Sorry, Can't Come to the Internet Right Now. Buried in Reading Wars Research
Too much fascinating information has me missing my Monday
Hello, my fellow readers and friends! How is your mid-March going? It is perfect camping weather in Texas and all the wildflowers are in bloom so we have been making an extra effort to get out and soak up the sunshine before it becomes a scorching ball of fiery torment that is also known as Texas summer.
My post this week is late!! And I am sorry! Did you miss me? I missed all of you. I am late not because I have lost track of what day of the week it is, although that is also liable to happen as my coworkers (read: children) have yet to master the calendar but do require constant feeding. No, I am late because once I opened the can of worms that is the history of the Reading Wars, I found myself lost in a mountain of information — and I’ve barely scratched the surface.
Was I just now googling some ancient Roman teacher and their writings centered on best practices for young Romans learning the alphabet? Yes! Did that prompt me to mentally check where I was heading and ask myself if maybe I needed to pull back a little and refocus….Yes again! So, don’t worry, I won’t tell you about the ancient Romans except to let you know that since we have created written language, we have been talking about how best to teach it.
I cannot fathom how to begin to tell you about what I am learning. Do I deep dive into the history of the Reading Wars and try to recap everything that has happened since the inception of the American educational system? Do I skip the history lesson and let you fend for yourself in the wild west of the internet? Do I break it into digestible little bits or share it in one long essay? I keep trying to shove it all into a presentable tidy little box of fun, but the problem with trying to write a quick and cutesy post about the Reading Wars is that there is nothing quick or cute about them.
When I briefly mentioned I was researching the Reading Wars in my Literary Ladies newsletter
dropped this little truth-bomb comment that I haven’t been able to stop thinking about as I read and research:“I do think it’s good people care so much about children’s literacy that they’re willing to ‘war’ over it — though personally I’d rather wage ‘war’ on the powers that be shutting libraries down left, right and centre.”
Preach, Ruth! I love reframing the wars as a positive sign of passionate people caring about the education of our youth. I still worry about the impact of the Reading Wars though. I worry that when we adults get really invested in something for the sake of our children we sometimes accidentally ugly stomp all over the children on our way to prove that our line of thinking is correct. I wrote about that here — in a different context but with similar potentially harmful results. In the case of the Reading Wars I wonder, has all the flipping and flopping, the politicking and policy-changing muddied the educational waters so much that it hurts those we are trying to help?
When I started this journey researching the Reading Wars, it was mostly out of curiosity. I wanted to learn more about how we have historically educated our children how to read, especially if I was going to be out here on the internet talking about kids’ reading and literacy habits. After weeks of reading and researching, I feel more confused than when I started (yay for expanding my horizons) and believe there is so much more at stake than simply my curiosity.
My eldest is about to enter the public school system and I have so many anxieties brewing just under the surface about this giant transition. Another reader
(go subscribe to her newsletter Overbooked Mama because her content is gold) commented that one of her struggles regarding her early reader is that she doesn’t agree with her school district’s reading curriculum, so she has to teach her kindergartner at home with a different method from the one being used in the classroom. How frustrating!The more I learn about the Reading Wars, the more I realize that I will want to make sure I am paying attention to what my child is being taught at school and that I am an active participant in teaching my child how to read. Will I go to bat swinging for my kid and all his classmates if I feel the curriculum is doing them a disservice in the long run? I hope I will.
I think for today, I will sign off with this statistic — roughly 20-40 percent of children will learn to read no matter what kind of instruction they are given. This isn’t exactly a hopeful statistic, but it does help explain how kids keep on learning how to read, despite the bungling about of the adults in charge. And if you are subscribed to my substack, you are already giving your kid a leg up on literacy by caring about reading to them, so thanks for being here.
LIT TIP
Don’t assume your kid will learn to read at school.
In a perfect world, the school has amazing funding, small classroom sizes, a streamlined and science-based curriculum provided for trained and supported teachers, and the time and resources to tailor to a child's individual learning needs.
This is not a perfect world. Teachers and schools are (hopefully) going to do their best! We all care about kids learning. But the reality is classrooms are crowded, schools are underfunded, teachers are overburdened and underappreciated, and the curriculum is potentially confused.
Nobody knows the needs of your child better than you, and you can support and supplement (and maybe even challenge when necessary) everything they are learning at school by being attentive and available at home.
FROM THE STAX
A nod to spring planting and camping with this roundup!
PINE & BOOF: THE LUCKY LEAF by Ross Burach
Boof is a bear who is scared of bears. How cute is that? He has a very lucky leaf that he takes everywhere until one very windy day his leaf goes missing. Luckily, Pine is a porcupine who is very good at finding things. Will the two be able to catch Boof’s lucky leaf?
An endearing story about items lost and friendships gained, these two best friends will steal your heart and make you giggle. My kids like this series enough that they ask their friends if they “have heard of Boof the bear?” Which is the little kid equivalent of talking about whatever TV show is trending on Netflix RN.
GWENDOLYN’S PET GARDEN by Anne Renaud Illustrated by Rashin Kheiriyeh
Gwendolyn really really really really wants a pet. Her parents are less than enchanted with the concept but feel pretty bad when Gwendolyn points out that she wants a pet so she can care for it. A compromise must be found, so Gwendolyn’s parents present her with a large patch of dirt. At first, Gwendolyn is a little bit doubtful, but as she grows and tends to her garden, she realizes just how alive and wonderful a garden truly is.
As someone who is glad to have planted a garden that is currently sprouting, and is also glad to not have a pet, this book strikes a chord. Plus, I find a failed cucumber crop much easier to grieve than the loss of a fluffy (or scaly or feathered) friend.
HOOKED by Tommy Greenwald Illustrations by David McPhail
Joe absolutely loves everything about fishing. He loves the casting, the bait, the catch, and the great wait. He loves spending all day hoping to catch a fish. He loves it so much he joins a fishing club. When the club is set to go on their first field trip, Joe needs a parent chaperone. One problem: Joe’s dad does not like to fish and agrees to go only if this is the one and only time he has to go fishing.
Both my husband and my eldest love to fish with a quiet dedication that I find truly baffling, but I love this story for that very reason. The lesson, of course, is that the best part about going fishing with your kid is spending quality time with a person you love. I’d go fishing all day every day with my kiddo if it meant getting to spend time doing something he loves.
CAMP TIGER by Susan Choi Illustrated by John Rocco
A family goes end-of-season camping every year, right before school starts. This year is different because the narrator is about to start first grade and doesn’t really want to, and also because a talking tiger shows up at the campground, demands a tent, and sticks around to hike, boat, fish, and camp with the family.
A beautiful ode to growing up and getting older, to facing things you fear until you have them tamed, to letting go of a bit of your childhood as you age and get bigger and better at things. This book is part story and part dream and is a perfect story to read for our adventure and outdoor-loving kids who are equally excited and hesitant to be growing into their own.
NELL PLANTS A TREE by Anne Wynter & Daniel Miyares
Before the tree became a tree, it was a seed, a seed which Nell planted. A seed that grew over time, just as Nell grew, and her family grew. Watch as Nell and her family unfold beneath the branches of the tree, which serves as a gathering place for generations.
I wish more books were like this one. The images are soft and inviting and full of wonder. The text feels like a poem and a song but still tells a very accessible story. It asks the reader to engage with the text and be smart enough to find the story that is woven in the branches. It manages to be both timeless and cyclical, with a beautiful reveal that sparks the imagination of every person reading and begs you to go outside and plant yourself a tree, so it can grow to become a gift for future generations.
Thanks for being here. Y’all make my heart sing. How have you been enjoying these first few weeks of spring? Has anybody planted any gardens? Picked any wildflowers? Gone camping?
Do you know someone who has young children and is struggling to find great books to read to them? Do me the best favor and share this substack with them! Any links to bookshop.org are affiliate links and purchases using those links will help me add new books to my own bookshelf at no extra cost to you, so thanks for your support.
Tune in next week to find out if I have discovered a manageable and interesting way to share with you what I am learning about the Reading Wars. Wish me luck.
Thanks for your patience this week and happy reading y’all!
If you ever find yourself out of the school system…give me a shout! 😌 It’s kind of my passion to help parents and encourage them when they’re on the fence. I’m always here! 🖤
I think being “attentive and available” is key. And also, kudos to you for spending so much time reading and reflecting for the sake of your own AND other children. The Reading Wars is confusing--and you’re right, I feel like we sometimes lose sight of the children (or as you put it- ugly stomp on them) in an effort to prove we’re correct one way or another. Thanks for your post!