Easy books aren't the route to a lifelong love of reading
Forget the pap: kids should have access to good quality books to get them to read, says Katie Ashford.
In the past I have gone to great lengths to persuade reluctant readers to pick up a book and, as many teachers will know, this is never a straightforward task.
Hopeful that their efforts will pay off, teachers can spend hours making costumes for World Book Day, creating beautiful reading wall displays, planning trips to places of literary significance, investing time and money in extensive reading programmes that over-promise and under-deliver – and pour their energy into numerous other strategies, all aiming to inspire a love of reading.
Getting kids to read books they will find easy and accessible isn’t intrinsically bad, but it should not be the route to inculcating a lifelong love of reading.
As teachers, it is our job to broaden horizons and support young people to escape the limitations of their own experience. If we make reading great literature a habit – by reading daily and discussing their ideas – we help them to see the merits of reading.
Reading isn’t just about reading what you enjoy: it’s about expanding your world and being brave.
Katie Ashford is deputy head and director of inclusion at Michaela community school in north London
