{"id":27609,"date":"2022-08-16T00:01:00","date_gmt":"2022-08-16T04:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/?p=27609"},"modified":"2025-04-09T12:05:00","modified_gmt":"2025-04-09T16:05:00","slug":"reading-habits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/2022\/08\/reading-habits\/","title":{"rendered":"Reading Habits"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In a recent conversation with a colleague, she mentioned that it had been a while since she had finished a book she started. Shortly after that, a caregiver asked me if a particular book was on her child&#8217;s reading level. These exchanges got me to thinking about adult reading habits&#8230;.and how we need to allow children to have those same habits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-finish-what-you-start-or-don-t\">Finish What You Start&#8230;or Don&#8217;t!<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;Finish what you start&#8221; was a childhood lesson. To some extent, it&#8217;s a valuable approach. Except when it comes to reading. As an adult, I might start a book and decide I&#8217;m not going to finish it. Perhaps it hasn&#8217;t hooked me quickly enough. Maybe it&#8217;s too long. It&#8217;s possible (probable?) I <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">thought<\/span> I wanted to learn about X topic, read 50 pages, and realized, hmmm, I actually am not interested in X topic! Perhaps I started a book, got distracted, and then didn&#8217;t feel like picking it back up. Maybe it just ISN&#8217;T THE BOOK FOR ME. For pleasure reading, children should have this same freedom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-books-aren-t-gendered\">Books Aren&#8217;t Gendered<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There aren&#8217;t &#8220;boy books&#8221; or &#8220;girl books.&#8221; A good book is a good book. Full stop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-reading-is-reading\">Reading is Reading<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Everyday, my lanyard features a badge I made that simply states, &#8220;I believe that reading is reading, so read what you want.&#8221; It comes in handy when&#8230;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>an adult asks me if a book is on their child&#8217;s level.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>the adult says they want a &#8220;real book&#8221; instead of a graphic novel.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>an adult asks me for a book\/series that their child <em>hasn&#8217;t<\/em> read already, even when said child wants to keep rereading that book\/series.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As gently as I can, I flip the conversation back to the adult. I ask them&#8230; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>when they last wondered whether a book was on their level.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>if they ever read a magazine instead of a &#8220;real book.&#8221;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>if they ever watch a rerun of a TV show or see a movie for the second time.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I show them my badge. We talk about pleasure reading versus reading for an assignment. I lightheartedly tell them that I read <em>People<\/em> magazine in a waiting room and never, for one second, wonder if the articles are on my level. We talk about battlegrounds and how reading doesn&#8217;t need to be one.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">What are your reading habits? How can we extend those same courtesies to children? How do you help educate adults about these issues? I&#8217;d love to hear from you in the comments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This post addresses the following ALSC Core Competencies:  I.  Commitment to Client Group, II. Reference and User Services, and V. Outreach and Advocacy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In a recent conversation with a colleague, she mentioned that it had been a while since she had finished a book she started. Shortly after that, a caregiver asked me if a particular book was on her child&#8217;s reading level. These exchanges got me to thinking about adult reading habits&#8230;.and how we need to allow children to have those same habits.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":335,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":"","_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"categories":[2058,11,1605,1611,1606,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27609","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blogger-kary-henry","category-priority-group-i","category-commitment-to-client-group","category-outreach-and-advocacy","category-reference-and-user-services","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27609","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/335"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27609"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27609\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27609"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27609"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27609"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}