionnaire of student interests and a the student’s Lexile level to help them find books of interest for them at their Lexile level. To find the Lexile level of her son, the mom can either look at the TAKS report that was sent home in the Spring or the Stanford Report. Both indicate the student’s Lexile level–a number with an “L” after it (e.g. 1020L).
— HISD Adolescent Literacy Manager Tina Angelo
ANSWER: My son, now entering high school, used to be a big reader but his interest in novels has waned for the same reason. However, he is very interested in “Manga” type material which is written in comic book form, but more advanced than your average comic book. They are about the size of a paperback novel. He loves the story lines I think because he can somewhat relate to these characters as they are mostly teenagers. These are very popular with this age group. He’s also very interested in technology and there are lots of magazines on that, as well as Manga. You can find any of these at any book store. While I would love for him to read a novel, I feel as long as he’s reading material that will still advance his reading comprehension I am happy with this compromise. Plus, he’s still reading the novels I crave for him in school.
— Julie Churchman, Houston parent
Any other advice for this parent? Questions of your own?