50+ Lifestyles

National Reading Month

By Mary Schricker Gemberling

“The more that you read,
the more things you will know.
The more that you learn,
the more places you’ll go”

                                 … Dr. Seuss

March is national reading month and was so designated to pay tribute to the March 2nd birthday of Dr Seuss. During his career, Dr. Seuss made such important contributions to children’s education and reading that he received a Pulitzer Prize in 1984. Theodor Seuss Geisel, was not a doctor at all, but a writer and illustrator who adopted the pen name Dr. Seuss. His very popular children’s books included “The Cat in the Hat”, and “How the Grinch Stole Christmas.” He also wrote several books for beginner readers, the most notable one being, “One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish.”

National Reading month encourages reading for all ages and promotes reading as a key feature in learning, social, and professional development. Today we take reading for granted, but there was a time when only a few people knew how to read. The first written communication did not happen until around 23 B.C. in Rome. Around this time, books were also developed in some Asian countries and the Middle East. Before the printing press was introduced in the 15th century books were quite expensive and rare.

As printed books gained popularity literacy rates began to rise. Among my peers it would be rare to find someone who could not read. So it comes as a surprise to find out that literacy in our country is on a back hill slide; In a study of literacy among 20 ‘high income’ countries the United States ranked 12th.

• Currently, 45 million Americans are functionally illiterate and cannot read above the fifth-grade level.
• 50% of adults cannot read a book written at an eighth-grade level.
• 1/3 of fourth-graders reach the proficient reading level.
• 85% of juvenile offenders have difficulty reading.
• 3 out of 5 people in American prisons cannot read.
• 3 out of 4 people on welfare cannot read.
• Low literacy rates end up costing Americans up to $2.2 trillion every year.

A number of factors contribute to these alarmingly low literacy rates in our country. Lack of a role model with no one in the family to stress reading is prevalent. The vast number of people in our country who do to know or speak  the English language have a difficult time obtaining reading materials in their language ,and thus lose the ability to practice what is taught in the classroom. Poverty or a focus on survival needs rather than education puts reading at the bottom of the priority list among many families. Violence in the community or fear of violence, causes students to miss school, thus interrupting the educational sequence of learning language and the skill of reading. The list goes on and on!

Opinions differ on whether technology has a positive or negative effect on reading skills. On one hand, technology provides access to vast amounts of information, including books and other reading materials, which can increase literacy rates. On the other hand, students who spend more time on smartphones or tablets, rather than printed materials, sometimes have lower reading comprehension scores. The ease of distraction that technology provides may also be a contributing factor. Without a doubt, the impact of technology on reading literacy rates depends on how it is used. The benefits of reading are far reaching and affect many aspects of intellectual development. Reading can reduce stress, improve vocabulary and increase creativity. Reading allows for a time to escape reality and get lost in another world while traveling to places never before visited, and meeting new people with vastly different cultures. It removes all restrictions on your imagination and stimulates the brain to develop new ideas beyond what’s familiar. Books are full of lessons and interesting people who overcome or accomplish the unthinkable; books are full of adventures that we are sometimes too afraid to try ourselves. And books are full of emotions that we get to express; we laugh and cry with these invisible people as if they are sitting next to us in the room.

I can’t remember a time when I did not enjoy reading. My all time favorite book is A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. In my formative years the young character, Francie Nolan, introduced me to world so unlike my own. There was little about Francies’s life that was familiar to me. Along with her mother and drunk father, she lived in poverty in tenement housing with only a single tree growing out of the concrete sidewalk. I lived in a comfortable suburban house in a neighborhood full of trees with warm, kind, hard-working parents. I knew nothing about poverty, social issues, or class struggles. What a lesson in resiliency for me when I saw how Francie was able to not only survive but manage to be hopeful.

That’s what reading does; it shows us how to survive among insurmountable obstacles, how to make decisions on our own, how to be strong and still hold on to what’s valuable to us while moving on beyond what makes us weak. In helps us become mentally strong and resilient. In a world in which mental illness runs rampant it would seem to me reading is needed more than ever! It’s the panacea that might help that troubled young person climb out of despair; if that character in the book did maybe they can too!

“Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body”
……Joseph Addison

Mary, a former educator and Seniors Real Estate Specialist, is the author of four books: The West End Kid, Hotel Blackhawk; A Century of Elegance, Labor of Love & Ebenezer United Methodist Church; 150 years of Resiliency.

Here are some ways you might help promote National Reading Month with a grandchild, a neighboring young person, or a child or teen at church. We need to all reach out and make sure that the youth around us know how to read and practice reading in their everyday lives.

You can make a difference!

Start a mini book club. A book club is the perfect way to not only bond with your grandchildren, but also challenge their critical thinking skills beneficial to discovering the book theme, improving comprehension and writing essays. It’s a special way to get them excited to share their thoughts about a book with low effort and high impact. Visit your local library to pick a book you have never heard of before.

Read every night for at least thirty minutes.

R&R—reading and rest. When you read every night before bedtime, our brains associate reading with resting. The exercise of reading helps strengthen our brain and quiet all other mental chatter to put us in a more relaxed state to have a good night’s sleep. The act of reading a bedtime story is a great way to get your children to enjoy books and have a peaceful sleep.

Set a reading goal. Whether the goal is reading for a specific amount of time during the day or a number of books each week, a measurable reading goal is a fun way to challenge your grandchild and give them rewards for their hard work. If he or she has a tablet or
electronic device, consider downloading an app or program that tracks their reading progress.

Encourage activities that require reading

When possible, have your grandchild do the reading in everyday activities like reading a recipe to cook, a restaurant menu, building names, or have them read their homework instructions aloud. Another alternative is listening to audiobooks and podcasts during down-time.

Lead by example

Children often mimic our actions as adults. When you prioritize reading, a child will better understand that reading is a critical function of your world. Practice reading aloud and follow along when they’re participating to show interest. Your example and what they’re learning in school are their first introductions to learning, so make sure they love to read inside and outside the classroom!