Lists, Lists, Lists

It's beautiful, isn't it? That's a word cloud created by The Christian Science Monitor of books that appear most often on recommended reading lists for children. If you're unfamiliar with word clouds, the basic idea is that the books that are in the largest print are the ones that appear the most often on the various lists they used. This particular list encompasses multiple age groups.

There are literally thousands of recommended reading lists out there in the ether. School districts publish them. So do bookstores, libraries, and a multitude of organizations. Here is a "quick-and-dirty" list of some of my favorites. I only have time for brief comments right now, but I hope to revisit later with more detailed information.

Oprah is known for her ability to help a book shoot to the top of the bestseller list. Here, she offers lists by age group and subject, as well as tips on fostering reading.

The Modern Library has a list of what many of us might call "the classics," with experts and readers choosing the top 100 novels.

TED is known for its stimulating and thoughtful talks. Some of the TED bloggers offer their picks for summer reading. This covers a wide range of genres and subjects!

No one's more expert about books than the International Reading Association. Here, they offer books chosen by teachers, children, and young adults.

BYU's Harold B. Lee Library has a summer list of what I'd consider Young Adult choices. Don't miss those links on the right sidebar to more lists!

Bestselling author James Patterson is a big promoter of childhood reading. After all--he has to ensure an audience for his books when the current audience of adults dies! At Read Kiddo Read he offers lists of new and older books based on age range and interest.

Inside a Dog is a play on the Groucho Marx quote, "Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside a dog, it's too dark to read." This Australian site features recommendations and reviews written by kids, for kids.

Compass Book Ratings and Facts on Fiction both take that step that so many parents have been hoping for--they actually give content ratings in some form, noting sexuality, violence, etc. The books range all over the map content and age wise, and the books reviewed are not extensive, but they're definitely worth a look.

And finally, check out The Book Genome Project. I haven't had much time to play here, but the idea is somewhat like Pandora--you enter the title of something you like, and the software generates a list of other books that there is a good chance you will enjoy. I definitely plan to spend some time investigating this one!

So there you have it. What's left? Book reviews, of course!

Choosing the right book--the technical stuff

There are a multitude of factors that go into choosing what to read. As adults, we often read the flap on the dust jacket or the back of a paperback book for a synopsis so we can decide if we're interested. Sometimes it's as easy as looking at the cover art (though, I should warn you, the cover artist has rarely read the book!). We talk to friends about what they're reading.

As parents/guiding adults, however, how do you know what book to give a child? After all, we don't want the book to be too hard or too easy, or the child will lose interest. We don't want to give them material that is developmentally inappropriate. What's a grownup to do?

To me, there are two different factors at work when choosing a book. One is the complexity of the text. How difficult is the vocabulary? Are the sentences long and complex, or short? How much text is there? What background knowledge is required to understand the text?

The other factor is content. What happens in the story? Is there mature subject matter? Is there sex, violence, drug use? After all, books don't come with content ratings like movies do--inadequate though they may be.

There are resources for all of these things. In this post, we'll focus on most of the first part--the text complexity. Background knowledge is a big topic all on its own, and will get its own post later.

There are many, many ways to determine the reading level of a book. For instance, Hoagie's Gifted gives over a dozen. Today, i'm going to focus on Lexile level. I made this choice for a few reasons. First, this is the level reference in the new  Common Core State Standards (yet another future post). Second, some libraries, including the one at my school, have begun using Lexile level stickers on the spines of their books to aid readers in their selection. If your school reports your child's reading level in another form, it can be converted to Lexile fairly easily.

So let's go to Lexile.com. Take some time and click around. Maybe watch some of the videos.

Are you back? Great! Here's some of the cool stuff that I like about using this website to help choose reading material for my child. That's on the "Find a Book" tab at the top of the page.

First, I don't  have to know my child's level. I can just answer two questions--my child's grade and whether the reading in that grade is too hard/just right/too easy. It's not perfect, but it's a good starting point. Then you can click boxes on what your child is interested in.

An alternative measure is to find a book that your child likes to read and search for it, then see what level that book is at.

"But wait!" you say. "My kid's favorite book isn't on there!" See that tab at the top that says "Lexile Analyzer"? It requires a (free) registration on the site, but you can enter some text from a book, article, or website, and the analyzer will give you the Lexile level. For example, I ran the text of this post so far through the analyzer, and it's a 760L. (Just as a point of reference, that used to be a 4-5 grade level, but is now midrange of a 2-3 grade level.)

Another nice thing about registering on the site is that you can create profiles. With those, you can create personalized reading lists.

At any rate, once you know at what approximate level your child reads, you can search within levels for books, or, if your child is interested in a book, you can check its level. For example, a friend's daughter was interested in a specific book. When I checked the Lexile, we discovered that it was enough above her current level that she would be frustrated, so my friend found a different book that covered the same ideas. Remember, we want our kids to stretch a little, but if a book is too challenging, they will be frustrated and lose interest. Enough frustration and we turn a child off reading.

Next: I've got a little list. No wait, I have a bunch of lists.

How to help kids who may be struggling

You may have noticed one of the suggested blogs on the lower right of this one. It has a funny name: Squeetus. I have no idea where the name came from, but it's written by author Shannon Hale. Hale writes young adult fantasy as well as some very fun grown-up books. (Austenland is coming out as a movie in August! I just hope it makes it to Pasco.)

Naturally, as an author, Hale promotes reading. Right now, she's running a chapter-by-chapter summer reading "group" of her novel The Goose Girl. (Good book! Pre-teen/tween girls would definitely enjoy it.)

A few months ago, Hale had guest blogger and teacher/literacy specialist Kirsten Wilcox discuss ways to help children read. I am unabashedly cutting and pasting here. This is long, because it was three days of posts. But I'm not going to apologize, because it's good!



When a child has learned the names and sounds of the alphabet and are able to start blending sounds together they are in the first stages of reading. When reading with a child, it is critical that children are reading books on an independent (98% accuracy) or instructional (95% accuracy) level. Anything beyond that is frustrating and will not be beneficial. A good note of thumb is if it's frustrating or difficult for you to listen to, it's probably frustrating for the child trying to do the reading. Confidence is key! 

Make sure you are consistently telling them what a good reader they are.  Try to keep things positive. If they're getting upset, go to an easier book for a while. 

When I first started reading with my 10 year old foster boy, he would get extremely angry and upset whenever he had to stop and fix a word, or got to a word he didn’t know. I knew I needed to keep things positive even though it was difficult.  I would never continue until he calmed down. When kids are angry and upset their “brains turn off” (just an expression I use). I told him we needed to get our reading done before he could play, etc but I couldn’t read with him till he was calm.  I also got some m&m’s and every time he came to a word he didn’t know and was able to stay calm and figure it out with my help he would get an m&m.  Sometimes we have to get creative in helping our kids to feel ok about making mistakes. They many times have ingrained in their mind that they are stupid or CAN’T do it.  If their mind believes they can’t do it, they really can’t. Confidence is everything, so if they’re struggling, the first step is to build their confidence through praise and finding them books they can be successful with, even if it means going back a level or two for a while. Sometimes one step back will gain two steps forward in the end. 

When a child gets stuck on a word help them use reading strategies to figure it out. If you see them getting overly frustrated, it's ok to just tell them the word once in a while especially if it's a word you know they aren't going to be able to figure out. 

Some of my favorite strategies [for struggling readers] are: Look at the picture, look for a word inside the word (ie: hand), look for parts you know (ie: playing), skip the word and read to the end of the sentence (I always tell my students when using this strategy to remember to go back and see if they can get it),  think about what makes sense, think of the first word that “pops” in your head. 


As a child uses these strategies, I praise them for it by saying "That's what good readers do". For instance, if a child reads a word wrong but then fixes it on their own I say, "Great job self correcting! That's what good readers do!" Or if I see a child look at the picture to try and figure out a word I say, "Great job looking at the picture. That's what good readers do."  



 
Preparing a child before they read a book is also very effective. When starting a new book with a child I always tell them the title. We look at the cover and I have them predict what they think the book is going to be about.  We then go on a “picture walk”. Go through each page looking at the pictures. Have the child talk about what they see and what they thing is going to happen.  As they are looking and talking about the pictures, scan the words and look for words you know they will have trouble with. Use those words over and over again as you talk about the picture with your child.  Sometimes I even point out the word on the page. I say, “look at this word.  It’s a hard one.  This says….). Sometimes I say, “laugh is a hard word. Do you think you can find it on this page?" Then we talk about it. I keep it light and joke with them. I say, “what a crazy word!” and read it the way it would sound if I said the sound of each letter. They usually laugh and I say, “No one knows why that word is spelled that way, it’s a red word. It doesn’t follow the rules”. Basically you are preparing them to read the book, so when it comes time for them to read it they are more successful.

There are different things you can do with them. Make sure you are reading with them when they read. Stop after every few sentences and talk about what was read. Here are some comprehension strategies I like:

Predict: Have your child tell you what they think will happen next.
Retell or Summarize: Have them tell you what they just read--do this every few sentences or paragraphs.  Don’t wait till a whole chapter has been read.
Make Connections: Have your child tell you what the book reminds them of. (ie. The Little Red Hen: This book reminds me of when my brother wouldn’t help me clean up our room, or when mom made us homemade bread, etc.) They can also make connections to other books (This book reminds me of Chicken Little because they both had Hens in it). 
Make a picture in their head:  Have them describe or draw what they are seeing when they read a part in the story. This is a skill some kids have to develop. 
Questioning:  Probably the one we’re the best at. Asking basic questions, but just because your child can answer the basic questions doesn’t mean they have good comprehension.
Inferring:  Many times kids can ask the basic questions but have trouble with inferring, where I believe true comprehension comes into play. For example: Once I was doing a reading group with some third graders. We were reading Stuart Little. There is a part in the book where the cat is talking to another cat about how frustrated he is having to share his home with a mouse he isn’t allowed to eat. Meanwhile a bird is sitting on top of a lightpost listening to their conversation. The other cat says he will go to the home and eat the mouse for him. That night Stuart Little finds a note saying he is in danger and needs to leave. When I asked the students, “Who do you think left the note?” No one could figure it out. We ended up reading it three times before someone finally said, “It was the bird!” A good rule of thumb is, when reading with your child, whenever your mind does something or thinks something, check to see if your child’s mind did the same thing. You would be surprised at how much they might be missing.

When reading any book, let your child look at the pictures and stop to talk about it.  This processing time is just as important as the time spent reading the words.

If your child is struggling with fluency: 

First of all, fluency isn't just reading fast. I tell my first graders, it's making your reading sound like talking. It includes reading smoothly, reading with expression, and phrasing correctly. Fluency and comprehension go hand in hand. Many times if a child is having trouble with fluency they are also struggling with comprehension and vice versa. 

One thing that can help with fluency is pair reading. When you pair read with your child, read the book together at the same time matching your speed to theirs. As your child starts to read more smoothly stop reading with them, when they start to get choppy, join in again. I always prepare my students before doing this. I tell them we are going to read together, but if I stop reading they should continue to read without stopping. 

I also really like the You Read To Me, I Read To You books by Mary Ann Hoberman. They are fun to read with your child to help build fluency and the kids really like them. I wouldn’t start this until your child is at least on an F or G reading level. 

It also helps children to hear fluent reading. Reading to your child can be effective. If you feel you aren’t a good reader, you can have your child listen to books on cd or audio books on the kindle or ipad. They should listen while following along with the book. 

Reading books more than once is huge when working with fluency.  If it is a chapter book I always pick a paragraph for them to read a few times working on fluency. Many times I try to find a paragraph with quotes, because phrasing can be tricky and imperative to comprehension. It can also help them work on their reading expression.  

Common mistakes parents make while helping their kids learning to read:



Covering up the pictures: Even if your child is on a beginning level and you feel they are just “memorizing the words” they are still reading. DO NOT COVER UP THE PICTURES! If they have “memorized” the words they are still benefiting from reading the book, especially if you have them point to the words as they are reading it. Each time they look at the word and read it correctly it is working its way into their memory. 


Getting books that are above their child's reading level: Don’t get anxious and buy harder books because you want them to grow. This will slow their learning down rather than speed it up and will cause confidence issues.  


Continuing to read with a child when they are frustrated and angry: When a child is angry they are unable to concentrate, focus or think. This will only lead to more anger from both child and parent, and confirm their belief that they don’t like reading. Try saying, “I can see that your angry right now, and need a little time to cool down. Go get a drink and let me know when you’re feeling better about things”. Sometimes they’ll insist they are ready even when you know they aren’t. I usually say, “I love you too much too read with you when you’re upset.  We need to take a few minutes to calm down”. They don’t need to go to time out, and it doesn’t need to be a consequence. When working with my foster boy, he would sometimes throw a raging fit about it, but he quickly learned it just made things last longer. I never talked to him about it when he was in the angry state. I learned from their therapist that kids can’t process what you are saying when they are angry. It is better to talk to them about things when they have calmed down and their mind can listen and think things through.  


Telling a child to sound it out whenever they come to a word they don't know: Sounding out a word is only one strategy and isn’t the answer to everything. Many words can’t be sounded out. I usually say, “Let’s say the sounds of the first couple of letters and see if the word ‘pops’ in our head”. Or I just completely use the other strategies all together. 

Correcting a word immediately after the child makes a mistake:  Sometimes when reading the child will read the word wrong. Let them continue reading to the end of the sentence to see if they can figure out that the word didn’t make sense. If they go back and correct it on their own, praise them for it. If they don’t go back, ask them if what they just read made sense.  


Getting frustrated when a child can't figure out a word or saying, "You just read that word!!!" This can be frustrating for us as adults, but even if a child just read a word, or it is a word you just talked about, they might need to see it and read it 500 more times before it becomes rote. This is all part of the learning process and it’s ok. How many things do we need to hear and do before we get something new down correctly? 


Not reading with their child on a daily basis (even when they've made it to chapter books): I know it takes a lot of time, and is extremely difficult. I’ve experienced this first hand, but reading with your child 20-30 minutes each day is so important especially if they’re struggling. If it is too much time for them you can break it up into smaller pieces. Let part of the time be talking about the pictures and the book. Practice sight words with your child (there are many apps that help kids learn sight words you can use for part of the reading time). 

The most important thing is to have fun with it and keep it positive.

Wow--that was a lot of reading! Good for you for making it so far!

I'd like to add one more thing, based on my observations of my high school freshmen. Help your child to build up reading stamina. It is very frustrating to watch my students take the MAP (Measures of Academic Progress) test and, when they come to a longer passage (think 3-4 longish paragraphs--maybe the word count of one page in a standard paragraph, at the most) and say, "That's too much; I can't read that!", guess at the answer, and move on. They do the same thing with longer passages on the required-to-graduate HSPE test their sophomore year. Gradually help your child to read longer works at their appropriate reading level so they know they can read a longer passage!

Well, that's a lot of posts today, but it's all laying groundwork for the fun stuff. Tomorrow, resources for choosing what to read.

And, by the way, I know we've been talking a lot about helping kids to read. Don't worry, what's coming will be for the grownups, too! 

Tips, but not Tricks

There are many websites out there with good information about helping kids to enjoy and be good at reading. Let's pretend we're starting with a very small to early school-aged child.

One good source of tips is I Can Read. (Fair Warning: This is a commercial site and does gently encourage you to purchase their books.) They have sections for parents and families, educators, and activities you can do, all of which promote literacy and skills. For instance:

Have fun reading aloud. When you read books aloud to your children, have fun with the words and the story.

• Try using different voices for different characters—like a high, squeaky voice for a mouse or a low, deep voice for a lion.
• If there are silly sounds in the book, make them sound really silly. Honk, toot, and burble to your heart’s content.
• Let your children participate as much as possible. If there is a phrase that repeats, let them say the phrase along with you. If you’re reading a poem that rhymes, pause before the rhyming words and let them guess what the words will be.

Show your children that words are everywhere. Read with your children wherever you go.

• With younger children, read the words on street signs, store signs, restaurant menus, and cereal boxes.
• With older children, read directions out loud when you are assembling a toy, baking a cake, or installing a ceiling fan. Older children can even help out by reading directions to you as you work. This teaches them that reading is an important part of everyday life.

Play games with words. Here are two simple games you can try:

• Help younger children learn the alphabet by playing “I Spy with My Little Eye” with letters. Can they find a letter “T” at the bus stop? Can they find a letter “C” while walking to preschool?
• Help older children develop their reading skills by playing a silly sentence game. Give them an old magazine or newspaper page to cut up. What silly sentences can they make with the words in the headlines?

Bring home books for your children to enjoy. There are many ways to learn about books that your children might enjoy.

• Ask your librarian for suggestions. Tell him or her about your children’s ages, interests, and reading levels.
• Ask your children’s friends what they have enjoyed reading.
• Think about the books you enjoyed as a child. Your children might like to read or hear their mom or dad’s favorite book. 

I've done most of these with my children at some time or other, and they're not hard--and they do help.

There's not time or space here for me to give you every website that can give you good ideas. I did a web search for "tips to help children become good readers" and came up with loads of good sites. There is some overlap there, of course. 

Some of the strategies may not fit your personality. If you're not a very extroverted person or not comfortable being silly, then using funny voices for characters might not be for you. And if you're uncomfortable, then reading will become stressful for both you and your child. Remember, the key is for reading to be fun!
 
 What do I do for my struggling reader, you ask? Stay tuned for some advice from a successful author.

Creating a Culture of Reading

I hope that it is now obvious that reading is important--not just for the pleasure it can bring, but because of the tangible, real-world benefits that it brings. So how do we promote reading in our families?

First, I believe that we can build a culture of literacy in our home. Read to your children from infancy. (I have heard of some who read to their babies in the womb!) When my mom saw me doing this with Canna when Canna was just a month old, she thought I was nuts. But Canna was reaching out and turning pages when she was only four months old. She knew the alphabet at age two-and-a-half just because we’d point out letters. And she read at four-and-a-half. We didn’t do Your Baby Can Read. We didn’t do any particular program. We just read to her--a lot. We engaged with words around us. We engaged with the stories we read by looking at the pictures and noticing details that were in the words we read, by predicting what might happen in the story, by connecting it with Canna’s own experience.

Next, make sure the family is reading--together and individually. Some of the best memories in our family are family read-alouds, even after the now-grown kids were proficient readers. My husband read them the Oz books when they were young. We discovered Harry Potter as a read-aloud. (That one only lasted for the first four books; after that the kids were meeting the mailman at the door whenever the new ones were released.) Before we had cars with good audio systems, I would read aloud on road trips to make the time pass. We have a common family heritage of shared stories. For those families who have a religious tradition, family scripture reading is another way to promote reading as well as spiritual instruction.

The statistics about boys and reading are increasingly frightening. The importance of men being an example is ever more important. Having husbands/fathers/significant males in a child’s life read with them gives the message that this is not just a girl thing. If you are a woman whose male companion is a reluctant reader, perhaps you can persuade him to do it for the benefit of the kids. If you are a man who hates to read, please consider the importance of not letting the kids know that. Even just 15 minutes a day can convince the kids that men read too.

That said, family “DEAR” (Drop Everything and Read) time can be very effective. For a set period of time--and preferably a consistent time of day and day(s) of the week--turn off anything that requires an electrical outlet or battery (except the lights!) and pick up a book, magazine, newspaper or (an exception to the no-electricity rule!) e-reader (just make sure no one’s cheating and playing Candy Crush instead), and  READ! Then, for five or ten minutes, share what you read. What did you enjoy? What was difficult? How does it connect with your life?

Next time: Strategies to help create stronger readers.

Some eye-openers

Reading appears to be on the decline in our country. There are many possible causes, including yes, the availability of media. But there are also cultural issues. Our boys, especially, struggle with reading more than ever before, and part of this is a perception that just sitting and reading is a "girl thing" and not a masculine activity. 

Here are a few statistics to help illustrate the impact of reading on every part of life:

According to the literacy fast facts from the National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL), literacy is defined as "using printed and written information to function in society, to achieve one's goals, and to develop one's knowledge and potential."
"One measure of literacy is the percentage of adults who perform at four achievement levels: Below Basic, Basic, Intermediate, and Proficient. In each type of literacy, 13 percent of adults were at or above Proficient (indicating they possess the skills necessary to perform complex and challenging literacy activities) in 2003. Twenty-two percent of adults were Below Basic (indicating they possess no more than the most simple and concrete literacy skills) in quantitative literacy, compared with 14 percent in prose literacy and 12 percent in document literacy."

Literacy statistics worldwide

• According to UNICEF, "Nearly a billion people will enter the 21st century unable to read a book or sign their names and two thirds of them are women."

Literacy statistics and juvenile court

• 85 percent of all juveniles who interface with the juvenile court system are functionally illiterate.
• More than 60 percent of all prison inmates are functionally illiterate.
• Penal institution records show that inmates have a 16% chance of returning to prison if they receive literacy help, as opposed to 70% who receive no help. This equates to taxpayer costs of $25,000 per year per inmate and nearly double that amount for juvenile offenders.
• Illiteracy and crime are closely related. The Department of Justice states, "The link between academic failure and delinquency, violence, and crime is welded to reading failure." Over 70% of inmates in America's prisons cannot read above a fourth grade level.

Many of the USA ills are directly related to illiteracy. Just a few statistics:

• Literacy is learned. Illiteracy is passed along by parents who cannot read or write.
• One child in four grows up not knowing how to read.
• 43% of adults at Level 1 literacy skills live in poverty compared to only 4% of those at Level 5
• 3 out of 4 food stamp recipients perform in the lowest 2 literacy levels
• 90% of welfare recipients are high school dropouts
• 16 to 19 year old girls at the poverty level and below, with below average skills, are 6 times more likely to have out-of-wedlock children than their reading counterparts.
• Low literary costs $73 million per year in terms of direct health care costs. A recent study by Pfizer put the cost much higher.
  
  Source: Begin to Read
  
  But wait, there's more:
  
  
  A great number of children and adults struggle with reading.
  
• Thirty-three percent of 4th grade public school students are at or below the “Basic” level on the 2009 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) reading tests. Twenty-six percent of 8th grade public school students performed at or below the “Basic” level on the NAEP reading test (NCES, 2009).
• Among 4th graders, 53 percent of African American students, 52 percent of Hispanic students, and 48 percent of American Indian students scored below the “Basic” level on the NAEP reading test. Among 8th graders, 44 percent of African American students, 41 percent of Hispanic students, and 37 percent of American Indian students scored below the “Basic” level on the NAEP reading test (NCES, 2009).
• Forty-nine percent of 4th graders eligible for free and reduced-price meals finished below “Basic” on the NAEP reading test. Forty percent of 8th graders eligible for free and reduced-price meals scored below “Basic” on the NAEP reading test (NCES, 2009).
• The number of high school seniors who read at or above “Proficient” has been declining since 1992, according to the NAEP reading test (NCES, 2002).

Children of all ages need year-round access to books and increased reading motivation.

• Fifty-three percent of 4th graders report that they read for fun on their own “Almost Every Day.” Among 8th graders, only 20 percent report reading for fun on their own “Almost Every Day” (NCES, 2009).
• Fourth graders who reported reading for fun “Almost Every Day” scored 3 percent higher (215) on the NAEP reading test than peers who reported reading “Never or Hardly Ever” (195) (NCES, 2009).
• Fourth graders who reported having 25 books or more at home had higher scores on reading tests than children who reported they didn’t have that many books (NCES, 2003).
• During the summer break, low-income students lose more than two months of reading achievement (Cooper, 1996).
• About two-thirds of the 9th grade achievement gap between lower- and higher-income youth can be explained by unequal access to summer learning opportunities during the elementary school years. As a result, low-income youth are less likely to graduate from high school or enter college (Alexander et al., 2007).
• Parents consistently cite summer as the most difficult time to ensure that their children have productive things to do (Duffett et al., 2004).

Families play an important role in their children’s reading success.

• Forty-three percent of adults read at or below the “Basic” level. This accounts for roughly 93 million individuals (NAAL, 2003).
• Twenty-six percent of children who were read to three or four times in the last week by a family member recognized all letters of the alphabet. This is compared to 14 percent of children who were read to less frequently (NEA, 2009).
• Where parent involvement is low, the classroom mean average is 46 points below the national average. Where involvement is high, classrooms score 28 points above the national average—a gap of 74 points (NEA, 2009).
• Less than half of families read to their kindergarten-age children on a daily basis (West et al., 2000). 

Source: Reading is Fundamental 

I'm not done yet:

The following statistics and quotes from Dan Gioia, Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, are from the 2007 NEA Report “To Read or Not To Read,” a comprehensive analysis of reading patterns of children, teenagers, and adults in the United States, which assembled data on reading trends from more than 40 sources, including federal agencies, universities, foundations, and associations. The compendium expands the investigation of the NEA’s landmark 2004 report, “Reading at Risk”:

“The fact that nearly one-third of American teenagers drop out of school is deeply connected to declining literacy and reading comprehension. With lower levels of reading and writing ability, people do less well in the job market. Poor reading skills correlate heavily with lack of employment, lower wages, and fewer opportunities for advancement. Significantly worse reading skills are found among prisoners than in the general adult population. And deficient readers are less likely to become active in civic and cultural life, most notably in volunteerism and voting…. The habit of daily reading overwhelmingly correlates with better reading skills and higher academic achievement. On the other hand, poor reading skills correlate with lower levels of financial and job success…. Regular reading not only boosts the likelihood of an individual’s academic and economic success—facts that are not especially surprising—but it also seems to awaken a person’s social and civic sense. Reading correlates with almost every measurement of positive personal and social behavior surveyed.” -– Dana Gioia, Chairman, NEA

* Children who read well do better in other subjects, and in all aspects of school and beyond.

* Reading skills correspond directly to one’s ability to…
- be an informed citizen
- communicate effectively
- earn a higher salary
- succeed in one’s chosen career, and
- achieve personal fulfillment * Literary readers are:
-  3 times as likely to attend a performing arts event
-  4 times as likely to visit an art museum
-  2 1/2 times as likely to do volunteer or charity work
-  1 1/2 times as likely to attend sporting events, and
-  1 ½ times as likely to participate in sports activities.

* Less than half (48%) of the adult [American] population now reads literature for pleasure. This decline in reading literature occurs across all ages, sexes and races. The decline is most pronounced among the young.
* The percentage of 17-year-olds who read nothing at all for pleasure has doubled over a 20-year period. Yet the amount they read for school or homework (15 or fewer pages daily for 62% of students) has stayed the same.

(National Endowment for the Arts – “To Read or Not to Read”; corroborated by “Adult Literacy in America” a report from the National Center for Educational Statistics)

Additional Statistics:

More than 20 percent of adults read at or below a fifth-grade level – far below the level needed to earn a living wage.
(National Institute for Literacy, Fast Facts on Literacy, 2001)

50 percent of American adults are unable to read an eighth grade level book.
(Jonathan Kozol, Illiterate America)

Children who have not developed some basic literacy skills by the time they enter school are 3 – 4 times more likely to drop out in later years.
(National Adult Literacy Survey, NCES, U.S. Department of Education)

It is estimated that the cost of illiteracy to business and the taxpayer is $20 billion per year.
(United Way, “Illiteracy: A National Crisis”)

By the time they become college seniors, one in three students read nothing at all for pleasure in a given week.
(National Endowment for the Arts, “To Read or Not to Read” )

 
 Source: Raising Bookworms

But wait, there's still more! 

Okay, now I've bombarded you with information on the state of reading in our country. 

Next up: Some things you can do about it.

So, just to get things started...

Yeah, I like big books.