tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17229339.post114313208072416432..comments2023-08-12T02:33:29.988-05:00Comments on 2 B Read: Reading for FunSylvia Dayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06489243230694413409noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17229339.post-1143216470179891352006-03-24T11:07:00.000-05:002006-03-24T11:07:00.000-05:00You make a good point. I remember reading for plea...You make a good point. I remember reading for pleasure as a kid and I still love escaping the stress of everyday life with a good book. The key to a great fun read is a book that helps the reader create a movie in her head. Unlike the two-dimensional films on the silver screen--those movies of the imagination feel, smell and sound real. (Well, films these days do have the sound right, usually, Teresa Bodwellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10879370271292336388noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17229339.post-1143214244881584842006-03-24T10:30:00.000-05:002006-03-24T10:30:00.000-05:00Even manga and comic books. I had cousins who, as ...Even manga and comic books. I had cousins who, as banker's kids, had lots more spending money than I did--the college teacher's kid, and they spent some of that money on comics. I would scour their house every week (they lived near my brother's and my piano teacher, so when one of us was at lessons, the rest of us would hang out with the cousins) for comics I hadn't read and had a great time withGail Daytonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12799083467910831241noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17229339.post-1143182850227923582006-03-24T01:47:00.000-05:002006-03-24T01:47:00.000-05:00I've been interested in the high school reading de...I've been interested in the high school reading debate since I read this great book by an English teacher, Mary Leonhardt: Parents Who Love Reading, Kids Who Don't. We corresponded for a while, since I wrote a resource text for elementary teachers using genres to teach reading (including romance; hard to find a lot of titles at that time for young readers but I tried!). Our premise was that youTessa McDermidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03370248836658261192noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17229339.post-1143173327165480892006-03-23T23:08:00.000-05:002006-03-23T23:08:00.000-05:00I knew many people in high school who insisted the...I knew many people in high school who insisted they hated to read until someone gave them a genre book and then they became addicted. Since reading is a leisure time activity, it's got to be natural to gravitate to something you enjoy doing. Recently I was doing an exercise on author branding for a publicity course and had to name three things I thought of when given an author's name. Sharon Pagehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15204125452024951988noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17229339.post-1143170624982504252006-03-23T22:23:00.000-05:002006-03-23T22:23:00.000-05:00Gym class is a good analogy. If gym class is set u...Gym class is a good analogy. If gym class is set up so that it's like torture, is there any wonder that Americans tend to be sedentary as adults? We don't learn positive associations from physical activity unless we get them from other places. Exercise becomes associated in our brains with the humiliation of changing clothes in front of strangers, boring exercise, extra laps as punishment, and Shanna Swendsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07558317020951521656noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17229339.post-1143149696846825402006-03-23T16:34:00.000-05:002006-03-23T16:34:00.000-05:00Gail, you couldn't be more right about the strange...Gail, you couldn't be more right about the strange choices made by schools for summer reading. In the summer before her ninth grade year, my daughter had to read Dreiser's AN AMERICAN TRAGEDY. Now why on earth would you torture incipient ninth graders with that book? Do you want them to hate reading for the rest of their lives?<BR/><BR/>I'm an English major to the bone--loved every minute of Nancy Herknesshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15123215675723631386noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17229339.post-1143146959101693812006-03-23T15:49:00.000-05:002006-03-23T15:49:00.000-05:00I'd guess that a "gateway" book would be an indivi...I'd guess that a "gateway" book would be an individual thing (I love that term:). However, I agree totally with what you are saying. I used to teach at a private high school and we had that whole summer reading list debate one year. I suggested including genre fiction on the list because if the kids read a book they really loved, then they would be more likely to continue reading. They'd alsogailbarretthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17358286219713381717noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17229339.post-1143135857521146412006-03-23T12:44:00.000-05:002006-03-23T12:44:00.000-05:00While I think the Oprah book club was useful for g...While I think the Oprah book club was useful for getting some people who don't read much to at least pick up a book, for the most part I thought it was a bunch of baloney. After all, Oprah was telling people to read books that she found significant. That's her taste. If the people in her book club or audience are readers, aren't they capable of finding books they like on their own? If she really Nancy Morsehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12947358450252385401noreply@blogger.com