Book Love: Developing Depth, Stamina, and Passion in Adolescent Readers

Teenagers want to read - if we let them.

A book isn’t rigorous if students aren’t reading it.

A reading appetite is quirky, singular, and essential

I'm all for reading bad books because I consider them a gateway drug. People who read bad books now may or may not read better books in the future. People who read nothing now will read nothing in the future.

Too many people in power think reading is the sum of its parts, so we've got all these kids playing air guitar, if you will, with short passages and questions and multiple-choice answers. These abbreviated bits of reading are not the real thing. Passages lack wholeness and feel like work without purpose. When we give students books, thinking they can transfer their practice or that they'll even want to, we're surprised they don't have the interest or the stamina for it.

Teachers still teach books they know most kids won't read; they do it because they feel pressured by their curriculum. They pace the reading so it's not overwhelming for those who struggle, but they know they are selling the best readers short by moving so slowly.