Finding books kids want to read

When I walk in the mornings, I carry a bag so that I can pick up trash. Multitasking meets exercising.

At one end of our street, I found six empty minibottles of vodka. At the cul-de-sac, there's a steady supply of empty beer cans. (Of course, these are somebody's else's kids who have driven over to our territory to deposit their contraband.)

Summer in the subdivision. These litter deposits lead me to conclude that not all teenagers are at home, held spellbound by their summer reading.

My conclusion is substantiated by the "2008 Kids and Family Reading Report" which says that 55 percent of kids ages 15-17 are reading for pleasure. That leaves 45 percent out on the towns and the suburbs.

Although the study included 1,002 respondents, I wonder where they found these young people. From observation and experience, I would have guessed a much lower percentage — maybe 2 percent. I'm not counting assigned summer reading as reading for pleasure, although it has potential.

Boys have more trouble than girls finding titles they like. From age 11, kids get most of their ideas for reading from friends. Nearly two-thirds of the 9- to 17-year-olds who spent a lot of time online "extended" their reading experiences by visiting author Web sites and other book-related activities online. Although it seems counterintuitive, the kids who use the Internet every day are the kids most likely to read for pleasure.

Almost all of these young people believe it's necessary "to be a strong reader to get into a good college." Although they understand that reading and technology will be intertwined in their futures, about two-thirds still prefer reading from a physical book rather than a computer screen or a digital device such as a Kindle.

Jim Trelease, the guru of reading aloud, emphasizes reading is like a lot of other skills: You get better when you practice. The more you read, the better you're able to read. There aren't any shortcuts.

My mantra is to help kids find books they want to read. My alter ego (and my hero) is Melodie Sharpe, who teaches English at the Collegiate School on Johns Island. She says, "It's important for students to enjoy reading. In the same way that we endorse art for art's sake, we should endorse reading for reading's sake."

Some titles from the Collegiate School's list (which is enlightened, in my opinion):

--7th grade: "Hoot" by Carl Hiaasen.

--8th grade: "Brian's Song" by William Blinn.

--9th grade: "The Water is Wide" by Pat Conroy.

--10th grade: "Catcher in the Rye" by J.D. Salinger.

--11th grade: "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" by Ken Kesey.

--12th grade: "A Million Little Pieces" by James Frey.

Contact Fran Hawk at franbooks@yahoo.com.