Occasionally I'll encounter someone who thinks that reading graphic novels, magazines, series fiction, comics, books below your reading level, or listening to audio books doesn't count as "REAL" reading. For example: The guy who commented simply "It is not" on this TikTok post I made.
I'm going to tell you why it IS.
I'm an early literacy librarian who has spent the better part of her 25+ year career working with young children who are developing their early literacy skills. These are the skills that help children build that foundation upon which learning to read happens - letter knowledge, phonological awareness, print awareness, narrative skills, vocabulary, and print motivation. These are all important to the learning-to-read process, but I'm going to focus on the last one: print motivation.
What does print motivation mean? It means, simply, that you are motivated to use print. To read, to look at books, to hear stories. We can help young children develop this skill by, obviously, reading to them, and making it a positive experience. In storytime, providers like me work hard to make our read-alouds engaging because we want kids to enjoy the experience, and at home, children enjoy a story read by a caregiver as it makes them feel settled and safe and ready for sleep. Young children need to feel safe, loved, and cared for in order to learn (it's science), and what better way to show a child that they are safe and loved than to snuggle up together and share a book? Reading with a child is a powerful tool.
When young children have these positive experiences with books, they begin to associate
that warm, positive feeling with books themselves. They become motivated to pick up books on their own, and they become motivated to learn to read on their own.
Now, fast-forward to school, where children are learning to read in earnest. Their book choices may be more limited* as they are often using leveled or decodable texts to grow the phonics skills they need to read confidently. Yes, this is important, but sometimes (note I said SOMETIMES - there are some wonderful early reader series out there) those texts aren't as fun as others - they can sometimes be formulaic and, by their nature, have limited storylines and vocabulary.
I absolutely believe that children need to practice with these simplified texts in order to build those phonics skills. The Science of Reading tells us so. AND they need to continue to find that pleasure in books if they're not getting it from the texts they're using to learn to read. Growing print motivation doesn't just stop when children begin to read on their own. When children read books that are fun, they want to read MORE. That means they're practicing reading. And how can you get good at something without practice?
So how do we do that?
We continue to read aloud to them. Just because a child is learning to read on their own doesn't mean they won't still enjoy snuggling up with their caregivers and hearing a story told aloud. Also, this gives kids just starting out in the learning-to-read process the opportunity to hear books they might not yet be ready to read themselves.
We encourage them to make their own reading choices. If children can read what interests them, and not what they are told to read, they are more likely to read for fun. Imagine if you were told that from now on, you could only read books considered "classics" because they are the ones on your reading level. Would you be excited to read? Maybe? But probably not. I know I wouldn't - there's a reason I've never read Wuthering Heights and it's simply because I don't want to. There's no reason to think it isn't the same for children. Yes, caregivers should be aware of what their children are reading and help them make choices. But that doesn't mean completely taking over the choosing in order to force your child into books "on their level" or that you think they should** read. When you next go to the library, how about you choose a few books you think your child will enjoy, and let them choose a few too?
We offer them graphic novels. "But aren't graphic novels too easy? Because of the pictures?" Actually, no. Graphic novels, on average, have more sophisticated vocabularies than their pictureless counterparts. That's because children have the added benefit of the illustrations to help them comprehend what's in the text. Also, the child who reads graphic novels is growing multiple types of literacy skills - including visual literacy, or understanding the information in images (which is an incredibly important skill in an internet age). They can also often motivate children who are more hesitant to read (for whatever reason - maybe they don't feel super confident yet, or they aren't interested in the choices they're given).
We encourage them to read magazines and books below their reading level if they want to - just because they're FUN.
We invite them to listen to audio books. Now, this is something people argue against being "real" reading all the time. But why? The story is still getting into your head. You still have to use your imagination. You still have to comprehend. You're still learning language and narrative skills and vocabulary. And, as this article points out, it's incredibly ableist to suggest that listening to audiobooks isn't "real" reading.
I know that people who look at my website are mostly bookish people, so I'm probably preaching to the choir here. But I do hope that, the next time someone tells you that reading [fill in the blank here] isn't REAL reading, you've got some counterpoints to remind them that yes, it is.
Read what you want. Grow your skills. And most importantly, HAVE FUN with books and stories.
*I'm not talking about the book bans running rampant in school districts around the US, but that's another terrible thing for children.
** DON'T get me started on those "100 books everyone should read" lists. Why. WHY should I read them? Just because you said so? That's not gonna make me do it.
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