The Simple Trick That Finally Got Our ED Reading Books

Our executive director didn’t grow up reading. Melissa doesn’t remember having many books at home and can’t recall seeing her parents reading much. It just wasn’t part of her early years.

I’m sure we went to the library sometimes and I know my brother had a Curious George doll.

Not exactly the origin story of a someday-book-a-holic.

Melissa grew up in a house teaming with lots of music and dancing, love and good food, but not a strong value about reading books.

I would get a reading assignment at school, like a book report, and I would go through and pick out the smallest, thinnest book possible. Reading felt like a big waste of time.

If you’ve been following our blog, you know that having books at home correlates with all kinds of positive outcomes. You also know that BookGive makes it easier for parents to read aloud at home.

What happened for Melissa growing up without either?

Melissa was a great student and, in fact, excelled with reading comprehension. She just didn’t like reading books.

Until…

I literally can’t remember where I got it, but I started reading Judy Blume.

Melissa found she related to a series of books about young girls growing up. Somewhere around 6th grade, she read Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret and then followed up with other Judy Blume titles.

Not exactly high level fiction, but it got me reading.

The character Margaret was figuring out friends and periods and religion. Melissa remembers wanting to know how Margaret got through it all. She finally picked up a book she couldn’t put down. The way in for Melissa was a book where she saw herself reflected in the character.

This fact is still critical today.

Kids enjoy reading books they relate to because the characters look like them, speak like them, or otherwise feel familiar. Of course, avid readers love to read about all kinds of characters, but to hook a young reader, hand them a book that mirrors them.

South African poet, Athol Williams says, “Seeing themselves in books helps children with the vital skill of reading with comprehension and establishes an affinity with reading – the more children enjoy reading, and find meaning there, the more they will come back to books.“

I didn’t really become a crazy reader until after college, but books finally became something I could see myself doing.

It makes so much sense. This is one reason why BookGive is careful in our selection of books going out to the community. We make sure there is a true mix with diverse characters and stories – for both kids and adults. You never know when one of our books is going to be THAT book, the one that hooks a new reader, the one that keeps them reading and picking up the next book and the next one.

Here’s a great article from Scholastic with more on why we need diverse books and characters.