The Gift of Reading
For as long as I can remember, I have been surrounded by books. Throughout my childhood, my grandmother gifted me picture books that remain part of my collection. Within each one, I would find a thoughtful message written in her unique script and predictably closed with “Love, Nana Carolyn.” It is years later that I am appreciating the sentiment behind this gesture, almost certain that I breezed by the hard-to-read cursive as a young child.
What I do remember vividly is the feeling a new book gave me. I still hold images in my mind from each book, but one in particular stands out to me after all this time: All the Places to Love by Patricia MacLachlan. It is a book that one might refer to as an “oldie but goodie.” It is a book filled with small moments, simple joys, and special places. It is a book that has been transferred from my bedroom shelf to my classroom book baskets.
I am hopeful that my students will look back years from now, remembering a particular book with this same familiar fondness—a book that whispers encouragement to reach for it again and again. Perhaps they will reread it as they grow older or pass it on to their own children or students. Perhaps I will be the one who introduces that book to them.
Nurturing Reading Lives
When I think about the imprint All the Places to Love has left on my heart, I feel invited to reflect on what nurtured my reading life as a child. I can narrow this down to four major influences: acknowledgment of my passions, time in the library, being read aloud to, and independent reading time. As a teacher, I ask, “What does this look like in my classroom?”
Passion Conferences
My aunt and grandmother often gifted me books connected to my childhood passions—art and dance. The titles I unwrapped were never disappointing. The personalized choices made me feel seen and celebrated. Fostering a love of reading is a goal at the forefront of my work with students. Although there are countless conferences dedicated to reading strategies, I believe the ones that simply dig into reading lives have the strongest effect. On the second day of school, I visited each student with a few questions:
- “I can see you chose [title] as your first independent reading book from our library. Can you help me understand why you chose it?”
- “Would you say that you often choose [genre] books?”
- “How would you complete the statement ‘I love characters who ___________’?”
I wrapped up reading that day feeling energized: “Readers, I feel like I have such an important job to do! You have given me valuable information that will help me reach for book recommendations, and I cannot wait to introduce you to new stories that I think you will love.” More importantly, I wrapped up reading with the impression that every reader felt heard and seen that day.
Our Classroom Library
My grandmother describes my behavior at the library as that of a child who was completely content. I would invite a stuffed animal or doll to brush their fingertips along the book spines with me. I would carefully pull books off the shelves and arrive at the table with my selections, knowing that my Nana was ready to read with me.
Author Oliver Jeffers might have described me as A Child of Books, and that is exactly what I hope my students will become. I nurture this through offering a variety in book selection and time to book shop. There are readers who appreciate reaching for the same titles year after year. There are readers, like me, who want to devour as many new titles as they possibly can. Books range from my tattered childhood classics to books newly published this month. The crispness and new-book smell never seems to last long in Room 104, but that is a sign of a book well loved. My library collectively belongs to all readers who have learned in my classroom, and it is a true product of the diverse readers I have connected with. In my classroom, there is always an open invitation to browse and borrow.
Read Aloud
I have vivid memories of read-aloud in my own fourth-grade classroom. To put it simply, I loved being read aloud to. We would huddle up on the rug, shoulder to shoulder, with Mrs. Harty in her chair. What sticks out in my memory the most is listening to simply love the text, which is something I strive to offer in addition to all the interpretation work we dig into. My favorite part of the school day, even as a teacher, is still read-aloud. We fill the year with short stories, informational articles, picture books, and countless novel chapters. What is better than readers leaning in with wide eyes, silence that erupts into giggles, or a chapter that ends with a collective gasp?
Independent Reading
I am still a reader who cherishes alone time. As a child, I could be found with a book in my bedroom or under the tree in the backyard. The more time I had to read on my own, the more I fell in love with reading. For this reason, I value time for independent reading in my classroom. In fact, on the first day of school, one reader made sure to ask, “Will there ever be a time to just read a book?”
My automatic reply was “Of course there will be! You will soon figure out that you have a teacher who is obsessed with books. Reading is my favorite!” There are many moments that make my heart sing during independent reading time. I love when a reader cannot help but whisper to their neighbor about the scene they are reading, outwardly reacts to a new fascinating fact, or has an aha moment that lifts the level of their thinking. Time to read and think and grow is a time to celebrate.
Lifelong Readers
The past several years have offered waves of summer letters and unexpected emails from former students. Some have written to request the titles in my summer reading stack. One asked for book recommendations on behalf of a cousin entering fourth grade. Recently, a child reached out to say she misses “Meet Someone New Monday” and “First Chapter Friday.” Then, there is the young boy who expressed his contagious excitement about the arrival of a book he’d ordered months in advance. Reading lives have been transformed, and my heart is happy, knowing the enthusiasm has extended beyond the walls of my classroom. My fourth graders grow older, and the communication simmers, but I do imagine that they are still reading—that they’ve carried this same fire in their hearts as they’ve climbed through the arc of their own lives.
I imagine that your former students are still reading, too. Let’s hope our readers remember us for acknowledging their passions and honoring those passions through our book collections. Maybe they will have fond memories of being read aloud to or curling up in the corners of our classrooms for independent reading time. Perhaps our readers are rereading books that they have celebrated before or are passing them on to loved ones. Perhaps we were the ones who introduced those books to them.
