By Sara Stevenson, O. Henry Middle School Librarian, Austin ISD
Like most
librarians, I believe our mission to convert children into lifelong readers
creates a better world, but I didn’t have hard data to support my conviction
until I read Donalyn Miller’s ( www.BookWhisperer.com ) latest book, Reading in the Wild. According to research she cites from the
National Endowment for the Arts’ report: “To Read or Not to Read,” adults who
identify as readers vote and volunteer at higher rates. Their community
involvement is higher than that of nonreaders.
The report
states: “Regular reading not only boosts
the likelihood of an individual’s academic and economic success—facts that are
not especially surprising—but it also seems to awaken a person’s social and
civic sense.”
Now we have
empirical evidence behind what we have known intuitively and from our own life
experience: readers make better citizens. We’ve known for years, thanks to Dr.
Stephen Krashen’s The Power of Reading,
that free voluntary reading leads to better literacy skills across the
spectrum: reading comprehension, fluency, spelling, grammar, and writing. Now
we can add citizenship to the list of benefits.
Of course, this is not to say that academic performance is
not crucial as well. As Donalyn Miller reminds us in Reading in the Wild: “No matter what standards we implement or
reading tests we administer, children who read the most will always outperform
children who don’t read much.” (p. xix)
Readers are also more likely to succeed in the workforce,
according to researcher Mark Taylor from the University of Oxford.
Never forget
that our daily mission improves our world. “If young people develop a love of
reading, they will have better lives.” --Rafe Esquith from Teacher Like
Your Hair’s on Fire
