“Calm down, mom, I’m Dubrovsky!”: what to do to get your child interested in reading books

Are children reading today or not? On the one hand, everyone knows how to put letters into words, the school does its job. A solid international study puts Russian children at the top of the ranking of those students who move fluently across the page and quickly understand the text. On the other hand, if by “a child who reads” we mean reading enthusiastically and with interest, many adults consider this unattainable. And completely in vain.

Not to the pharmacy, but to the library

There are many options to give a book a chance to become an unchanging and pleasant attribute of childhood, without turning into an old-fashioned thing in the eyes of modern kids and teenagers, even if this requires more effort than before, when reading from an early age was a natural, widespread process, and the book was the best gift. By the way, memories of those times lead to curiosities that show how strong the older generation’s beliefs about an innate love of reading are. Here is a real case: a customer – an elderly woman – asks at the pharmacy whether the sedative pills advertised on TV are suitable for her 6-year-old grandson. The pharmacist asks why the need for the drug arose, and hears in response: “I sit Vova down next to him and open the book, but he runs off to draw and play with cars. He’s so restless, he doesn’t want to read!”

Reading tablets have not yet been invented. We can cope without them.

The first books should be selected by monitoring the baby’s reaction. He is growing – and with a difference of only six months he may like books that previously did not attract him.

“My daughter is almost four years old, I bought her “silent books,” says Ekaterina from Zelenograd. — They have absolutely no text, but with pictures. In fact, it is impossible to remain silent with them. There is no specific story; you make it up anew every time. I can come up with a story, then my daughter, we talk for the characters, discuss what they see, what they think. Fantasy develops the imagination.”

Older children are fascinated by another type of books that they usually look at – wimmelbooks. In these colorful editions, the illustrations consist of countless small details. You need to find objects and characters. Excellent training of attention, concentration and memory in a game form.

According to the experience of specialists, from about 6 years of age, a child is able to perceive fairly long stories, divided into chapters. Slowly reads by himself or listens to an adult read. He is equally interested in the adventures of animals, people and magical creatures. At 8–9 years of age, attention shifts from unicorns to schoolchild characters, relationships with peers, humor, riddles and detective stories. The lack of pictures doesn’t bother me. From the age of 10, children enjoy reading fantasy and get excited by taking on horror films. In addition, they like books about relationships with parents, problems with studies, etc. Libraries will help you find something specific, as employees monitor the appearance of new products on the market, order them for collections, and know the list of children’s classics thoroughly.

“For some reason, some parents and children are afraid to ask a librarian for advice,” says children’s reading expert Marina Molyavina. – Explain the situation to him. Let’s say you’re just starting to read with your child. Or for the first time within the walls of a library. Your child is currently fascinated by animated series or games on some topic. Rely on a professional.”

Those who have not visited the library for a long time should know: it has long been transformed from a place heard only by the rustle of pages and the whispers of visitors, into multifunctional spaces with concerts, performances, quizzes, creative laboratories, and co-working spaces. And an important fact: using library book collections is a good idea to save your family budget. Children’s books are not a cheap purchase.

Outside the home, cultural institutions undertake to introduce children to literary creativity. Thus, at the All-Russian Literary Museum of A.S. Pushkin in Moscow on Prechistenka, visitors from 1 year old are welcome to an interactive experience on “Lukomorye” with elements of baby theater and games that are natural at the age of 1–3 years.

Theaters across the country are successfully producing productions based on children’s books. Not all classics are in use. Directors are well aware of which contemporary authors write bestsellers and involve them in joint work. The Russian Academic Youth Theater organized a literary project “Aloud” – actors read books by these writers to an audience from 6 to 18 years old.

“It would be nice if, after performances, teachers didn’t strictly demand that we write reviews on what we saw in the theater,” the mother of 8th-grader Polina from Moscow shares her impressions. — My daughter took her class to see “Dead Souls” at the Maly Theater, returned delighted, downloaded Gogol’s poem into an e-book, and was given an assignment at school to write a review of the school website. You should have seen with what a sour face she tortured her.”

They know how to raise readers from a young age in book clubs (sometimes the clubs are called “reading groups” or something else). The presenter reads the book and discusses it. Children of all ages gather for classes in libraries, bookstores, book fairs, etc. “I structure children’s meetings with books in different ways,” the librarian describes. “I seat children 4–6 years old next to me, create a cozy space, read them a book with pictures, ask questions, and at the end of the meeting we always have a master class. Very often, parents ask to relieve their child of embarrassment and get them talking. Children under four years old also come with us: mothers who want to introduce their children to books want them to already learn to sit and listen. Having chosen a book for schoolchildren aged 7–9 years, I ask them to read the work in advance. And when we discuss (that is, we master the skill of participating in a discussion), we simultaneously master. Recently, for example, they made an all-terrain vehicle. I have a different approach to teenagers. I give them the right to choose: sit wherever they want, or turn away from everyone if they want. I know they need our groups. At school, of course, there is an established social circle, but finding like-minded people is still a little different, you want to read, share, communicate.”

Motivational comic

Teenager who doesn’t read. Hopelessly? Absolutely not.

“According to the school curriculum, they assigned Dubrovsky. Well, I think I’ll stand over my son’s soul again,” recalls Irina from Balashikha. — I returned from work in the evening, I saw him sitting with a book, moving his lips, gesticulating. It turned out that the teacher suggested acting out skits, and we chose the roles ourselves. The son grabbed hold of Dubrovsky. I started swearing at him – I saw how many words there were to learn, he and I were always trying to learn things by heart. I wouldn’t mind taking the short role of the dog hunter Paramoshka. As a result, for the first time in my life, I learned the text without me and read the entire book!”

The expert has repeatedly observed how teenagers come to reading by chance: “They can accidentally wander into a book event with a group of people. At book fairs you walk among a huge number of books, it’s hard not to buy at least one. I liked the cover, the theme caught my attention, the illustrations were drawn with a liner in the style of my favorite sketching, etc. I read it at home and wanted more. I met guys who “settled” after art festivals. For example, peers come to an anime event, the organizers include costume contests for popular characters that teenagers love, painting shopping bags, concerts, quizzes with prizes, and they also sell books and introduce the authors. The guys think: it’s great here, I want to come next year and be aware of what’s being discussed here.”

Parents are skeptical about comics. Should drawn stories with short phrases be taken seriously?

“You don’t need to be afraid of comics,” says Marina. — By reading comics, a student picks up reading speed, learns to delve into the plot, strives to find out how the story ends, and gets to the ending. There are a lot of pictures, less text, but you can look at everything, read it, and discuss it. You see, it’s not far from reading thick books. By the way, comic book themes have not been limited to the adventures of superheroes for a long time. I recommend that parents study the assortment; you will be surprised what complex issues are sometimes raised. Comics are definitely trending. Graphic novels are also suitable for schoolchildren. In particular, the publishing houses have not forgotten the school curriculum: the heroes of “Woe from Wit” and “Eugene Onegin” are transferred to our time to talk about the life and customs of the past, about the history of the creation of great books. Children cease to be wary of the classics, read and better assimilate the original.”

Go see a speech therapist

“Children with difficulties in oral speech master reading more difficultly and slowly, because speech errors affect reading and writing,” explains Olga Skoblikova, teacher-speech therapist at Moscow school No. 2124 “Center for Development and Correction,” honorary worker in the education sector of the Russian Federation. — Children who pronounce sounds incorrectly, replace them in words, use prepositions incorrectly and make mistakes in the endings of words need urgent help from a speech therapist in preschool age. If a word is pronounced incorrectly, the syllable structure is distorted, and the child has a small vocabulary, then it is difficult for him to read correctly, and most importantly, to understand what he read. In addition to the speech therapist, a neuropsychologist deals with the problem – reading is associated with the processes of memory and attention, hand-eye coordination: a chain of syllables must not only be consistently reproduced, but also stored in memory. At home, on a walk, on the way to kindergarten, talk more with preschoolers, teach correct speech and expand your vocabulary. Reading difficulties and disorders (including dyslexia) are easier to prevent than to correct. If, however, prevention and timely correction were not carried out and the child, having become a schoolchild, continues to experience difficulties and negativity towards reading, do not lose hope! You can help develop reading skills, teach you to understand text, and instill a love for books.”

Olga Skoblikova suggests using assistive technologies. They will interest and motivate the student to read and increase self-esteem. The immersive reader function is launched on the computer, and an electronic textbook or literary text is loaded. The program allows you to divide words into syllables, highlight the desired line, read along with an on-screen narrator, including in slow motion, highlight words by part of speech, and add an image to unclear words.

Dad visiting a fairy tale

All kinds of resources are designed to orient parents in the endless book expanses of the children’s literature market.

Every year, experts compile an illustrated catalog with annotations, “The One Hundred Best Books for Children and Teenagers.” Catalogs from different years are available in electronic form on the website of the Central City Children’s Library named after. A.P. Gaidar. At the end of last year, the capital’s Gaydarovka also released a list with a selection of inclusive books “Books about special people and books for those around them.” It includes works about heroes with disabilities.

Blogs of mothers of reading children are extremely popular among users.

A number of publishing houses publish their own book manuals on their websites. Parents and grandparents introducing their child to reading are provided with a full set of materials on the book they have read: what to talk about with the child; what and how to make crafts from; Attached is a file with board game templates – downloaded and printed.

There are series of educational lectures in libraries. “My wife and I go to meetings with an art historian at the Ekaterinburg Library Center to study fairy tales,” shares Peter, the father of a first-grader, with the idea of ​​spending his leisure time. — They looked at the fairy-tale genre in a new way. We learn to find hidden meanings, discuss the work of authors of literary fairy tales, dive into our and foreign folklore, now we can find out in just one paragraph in which country and when the story was written.”

With age, any child can understand a short statement of a math problem and read a paragraph in history. Reading skills are enough to uninterruptedly absorb simple news from friends on social networks. But the mission of an adult is not to allow reading to be reduced to a utilitarian purpose, not to allow such a rich decoration of life as a breathtaking book to be mercilessly taken away from children.