What are Kids Reading? Is it for Pleasure? by Savita Kalhan

World Book Day celebrates its twentieth year this year, so what are kids reading for pleasure, how is it monitored, and how much choice do they have?

 A new study has shown that when children are in primary education, they read more challenging books than when they are in secondary school. In secondary school their reading regresses as they choose far less complex and challenging books.

The study was conducted by Professor Keith Topping on behalf of Renaissance, the company which

provided all the data for the study from the schools who are signed up to their AR (Accelerated Reader) program across the UK. The report analysed the reading habits of 848,219 young people across almost 4,000 schools in the programme.

Renaissance UK managing director Dirk Foch said: "Most primary schools place a large emphasis on developing literacy skills. However, this is rarely transferred onto secondary school and, as a result, literacy standards at secondary level are a persistent challenge."

Clearly, all schools will place a huge emphasis on developing literacy skills - even secondary schools. This data is derived only from the schools participating in Renaissances' AR programme. There are over eight and a half million kids in primary and secondary school schools in the UK, and over twenty thousand state schools.

I know Cecilia Busby blogged about the pros and cons of the AR programme a couple of years ago, (which you can read HERE). It's a huge subject on its own, and not the focus of my blog today.

According to feedback from schools in the AR programme, the data shows that novels written by the blogger Zoella have become more popular than JRR Tolkien. When Charlie Higson was asked what he thought of this on The World at One, he said that we should be glad that children are engaging with books rather than looking at a screen. You can read the full Renaissance report HERE.

But I have noticed something very worrying, and I hope it is not a trend that is being repeated in other schools.

The use of eReaders, in some schools, has taken the place of paperback books almost completely. I know of one very large secondary school where every Year 7 and 8 pupil is given a kindle preloaded with books. Older years are given a nook. They are used for lessons as well as for reading for pleasure, apparently.

This is an example of a selection of books loaded on in September for Year 8s:

The Noughts and Crosses series, The Weight of Water, The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, One, More Than this, The Fault in Our Stars, Into the Forest, Hold Your Breath, The Wall, Shadow, War Girls, Singing for Mrs Pettigrew, Maze Runner, The Company of Ghosts, The Child's Elephant. 

Classics are pre-loaded too -: Pride and Prejudice, Animal Farm, Around the World in 80 Days, Great Expectations, Wuthering Heights, Aesop's Fables...

The kids are NOT allowed to read anything else other than one of the books on the school kindles. If they are caught reading a paperback book, they are given a detention! It doesn't appear to matter whether they are reading a paperback book because they have already read most of the pre-loaded books a couple of times, or because they've read all the books they were interested in reading on their school kindle. Whatever the justification, threatening a child with detention for reading something they want to read is a harsh and unwarranted punishment.

There appears to be little choice, and no free will on the part of the children in having the ability to browse and choose a book to read (part of the pleasure of reading, surely). They are NOT allowed to read a paperback book - even during their reading session in the library! If they're lucky, they will derive some pleasure from some of the books on the kindle, and there are some good ones. One of the kids I spoke to had read all the books he had wanted to read on the school kindle - some of them twice, so he was now going to risk getting detention by bringing in a library book.

I've asked many school kids whether they prefer reading a paperback book to a kindle, and the majority prefer paperback books. Scholastic did a survey in the States and found that over 65% of school children preferred reading a paperback book than on an eReader.

Clearly the school wants to monitor the kids' reading habits, and justify the expense of buying the kindles for those two year groups, and nooks for the older year groups. Unlike in the States where Amazon has a block deal for schools, I believe that in the UK there is no such deal. So it cannot be cheap to load up so many eReaders with textbooks and reading books. I wonder how many other secondary schools have opted for what seems to be quite an expensive choice over a well-stocked school library.

There are, of course, pros and cons regarding the use of eReaders in schools. They can and do have a place in schools, but I don't think they should replace books. Chris Leslie blogs about eReaders in 5 Burning Questions about eReaders in schools for the Scottish Book Trust.

Reading should be for pleasure. But is a lot of the pleasure being knocked out of it in favour of over-monitoring in the interest of collating stats and ticking boxes? I think this is an important issue and one that needs looking at far more closely.

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Kindles, Nooks and eReaders - or Paper Books? Savita Kalhan

Recently I heard of a very large school, with eight or nine classes per year group, which has invested in kindles and nooks for all pupils in Years Seven, Eight and Nine. Most classes have over thirty children, so that's a heck of a lot eReaders. The school has preloaded each eReader with a total of eighteen books for the school year. It also preloads subject specific word banks, revision tools, and other tasks to support work in lessons and out of school.

Interesting, although the school allows its pupils to read paper books, all their form reading time and reading in English lessons must be on the eReader. Even more interestingly, pupils require a permission note from the parent to bring a paper book to school!

Apparently, "a student's academic success can be greatly increased through active reading and the process of actively engaging with texts, and tools such as 'look up' on the eReaders are excellent in supporting this."

I know a couple of kids who go to this school and they don't much like reading on the eReader - they far prefer paper books. The trouble is they're no longer encouraged to read paper books in preference to the school's preferred preloaded digital books.

Is this happening in other schools? I wonder if this is something that's being rolled out in schools right across the UK. I don't know the answer.

Do I like that this might be happening? No, I don't, because I think it discourages kids from making their own choices in reading. It also discourages an enquiring mind - one that picks up a book at random, looks at the cover, reads the blurb, the opening page, and then decides whether or not to read that book over another one that on the bookshelf, or to continue browsing. Browsing a bookshelf is not the same as wading through a prescribed list of books on an eReader.

I think there's a danger that enforcing eReader use in schools may end up being counter-productive. If the preloaded books do not appeal to the kids then they are essentially stuck. Reading should be a pleasure. Yes, we all had to read certain texts for schools that we may not have cared for ‑ but not up to eighteen of them, and not to the apparent exclusion of anything else.

I have yet to see the list of books preloaded onto the school's eReaders. Some will be set texts, but I don't know the criteria for how the other books are chosen. It would be interesting to know what these criteria are.

I'm not against e Readers - I have an eReader, which I love. It's great for holidays, and for reading samples of books. For all sorts of people who live in countries where it's hard to get books for whatever reason, social, political etc, I'm sure an eReader is absolutely indispensable.

I also have a lot of paper books - I buy lots of books, I borrow lots of books from the library, I love books. My eReader has its place, but it does not take the place of a proper paper book.

Schools may well find eReaders to be a valuable tool, and used in conjunction with other resources, I'm sure they perform a valuable function. But I don't think they should ever wholly replace a paper book - and, more importantly, kids don't seem to think so either. 

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Which Side of The Fence Do You Sit? - Lynne Garner

I've been teaching a course called 'Writing for Pleasure and Profit.' This week we discussed the many ways in which the writer can become published. We covered being traditionally published, being published by a packager, getting caught out by a vanity publisher, creating your own books in the form of eBooks and iBooks.

As we talked one of the students said she'd never dream of reading a book on an eReader. She was a book lover and would never change. Another student said they did all their reading on an eReader and didn't miss 'proper' books.

When asked my opinion I must admit I sat on that fence. I love the smell of an old book. I love the feel and sound of the pages as you turn them. When on holiday or out for the day I often pop into an old book shop to 'get my fix.' When you walk in the smell is just wonderful. So give me a good old fashioned paper based book any day.

However I own a Kindle. It was originally purchased to test the eBooks I was in the process of publishing. If you'd like to see my collection of eBooks click on this link.

Anyway I soon discovered I was converted to reading on an eReader. I know my eReader doesn't smell like a book.  It doesn't feel like a book. It doesn't sound like a book. However I can pop it into my bag and take it anywhere. I don't have to worry about the book mark falling out and I can take a library of books with me where ever I go. So if I want to read some fiction I can. If I want to do a little research and read a non-fiction title I can. So give me an eReader and I'm happy.  

So if you ask me which I prefer I'm sorry I simply can't decide. Which got me thinking. If I were to ask you which side of the fence do you sit when it comes to this subject what would your answer be?

A little note:
There is now a product that will make your eReader smell like a book - just click here if you don't believe me.

Lynne Garner

My blog - Fuelled By Hot Chocolate
A group blog I contribute to: The Picture Book Den
Another group blog I contribute to: Do Authors Dream of Electric Books