Rebuilding A Love for Reading in Young Children

Flipping through the pages of your favorite book, soaking in vibrant illustrations, and gliding across aesthetic text features, all while meaningful text floats perfectly along the pages. You absorb favorite characters as they overcome obstacles and learn important lessons along the way, some of which resonate strongly within you. You close the book feeling hopeful, eager, and inspired.

Young children love using their imaginations and learning lessons from silly characters in magical places. Research shows that students’ understanding of the world around them including themselves, their families, and their roles in the community come from connections found in the stories they read.

Unfortunately, by upper elementary school, many students lose interest in reading text-heavy chapter books due to their loss of attention for making predictions, visualizing characters and events, and building connections to important themes and ideas within the story. This is a problem, as it makes comprehending what they’re reading extremely difficult. Students begin scanning the pages and reading without purpose which causes them to miss out on the important lessons and information within those books.

So how do we stop this? How do we make sure students hold on to the joy of busying themselves with a good book?

First, share the joy of reading together. Reading with your child helps them build a love for books during critical developmental periods in their lives. By helping your child make connections to important themes within stories, they will be able to find a sense of belonging and connection to reading. Studies have shown that children who read with their loved ones report higher levels of success in understanding stories they read, more interest in learning from books, and more knowledge of vocabulary words they see in the text.

Next, explore all the ways you can connect that reading to your daily life. When students are introduced to characters who talk, look, and feel like they do, they are more likely to connect and engage in the stories they read. Next time you read with your child, ask: Did the character demonstrate any of the actions from your daily routine? Do any of the character’s goals or actions align with your own? Perhaps the main character has a favorite color, hobby, sport, or meal in common with your child or another family member or friend. How can you bring some of the elements from your shared reading into your daily life?

Finally, use reading together as a way to bond with your child and promote a safe place for discussion of major topics and events. A book should not be used solely as an independent activity, but as a meaningful, shared tool for discussing lived experiences, unique situations, or difficult topics. There are many excellent children’s books that can guide discussions at a kindergarten level. For example, All Are Welcome by Alexandra Penfold helps students understand inclusion and diversity. I Walk with Vanessa by Kerascoet can help students understand bullying and the power of kindness. Eyes That Kiss in the Corners by Joanna Ho teaches students to have pride in their culture and embrace their differences. And many others with similar developmentally appropriate themes in books for children of all ages.

Your local library and free websites such as YouTube, Epic!, and Tumblebooks are great resources for locating stories to read with your young student. Indeed, there are endless opportunities to connect with your child through reading: Advertisements, billboards, street signs, and food labels are just a few of the ways you can incorporate meaningful reading into your daily routine. By taking just a few minutes of your day, you can instill years’ worth of enjoyment into your young reader.