Read To Succeed: Strategies to engage children and young people in reading for pleasure

Citation

Barker, A. (2012), "Read To Succeed: Strategies to engage children and young people in reading for pleasure", Library Management, Vol. 33 No. 4/5, pp. 324-325. https://doi.org/10.1108/01435121211242353

Read To Succeed promises to discuss “strategies to engage children and young people in read for pleasure”, editor Joy Court opens the book with the Flaubert motto; “Read to Live”. This sentiment is carried through this book with a variety of stories all about encouraging young people to not only learn how to read, but how to read to live. The authors are from all corners of the globe and speak in a variety of professional voices. There are librarians and educators (as one would expect) but also a journalist, a marketing professional, a YA author and a professor of psychology. Stories are primarily from the UK but are also from New Zealand, The USA, and Australia. Read To Succeed is a collection of stimulating stories told by many voices but with a shared goal; getting children excited about reading

A number of chapters in Read To Succeed come from educators. Claire Wood presents a very interesting discussion about the nuts and bolts of how children learn (or don't learn) how to read. Bridget Hamlet gives a very personal account of her journey as a teacher and a librarian across two continents with two very different perspectives on reading in the classroom in her chapter titled “There and back again: restoring reading to the classroom”. Kasey Butler, Eileen Simspon and Joy Court discuss the CILIP Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Medals shadowing programs in the UK which started in the 1990s. These programs encourage students to follow, discuss and interact with the books nominated for these two prestigious awards.

From the library world, many of the programs discussed are on a larger scale. Wendy Cooling writes about the Bookstart project, the ground breaking early literacy program which started in England but is spreading around the globe. The chapter about the Summer Reading Challenge opens with the quote, “what inspires 750,000 children in the UK to read over 3 million books during the summer holidays for pleasure?” (p. 71). These are very big projects indeed. A few other chapters discuss city wide programs with participation in the thousands or hundreds. So while these programs may not translate to a smaller library, the sentiments are the same; libraries can provide unique and inspiring programs that will result in more enthusiastic readers.

Other voices in Read to Succeed include young adult author and PhD candidate Lili Wilkinson who in her chapter about the Australian YA site insideadog.com.au, asks the question, what counts as “reading”? (Do comic books count? Newspapers? Goosebumps? What about the internet?). While Jacob Hope looks at the ins and outs of library and publisher partnerships.

The editor best describes one thread of Read To Succeed by stating that each of the authors in this book is “making a difference”. They might be facilitating a literacy group for teen mums or finding ways to keep students reading over summer or even teaching a struggling 5 year old how to read. They are all contributing with their passion, creativity and enthusiasm and making a difference in the futures of these children. If this book could have a sub‐sub title it might be “partnerships are king”. Many of the stories highlight just how beneficial outside partnerships can be. Those could be school and library partnerships, publisher and library partnerships or reader and award committee partnerships. All agree, by coming together everyone reaps the benefits.

Reed to Succeed could be useful to many readers. For children's librarians and library managers, while this book does have many broad nationwide programs, some of the details from the programs could translate. If the librarian is in a national role or working with a larger group (state, county, city) this could give some inspiration for new programs or advice on how to better serve young clients. For teachers and teacher librarians and those working in education, some of the “how to” chapters could be skipped, but many of the other chapters could offer guidance on how to partner with public libraries to achieve amazing results. LIS students interested in literacy and children's services, Read To Succeed would be very helpful because it provides a broad perspective on programs and how they help children and young people.

With literacy a hot topic internationally, Read To Succeed offers a unique blend of perspectives from library, education other spheres by looking at successful programs. Many of the authors here have two things in common, a desire to instil a life‐long love of reading and the bravery to step outside of the silo to partner with other passionate professionals. One of the most inspirational quotes comes from a David, a student who participated in Stockport's Summer Reading Challenge. When asked about his feeling about the Challenge, David said, “If you look into a book it is not just writing on a piece of paper, you can open your mind to a book” (p. 102). Isn't that the feedback we are all looking for?