Can you name a few titles that many second and third graders are asking to read these days?
If you said Ivy & Bean or Ramona or Cam Jansen or the adventures of Humphrey the hamster, you’d be wrong.
What kids tell us they are reading are Twilight, the Hunger Games, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, and The Lightning Thief.
Educators call this Reading Up.
Reading Up means a child is reading books that are beyond their maturity and comprehension, though maybe not their actual reading level. For example, a first grader may be able to read War and Peace, but that doesn’t guarantee they can understand the content. Reading Up is certainly not a new phenomenon; it has gained momentum ever since Harry Potter, The Hunger Games, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Lightning Thief, and Twilight came on the scene. Before, precocious readers would gravitate towards the classics or A Secret Garden, Anne of Green Gables, the Saturdays, Half Magic, Wizard of Oz, Little Women, A Wrinkle in Time, or Pippi Longstocking. I knew a third grader who loved Charles Dickens.
I don’t see any negative impact when they Read Up, except when they venture into literature whose intended audience is for those ages 14 and up; books that offers a hefty dose of drugs, violence and sex.
Recently, I read Books in the Home: Reading Up written by author Rosanne Parry in the Horn Book Magazine. Not one to censor what any of her four children read Parry was thrilled when her youngest daughter decided to read Harry Potter as a way to keep up with her older siblings. It wasn’t until years later that Parry lamented the fact that children who Read Up are uninterested in going back to simpler fare. Would a second grader who just finished reading Twilight be interested in the less eventful life of Clementine by Sara Pennypacker or the Mallory series by Laurie Friedman? Lois Lowry’s The Giver lacks the same punch as the dark and very violent Hunger Games.
I always wonder what young children are taking from books that are written for a more mature audience. Take Twilight. The whole premise of this book is the lust and love Bella and Edward feel towards each other. Can a prepubescent child understand the heavily layered sexual tone of Twilight? (And don’t you hope that is the farthest thing from their young minds?) Something else to point out is the fact that Edward is an abusive boyfriend. High schools across the country use the Twilight series to teach teenagers how to identify and get out of an abusive relationship. A young child will not understand that and can grow up thinking that kind of behavior is okay.
Parry states about her youngest daughter who spent a year reading all seven Harry Potter books, It took her so long to read them, that much of the momentum of the stories were lost in the work of decoding, so she never found them as exciting as her older siblings. Perry goes on to say, my younger two often find YA books a little bit stale. John Green, (Looking for Alaska) whom they used to love when they were in grade school, seems a little silly to them now. And that’s a shame.
Precocious readers take only a shallow spoonful of what is available in a mature text. They may appreciate jokes from Green’s book, An Abundance of Katherines, but the substance of the story they just glossed over. The downside, too, is that after wading through books for older readers, children often are no longer interested in books that are age appropriate, which is so sad because then they miss out on the more innocent stories, such as The Secret Language of Girls by Frances O’Roark Dowell, Olive’s Ocean by Kevin Henkes, Probably the world’s Best Story about a Dog and the Girl who Loved Me by D.J.Smith, or The Summer Sherman Loved Me by Jane St. Anthony. Parry also observed that compared to their older siblings, her two youngest daughters spend less time reading.
Sex and violence as entertainment for children who don’t have a concept of what it all means can confuse, scare, and desensitize children. They don’t see what adults see. Children learn that violence is how you settle a conflict or a controlling boyfriend/girlfriend is okay. Getting drunk at a party is acceptable and having sex or taking drugs is pretty cool. As a parent, you want your child to learn empathy for others, not develop numbness to how others feel. We all want our children to grow up to treat others with respect, make healthful decisions, and be kind to others.
I do understand how difficult it is to keep your child(ren) from reading popular books, especially those made into movies. At times it seems that everything is marketed to young children. Yet, you as a parent have the power to guide your children into reading more appropriate material, which will in turn make them lifelong readers. Let us help you.
Visit the public library for some great recommendations.
