As the wee one is now at an age when she’s starting to read, I have been wondering how I can help her enjoy reading. Recently, I came across a two-part post by Jennie, a teacher of thirty years, titled Language, Literacy, and Storytelling. She shares there some remarkable statistics which gave me pause:

• Every child wants to read when they begin school.  Enthusiasm is 100%.
• By fourth grade, only 54% read something for pleasure every day.
• By eighth grade, only 30% read for pleasure.
• By twelfth grade, that number has dropped to 19%.

Image: jenniefitzkee.com

As Jennie points out, the key word here is pleasure. We drown our children with so much reading that they learn to associate it with drudgery. In their minds, reading becomes synonymous to homework. Is it any wonder they start avoiding as soon as they’re allowed to?

On that note, I…