How many books does the average American read each year?
Not that many.
A Gallup poll published in January of this year found that reading is on the decline among Americans, and that’s been the case for a few years now. In 2021, the average American read 12.6 books over the course of the year, down from the average of 15.6 books per year back in 2016. Last year’s rate of reading was the lowest in two decades, while the highest came in 1999, when Americans reported reading 18.5 different titles in one year’s time.
The number of Americans who didn’t read a single book in 2021 was 17 percent.
Women are more avid readers than men: Women read an average of 15.7 books in 2021, while men read only 9.5. And the number of books consumed dropped by age, with adults aged 18-34 reading 13 books for the year, compared to 12.5 books for those between 35-54, and 12 books for those older than 55.
But what about reading to our kids?
To help us walk through this subject, our guest is Dr. Bobbie Solley, who, for decades, has taught teachers to teach reading. She’s also taught herself, both reading and writing (as the two go hand in hand) and specializes in how kids best learn to read.
An article published by The Ohio State University noted that young children whose parents read them five books a day enter kindergarten having heard about 1.4 million more words than kids who were never read to, a new study found.
This “million word gap” could be one key in explaining differences in vocabulary and reading development, said Jessica Logan, lead author of the study and assistant professor of educational studies at the university.
Even kids who are read only one book a day will hear about 290,000 more words by age 5 than those who don’t regularly read books with a parent or caregiver.
“Kids who hear more vocabulary words are going to be better prepared to see those words in print when they enter school,” said Logan, a member of Ohio State’s Crane Center for Early Childhood Research and Policy.
To help us today with this conversation is Dr. Bobbie Solley. (insert bio here)
Why read aloud to kids?
Some benefits reading to children include:
- Supported cognitive development
- Improved language skills
- Preparation for academic success
- Developing a special bond with your child
- Increased concentration and discipline
- Improved imagination and creativity
- Cultivating. lifelong love of reading
What should we be reading?
Challenge vs. pleasure (is re-reading books they love just as good as challenging to read a longer, more challenging book?) Comic books average 53.5 rare words per thousand compared with average of 30.9 rare words/thousand in children’s books and also higher than adult average of 52.7…
HOW should we read to kids? Is letting them follow along with an audio version ok? (does this help with learning issues?
“Dyslexia font” available on Kindle (Open Dyslexic). Using voices for characters, dramatization, stopping for questions, making sure they get content…etc.
Pausing for them to fill in a word when they “know” the story or rhyme. Reading it “wrong” or in a silly way so they correct you
WHEN should you read to them?
Reading together when babies are as young as 4 months old increases the chances that parents continue reading to babies as they get older. Beginning early is important because the roots of language are developing in a baby’s brain even before he can talk! The older they get, the more interactive it gets.
Now there are all kinds of things to DO in addition to reading (pop-up books, scratch & sniff, finding objects, textures to feel and flaps to open…).
Does it matter WHO reads to them? Is it different if mom reads vs. dad? A grandparent or sibling?
Yes! Dads who read to their sons actually make a huge difference in the amount of reading the boys do as children & thru their lifetime. The issue is the cycle…many dads don’t read or didn’t read as kids themselves, so they don’t tend to read to their own kids. When dads read to their kids, they do it differently than moms, with different voices, different emphasis.
Do you have an opinion about “incentives”?
Dr Solley explained incentives have been shown only to work in the short term. They don’t foster the love of learning/reading for its own sake & generally once the incentive is removed, children stop reading from internal motivation. We want to get to the internal motivation!
Classroom points per book, keeping track of reading levels for students (peer competition) vs. reading what they like. (Jon Acuff makes deals with his teens – $20 per book for a list of 5 “extra” books over the summer… all or nothing).
- Newborn to age 4: Picture books in the form of board and soft books
- Ages 2–5: Early picture books
- Ages 5–8: Picture books, coloring, activity and novelty books
- Ages 4–8: Early (easy) readers
- Ages 6-9: First chapter books and graphic novels (often come in series, but the word count is higher: 5,000 to 10,000 words per book. These books usually contain sketches and not full-color illustrations. (Box Car Children, Magic Tree House)
- Ages 8–12: Middle-grade novels and graphic novels (Middle graders want books with an advanced story and prose. At this age, readers have advanced readers skills. As such, they can read books with 30,000 to 50,000 words per book. These books have fewer or sometimes no illustrations. Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Harry Potter, Charlie & the Chocolate Factory)
Ages 12-18: Young adult (YA) novels and graphic novels (YA books are sometimes divided into two age groups, which are 12 to 15 and 16 to 18. about 50% of YA readers are adults. typical word count falls between 50,000 to 80,000 words. Hunger Games, Divergent, The Eden East Novels )
A note about CONTENT for middle grade & YA books. Characters’ ages generally match the age of the book’s readers, so keep this in mind if you have a child who can read on a high level but who may not be up for the PG-13 content of a lot of contemporary YA fiction.
Violence: While MG books might have violence, it may be more of a magical nature (Percy Jackson’s monsters, e.g.,). Feels more distant than “real world” violence. YA books are more open to violence & gore (abuse, trauma, war…)
Language: Some made-up worlds may use made-up swearing. So it’s not in your face but context makes it obvious to the reader what’s meant.
Sex: MG books are generally pretty chaste, but YA books can push this pretty far & get fairly steamy, graphic. Age range overlaps with MG on the lower end…
I’m not for banning books! Having read A LOT of books over a wide range of genres, I can attest that the content of what’s going for MG and YA books has changed, much like what’s allowable/acceptable on TV. (adult books too for that matter…)
**Unless the subject is so overtly explicit & you think your child isn’t mature enough to handle it, I think the fairest thing to do is to read what the kids are reading and talk about it. I would always read it either FIRST or alongside. (I read A LOT OF YA while my kids were in school!)
(btw, if you’re not ALSO doing this same thing for music/song lyrics, which is a kind of narration in itself, then you’re rowing with only one oar.)
An alternative is to encourage (or incentivize) your kids to read older adult literature (Lord of the Rings series, Madeline L’Engle, etc.) instead of contemporary YA fiction.
Check out the Jim Trelease book Read Aloud Handbook!