Kids today!

We have an excellent public library system here. Our family is on a first name basis with the staff and my teen son worked as a page ( book shelving) all summer. I don't buy books typically unless it's a reference type thing that I know I will use a lot.

I believe that kids learn the reading habit from their parents, not their teachers. It's pretty easy to do: turn off the tube, read.

Penny S

I agree with you. As a child I was taken to the library every Saturday morning; it was a ritual. Our house has always had books and magazines, newspapers, reading is a part of daily life. When our kids were small they would pick up whatever magazine or newspaper lying around and look at it. DD one morning sat in her little rocking chair with the front page of the Wall Street Journal, saying "There's an O, there's a B, ..." as she found letters she recognized from our reading books to her. She was barely two years old.

We also used magazines and books to open topics of discussion with our children as they grew up. "Did you see the article about teen sex in the xxx? I read it yesterday and was surprised at some of the figures. What do your friends say about this?" and there begins a conversation...

Jean M.

the biggest mess in my house is books and magazines all over the place.

;-)

Oh, yeah! And more boxes of books in the basement, overflowing bookcases in many rooms and closets. Sounds like we would love visiting each others mess!

Jean M.

This is a great approach. I used the Baz Luhrmann version of Romeo + Juliet, and you can also use West Side Story, which is essentially the same plot but with different words. What I like about Luhrmann is that the dialogue is taken from the original play. Very exciting, as I am sure Shakespeare's plays were when written and performed for the ordinary residents of the town where the play was done.

The thing with the "classics" is that so many cultural references come from them, and those who have not even a passing acquaintance are left out. The DH teaches Western Traditions at the local U, and part of that

2-year program is to fill in all the gaps so that the students should at least recognize classical references.

I just remember reenacting the balcony scene as a high school junior. The teacher paired me up with they cutest guy in class, who I had a terrible crush on!!

Penny

And the hard thing about teaching plays is that they were never meant to be studied in print form, and unless you see the play you miss a lot.

I am 50 years old and I can still remember the sound of my mom hiding in the bathroom, opening a bottle of Pepsi. It was her drug of choice and we never let her have a whole bottle to herself.

Cindy > she made us drink mostly water, Kool-Aid, juice or milk. We rarely got pop.

How? Can? Kids? Not? Read???? Didn't their parents read to them when they were small? I read. DH reads, DD reads. I just don't get it.

Cindy

Or one of my personal favorites when you have a sweater on: "Are you cold?"

Cindy

That's a very good point, too. Usually in school, you end up assigning the parts and reading them. Not as good as actually putting on the play, but it can help to hear it - especially if you have a few hams in class.

"teleflora" wrote >

Probably don't read to them. To busy working , going to meetings saving everyone else except their own, Take your pick or find a few more bad reasons. IF children see parents reading, hear them read, get books for gifts that are READ to them. They will understand the joy of it. When my youngest was in 4th grade she had to make a little booklet about favorite things. One was," watching my mother read a book when she had the time," another was" having my parents read to all of us at night before bedtime." We all sat together on a bed and mom and dad read. That was a routine that didn't change until they were old enough to say, "I'm going to bed a little early tonight so I can read." Last evening DH called the grandson who reads constantly to tease him little about the Red Sox losing. In the course of the conversation DGS said, "Guess what poppa? My dad to me out this afternoon and we bought 2 books. I started one already." That was very important to him. Juno

I couldn't live without my collection of books - just a small collection, at something over 3,000... Mind you, having collected, taught, and done an MA in Modern Lit, writing my dissertation about an author of kid's books, collecting fiction is as natural to me as breathing. It's a hard thing to let even a poorly written book go - and I'd much rather give them the freedom of the community than sell them! Have you ever let a book run away and turn feral? It's a wonderful thing...

You've seen the pictures of my sewing room? :)

As a child I lived in many different places, courtesy of the RAF. We were always members of the local library, and had more tickets than most kids we knew. From the age of eight we had adult tickets and borrowing rights almost everywhere we lived. Unfortunately living in the same house for 21 years does not require the same degree or sorting out to pack that moving every couple of years does, and as a result I do admit that there are books here that really should have moved on years ago! We did donate a couple of hundred that James grew out of a few years back. As they were all in excellent condition (even as an infant he was never a destroyer of books), most if them went to school for the Reception class. They were delighted with his generosity, but we really could not see the point of hanging on to things we had read almost to screaming point! Those ones were far better re-homed than continuing here. And there are some here that I shall re-home to make room for ones I like better. Not many - a couple of yards worth at most - but it will give me a few months breathing space! ;)

We are very *very* good at that! ;)

Most parents do not read to their kids after the kids start learning to read. Most parents never practice reading, so are not terribly good at reading aloud. They are unable to set a good example. Kids do not learn to value reading for pleasure. This is something I had observed as a student and a teacher, but really came to appreciate when I was looking at research into kid's reading habits when writing my dissertation.

As a child I had an excellent example when my father read to me (he was a trained teacher of History). I always enjoyed reading aloud, and did so from an early age. I kept up the skill throughout my teaching years. DH came to reading aloud later than I did, but has developed a good sense of pace and rhythm, and 'He do the police in different voices' much better than I.

James has always read aloud well at school, and now reads with confidence at a fairly high level. He does get impatient and misinterprets some words.

I HATE teaching like that! I don't think I've ever started a chunk of classic lit in that way. And I have no truck at all with worshiping the Bard's every word - after all, he himself chopped things up and reassigned lines, re-wrote things to suit political mood and events, and re-wrote the jokes to reflect current affairs.

Have you seen

tag the books before turning them loose. A