Readicide

Readicide by Kelly Gallagher is an eye-opener. I already knew that the US (and the world) had a problem with younger people not being interested in reading. However, some of the statistics Gallagher sprinkled throughout this book were incredible. For example: 3,000 students who are poor readers drop out of school daily in the US (Readicide, Gallagher, 3). I was completely floored by this statistic. I love statistics and this one just seemed to nail it. For me, as a bookworm, I always found it odd that some people don’t enjoy reading. I grew up devouring books like there is no tomorrow. Gallagher’s book Readicide helped me understand that maybe it’s because teachers of reading are killing the love for reading. I especially enjoyed how he brought this to light: students in kindergarten loved reading, but with each passing grade interest in reading waned significantly. By the time students reached high school, students would hate reading and some would hate it with a passion.

Thankfully, Gallagher didn’t just point out the problem: students are no longer reading and many teachers fail to teach the love of reading. He gave suggestions for teachers of readings on how to instill the love and passion for reading into students. One suggestion that I found to be of great advice: teach students to recognize the value that comes from reading academic texts. I couldn’t agree with him more. Many students today fail to see the great importance of reading academic texts. Thus, these students miss out on information that is priceless. Gallagher mentioned how important it is for teachers of reading to get this point across to students of reading. Reading academic texts helps students glean wise and practical information from the text that they can apply to their everyday lives. Overall, I found Readicide to be an incredible book; I will defiantly be using its practical and sound advice in my future classroom.