Why Reading Matters

In a lot of households, the idea of a child reading is unfathomable. Reading is what they do at school. At home, they do "fun" things, like play Call of Duty, or talk to their friends on Facebook. Reading has become schoolwork, dissociated from its previous role as a pastime, something to be enjoyed.

This is bizarre. I think it comes from reading a lot of the stuff that children and young people hate - and which, unfortunately, seems to play a big part in Michael Gove`s new GCSE reading list. Middlemarch, a frighteningly large wedge of paper heavy with Authorial Voice. Jane Eyre, which although well-loved by many, may leave teenage boys behind.

Gone instead is To Kill A Mockingbird, told from the point of view of a child, and full of everyday adventure. Gone instead is Of Mice And Men, due to the minister`s personal hatred for it. It is, apparently, too easy to condense into themes.

This is, however, exactly why it should be on the syllabus. Before GCSE, few students get the chance to analyse novels as a whole. Of Mice and Men is an excellent introduction, showing clearly that no word was wasted. Ho often do we hear students complain that their English teachers are "making it up"? When faced with the prosaic Dickens, that is an easy conclusion to come to, but the simplicity of Steinbeck helps students understand that there`s more to literature than just simple storytelling.

Not that there`s anything wrong with simple storytelling. Personally, I abhor Twilight. It is the story of a faceless teenage girl with no personality to speak of who inexplicably attracts the attention of an overbearing sparkly vampire. But if that`s the only thing a teenager is willing to read, then let them. It`ll do them more good than reading nothing at all.

Teenagers will not read literature of their own voliton unless they have already consumed quite a lot of easily digestible fiction. As adults, we may scoff, but have we never read (and enjoyed) something we later felt ashamed about?

Reading is good. Sentences on paper are different to ones said out loud, and at GCSE, many students have not learnt the difference. Others, despite having a broad spoken vocabulary, are unable to use it on paper because they can`t spell.

Books show us how it is supposed to be done. Spelling, sentence structure, grammar, punctuation - it`s all there. Reading allows a person to learn from the best- not Stephanie Meyer, certainly. But Meyer is a gateway to better things.

Unfortunately, I can`t tell you how to make children read. Some will devour every book written by one particular author. Others will be so moved by a film that they seek out the book it was adapted from. But every one is different.

One last thing: you can`t let them know how important reading is. It will become work. And it`s so much better than that.