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Book people think they know why 9-year-olds stop reading for fun

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Re: Book people think they know why 9-year-olds stop reading for fun

#291

Post by btilly »

nytesky wrote: post #259
gwbas1c wrote: post #88

Take a closer look at how much homework children have, and how much assigned, mandatory reading children have. I went to a private "college prep" high school, and the amount of assigned, mandatory reading was insane. I spent so much time reading assigned novels that I just didn't have time to read for pleasure. (And why read for pleasure if I already spent 30+ minutes reading a boring / awful novel as part of my home…

Out elementary and middle schools have a no to low homework policy. By high school the most they assign to non AP courses is 15 min per class. Only assignment is reading 30 min a night, any book they want (including graphic novels). Yet that does not foster a love of reading. I had a ton of homework, but still read a book a week (though I did not do sports, only band, so had way more time than most mainstream student…

Our? Where?

My kids had far more than that.

Re: Book people think they know why 9-year-olds stop reading for fun

#292

Post by skydhash »

gknoy wrote: post #136
2024throwaway wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

These are... not books. I'm not saying they are not worthy of consumption or anything like that, but A: I doubt very many teachers would accept a "book report" written about a graphic novel and B: consuming graphic novels, by their nature, is not purely reading. Your brain/imagination has far less work to do, as you don't have to mentally picture the scenes/people/actions, they are right there for you to look at.

These are... not books. you don't have to mentally picture the scenes/people/actions I sort of see what you're saying, even if I don't agree with it. I think the really neat thing about these, are that they present _classic stories_ in a way that is more appealing, and more easily digestible, to kids who might never have considered them otherwise. I remember when I was in middle school, my English teacher had a box i…

That makes a while since I've read physical books, but the great things I liked when I was a child was books with illustrations. Not the one with a picture every two pages, but one that tries to paint the atmosphere of the books. For short fictions (150 pages), I'm OK with the cover, but for anything longer a few full pages pictures kinda kept me in. It anchored me in the story.

I'd enjoyed The Malazan Book of the Fallen more if I had this edition: https://subterraneanpress.com/erikson-gotm/

Re: Book people think they know why 9-year-olds stop reading for fun

#293

Post by em-bee »

gknoy wrote: post #122
bluerooibos wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> rediscovered reading Any tips? I didn't, somehow. After leaving high school, then university, my brain went into full on "be productive all the time" mode. My brain somehow doesn't think reading is a good use of my time, so I've settled for audiobooks when falling asleep or on long drives. The last book I was able to devour and actually enjoyed was the Harry Potter series, which ended just before I went to universi…

Seconding the "audiobooks count" that Imzadi said, I'd like to note that the Martian audiobook is exceptional, and I've heard that others by Weir are excellent as well. You might enjoy reading _short_ novels. I really liked the "All Systems Red" series, each of them feels short enough to read in a day. If you enjoyed Harry Potter, you might also enjoy the Invisible Library series, or maybe the Harry Dresden novels. T…

i loved Project Hail Mary. read it in a book club where we pick a new book each month. totally helps finding new stuff to read.

reading at bedtime doesn't work for me because i fall asleep in the middle and then i have to figure out what i missed.

Re: Book people think they know why 9-year-olds stop reading for fun

#294

Post by emseetech »

em-bee wrote: post #284
emseetech wrote: post #246

Earlier quoted context omitted.

| Any tips? Here's a trick that helped me after a ten+ year hiatus and having my attention fried by social media: A lot of people who have lost their attention span to technology will find themselves reading but not absorbing, their mind wandering, until they realize they'd "read" 3 pages and don't remember what happened. So read slow and with purpose, but most importantly at the end of each page, ask yourself what y…

i got the same problem with audiobooks. if my mind is occupied i have to relisten, sometimes multiple times, until i can focus enough. it does depend on the writing style though. it happens more when the story is difficult to understand.

I could never do audiobooks for that reason. It was simply too easy to get distracted.

Re: Book people think they know why 9-year-olds stop reading for fun

#295

Post by em-bee »

hehdhdjehehegwv wrote: post #203
triceratops wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Weird. At 9 I randomly picked whatever looked interesting. If I liked it, I proceeded to read every single other thing by that author. There was no "word of mouth" because I was the only kid in my class who read for pleasure.

When I was that age my teacher had a thing where reading something like 3 books got you out of a lot of homework and your parent had to sign a paper listing what you read and you turned it in. As a kid who already hated school, and used reading as an escape from a pretty shit childhood, I was clocking in 5 books a week. The teacher first accused my parents of lying that I read that many books, because it quickly got…

was there any benefit to reading more than 3 books in a given time period? if not i would have only reported 3 books. it's none of their business what i do beyond that.

the lesson is that overachievers are often not welcome.

Re: Book people think they know why 9-year-olds stop reading for fun

#296

Post by HideousKojima »

triceratops wrote: post #157
akira2501 wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Kids don’t need to see digital advertisements to make a decision. They need access to a library stocked with recently published books that kids will enjoy. At 9 I had no idea how to go into a massive thing like a library and make a selection for myself. "Word of mouth" made a lot of choices for me when I was young.

Weird. At 9 I randomly picked whatever looked interesting. If I liked it, I proceeded to read every single other thing by that author. There was no "word of mouth" because I was the only kid in my class who read for pleasure.

About once a month my parents would take me to a book shop and I would (almost) invariably grab a new Star Wars Extended Universe novel

Re: Book people think they know why 9-year-olds stop reading for fun

#297

Post by quirk »

feoren wrote: post #240
quirk wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd like to propose an update to Godwin's law; call it NPC's Law or maybe just Trump's Law if we're being literal: "As an online discussion of a problem grows longer, the probability of assigning blame to Donald Trump approaches 1."

I mean, they're literally banning books ... like, that was a major platform issue very recently ... "why does everyone keep blaming the cannibals for all the half-eaten corpses lying around!?" ...

Keeping certain books out of school libraries for younger age kids is not a bad idea. Just like preventing children from watching porn is not a bad idea. Parenting is about finding a balance between protection and pushing their boundaries. Schools should be safe places to learn without having to worry about your kid coming home wanting to transition into an asexual raccoon or whatever the hell is trendy that year.

Re: Book people think they know why 9-year-olds stop reading for fun

#298

Post by skydhash »

farceSpherule wrote: post #110

My idea of reading for fun as a kid, and even now, included(s) reading technical manuals, research papers, encyclopedia, or other materials where I am gaining knowledge. I have always hated reading fiction and never saw the point in wasting time on it. I would prefer to waste that same time on watching a movie.

Fiction can be nice. But the hardest is finding good books. I like computer science and electronic books and finding good materials to explore the fields is relatively easy. They're more dense so I can use them for a longer period of time. Finding a good fiction book is not that easy (even though I restrict myself to Fantasy and a little bit of SF). I have a list of 153 series (some I still have to explore) collected over 3-5 years. I've read more, but that's basically the ones that warranted a reread. And even then some are just for light reading.

Re: Book people think they know why 9-year-olds stop reading for fun

#299

Post by shannifin »

gwbas1c wrote: post #88

Take a closer look at how much homework children have, and how much assigned, mandatory reading children have. I went to a private "college prep" high school, and the amount of assigned, mandatory reading was insane. I spent so much time reading assigned novels that I just didn't have time to read for pleasure. (And why read for pleasure if I already spent 30+ minutes reading a boring / awful novel as part of my home…

I confess I mostly just read cliffsnotes and sparksnotes. Felt a little guilty about it at first, but it helped me ace the tests, and saved a ton of time.

Re: Book people think they know why 9-year-olds stop reading for fun

#300

Post by em-bee »

emseetech wrote: post #294
em-bee wrote: post #284

Earlier quoted context omitted.

i got the same problem with audiobooks. if my mind is occupied i have to relisten, sometimes multiple times, until i can focus enough. it does depend on the writing style though. it happens more when the story is difficult to understand.

I could never do audiobooks for that reason. It was simply too easy to get distracted.

it takes some practice. and i find it's more difficult with short stories because there every detail counts. if you miss a few details from a longer book, it tends to matter less.

and then while listening i need to do an activity that doesn't require mental focus.

so i can't sit in front of the computer, unless it is mundane photo editing or some other repetitive task that doesn't make me think.

going for a walk and housework work for me. especially housework. there is nothing else i can do while washing dishes, cooking, doing laundry or cleaning. the work doesn't require much focus, and is quite repetitive. that makes listening easy.

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