A children’s reading choice matters when it comes to their willingness to want to read. When you let children choice what they want to read it provides them with pleasure. So if your children are going to become strong readers, they will need to have a say in what they want to read.
As an educator and mom of two active sons, it has always been important that my boys were readers. I wanted them to not struggle with reading like I did when I was a young child. At first, I questioned their choices. One of my sons only liked graphic novels. I struggled with his reading choice. and wanted him to start moving into classic novels. I eventually learned the importance of accepting their choice and helping them to find the books they enjoyed.
This can be concerning for parents because it was for me at first. You might be wondering:
What if my child only likes comics? What if my child wants
to read books that are not at his reading level? What if my child keeps reading the same books?
All of these points are valid, but when it comes to helping foster our children’s love of reading, here is some reassurance.
Children’s Reading Choice Matters
Take a look at American cartoonist, Dav Pilkey. This award-winning author of the series Dog Man recalls how he got hooked on reading.
“My mom was very, very helpful to me because she would take me to the library every week and she just wanted to make sure that I was always, always reading. And so she let me pick out whatever books I wanted, and there was no judgment whatsoever. She just wanted to make sure that I was always reading. And I would pick out fun books and joke books and books that I’d read a thousand times, and she didn’t care. As long as I was reading, that was fine, and that’s what changed my life. It really turned me into a reader.”
Dav Pilkey
Relax- It’s OK to let your child read graphic novels
I realize it gets hard when you see your child re-reading the same book, picking the same genre, or reading only comic books/graphic novels. But what I found out particularly about graphic novels is that they have a positive impact on reading.
There is plenty of research to support that comic books/graphic novels are not only motivating children to read, but are also rich in vocabulary with a complex sentence structure.
Krashen, Stephen D., and Ujiie, Joanne. “Comic Book Reading, Reading Enjoyment, and Pleasure Reading Among Middle Class and Chapter (Title) 1 Middle School Students.” 1996.
“…those who read more comic books did more pleasure reading, liked to read more, and
tended to read more books. These results show that comic book reading certainly does not
inhibit other kinds of reading, and is consistent with the hypothesis that comic book reading
facilitates heavier reading.”
Lastly, it is also acceptable to allow kids the freedom to choose a book above his reading level as long as he is supported. If a child is reading independently then he must be in his “just right” book. But, we as parents, can support their higher-level reading choice. Here are two simply ways- provide them with an audio-book version to go along with their printed book, or read the book out-loud to them. Believe it or not, my boys still enjoy it when I read to them- they are just “too big” to admit it!
