Opening the Doors to Summer Reading Fun: Exploring the Gains of Non-Fiction Texts

As we kick off Summer 2013, now is a great time to delve into individualized topics of interest in order to increase your child's motivation to read.

Each one of us, child, teen, or adult, has a passion about a certain subject that ignites our curiosity to learn more. Once this topic is cultivated, summer reading is no longer a chore or a struggle, but instead becomes an exciting world of self-directed exploration, inquiry, and discovery. Here is where non-fiction texts can come in, and be the catalyst for summer reading fun.

It's understandable that not every child will be motivated to read about the adventures of a fictional character.  However, I have seen many an indifferent, reluctant reader be transformed into an inquisitive model of inquiry, once we capture that one source of fascination in a non-fiction capacity. For some kids this could be the life cycle of a butterfly, for others, the habitats of wild birds, for still others, maybe how a music box works. I have worked with children who have had a curiosity for astronomy, race cars, carpentry, meteorology, and even choreography! Some have studied the life of Balanchine or Fosse with the singular focus of a laser beam.  Most importantly, what non-fiction books can do is what we all strive to achieve: increase your child's motivation to read, the main goal for your child's summer reading experience.

To this end, enjoy a trip to your local library, where you can source non-fiction books on your child's independent reading level and his or her chosen topic of interest. Our local libraries' shelves are filled with developmentally-appropriate, non-fiction texts on a wide range of topics that will expand your child's world -  and increase comprehension skills in the process! I personally can attest to the abundance of resources available at every local library in Westchester County. If we think "outside the box", we can consider this one area of personal interest to be the alternative road to reading success for your child.

• Features of Non-Fiction Texts:   What's most incredible here, is that non-fiction texts include scaffolds and supports for children or teens who may struggle with reading from time to time, such as captions, charts, definitions, terms in bold, sub-headings, questions in margins, and summary paragraphs. These sources of support are invaluable tools for a child to learn how to build meaning from text. They allow for keen analysis and foster independent interpretation. Furthermore, these features of non-fiction texts are the very same essential tools that each child will need to navigate their content-area textbooks, in middle school, high school, and beyond.
  
  
• In addition, non-fiction texts include a glossary, index, and table of contents - more opportunities for skills-building and working on those important reference skills. Finally, the reading comprehension skills required for Social Studies and Science courses - i.e. comparing and contrasting, cause and effect, sequencing events, drawing conclusions, making inferences, critical thinking, and summarizing - are all integrated within the strategic reading process of non-fiction texts.
  

• Content Area Vocabulary -  To extend the gains from non-fiction texts even further, content from informational texts will soon become valued prior knowledge from which your child can draw from in Social Studies, Science, and beyond. The gains in content area knowledge cannot be underestimated, as your child is skills-building while learning about a topic close to his heart.
  

• As we know, a secure knowledge of vocabulary is the single most important quality required for effective reading comprehension. Vocabulary learned in context is most essential to your child's success as a reader. The vocabulary that is introduced in the captions and summary paragraphs can be integrated into your child's base, and accessed at a later date, when studying this content in a classroom setting. Terms such as "camouflage", "hibernate", "textile", "culture", or "adaptation", will gain meaning and substance when learned in context, as part of a fun summer reading experience.

• "Twin Text" Approach -   If your child is reading a series, and the main character travels to Egypt, in a time-travel sequence, or perhaps studies a unit on Astronomy, as part of a school project - this is an ideal time to implement the "Twin Text" approach: i.e. sourcing non-fiction texts for your child that correspond directly to the very same content that is being discovered and explored by the characters in her fiction text. This exercise not only builds knowledge of character, but deepens and extends your child's comprehension of the subject matter. In turn, this increases knowledge of content area topics, and again adds to her base of prior knowledge.

• Learning about pyramids or studying planetary alignment alongside a    fictional character is an excellent tool for connecting reading to everyday life. The gains for your child here are that reading matters, it has substance, and it is a veryuseful endeavor. In other words, to a reluctant reader, the twin-text approach lends credibility and earns his "buy-in". As research has proven, increased motivation to read is a direct result of the twin-text approach. Here, it is a win-win, as comprehension skills improve, knowledge is gained, and a relationship develops between the two genres. Learning to connect one text to another is a valued skill, and one that will be required of your child throughout her academic career.

• A Word on Choice -  Providing a range of books on your child's independent reading level, including a variety of genres, both fiction and non-fiction texts, as well as poetry and informational texts, will provide for choice - an imperative element in increasing a child's motivation to read. Helping kids choose from books that captivate their imaginations while informing them of new knowledge and extending their understanding is one invaluable way of building and sustaining motivation.

• Encourage your child to accompany you to the library, and ask for help in finding an assortment of books that you know are appropriate to his or her independent reading level. Then let your child choose the book that he or she will read this summer. Choice is empowering, for all of us, at any age. It can be a very liberating experience. Children who feel a sense of choice for their own reading materials gain increased confidence as readers.