I get as frustrated as the next parent when my children appear unable to move on to reading pastures new. Dav Pilkey’s Captain Underpants books are hugely entertaining but surely there’s no reason to read the complete collection, volumes 1-12, for the seventh time?

Progress in reading stalls at secondary school. It should be a priority

A new report seems to agree with me. It claims secondary pupils are falling behind in their reading because they are not moving on from writers they first met in primary school. It cites data showing the 10 most popular books in secondary were all written by Jeff Kinney and David Walliams. In corresponding data for primary pupils the books were all written by Kinney, Walliams and Roald Dahl.

The report comes from Renaissance Learning, which runs the Accelerated Reader programme in schools. This directs pupils to choose books based on their assessed reading age. It has a vested interest in constructing reading as a linear process to be tracked and measured.

Is reading development really this simple though? I would argue that it’s much more complicated, particularly in the early teenage years. Of course we want children to tackle more challenging material as they grow older. But there are good reasons not to worry if your 13-year-old is yet again reading Walliams’s Billionaire Boy, so long as they still enjoy reading, do it regularly, and have teachers who can gradually nudge them towards new material.

The first reason for this is that the benefits of independent reading seem to stem more from the act itself than from the specifics of the material. Report after report shows a direct correlation between reading regularly for pleasure and academic attainment. There are emotional and social benefits too, including increased self-confidence, greater understanding of different cultures and better insight into human nature.

Children, like adults, read different kinds of books, sometimes side by side

Second, revisiting familiar ground can aid literacy development. Up until about 13 most young readers need to return to authors they are familiar with. If they already know a writer’s common tropes, then they are better able to absorb the language and events in front of them. Few bonds are stronger than the one between young reader and favourite writer. Children shouldn』t just view reading as a learning opportunity but rather as an intimate relationship with a wise and trusted adult. Returning to a much-loved writer is like hanging out with a favourite relative. You know what you』re going to get, but it’s great fun anyway.

Finally, we should recognise that children, like adults, read different kinds of books, sometimes side by side. The Renaissance Learning report focuses on favourites. It seems to assume a direct correlation between reading choices and ability. It would be interesting to know if the data includes challenging material pupils meet in the classroom, as well as selections from the Accelerated Reader programme.

The report is not without merit. Learning is about advancing to the next stage. Discarding favourites writers, though, is not the solution. If secondary children stay interested, their personal reading will move on in due course. We should encourage them to venture into new territory, and schools should look for effective ways to do this.

English teachers in particular need a strong knowledge of children’s and young adult fiction. Many are real enthusiasts, brilliant at sharing their expertise. But some teachers active on social media boast about their antipathy for contemporary writing aimed at teens, making unsubstantiated claims about the benefits of the classics above all else. I think this is an abnegation of duty.

Great children’s and YA literature provides a stepping stone to adult books. Much of Sonya Hartnett’s work, for example, offers a well-judged introduction to tricky aspects of narrative; Alex Wheatle’s Crongton sequence is perfect for secondary pupils not yet ready for the full-on shock of crime-noir; Max, by Sarah Cohen-Scali, uses the same narrative device as Ian McEwan’s Nutshell; and Richard Kurti’s Monkey Wars, for my money, uses anthropomorphism just as powerfully as George Orwell’s Animal Farm.

Young readers won』t get to books such as these if we dictate what they should read and when. They』ll switch off instead. Publicity for the Renaissance Learning report actually calls for David Walliams to write more challenging material for his older fans. Why not ask Dan Brown to pen a Man Booker winner along the way? Walliams’s books are what they are. If children want to read them into their teens, so be it. Just as long as they keep reading and have the chance to graduate to new material on their own terms.

• Andrew McCallum is director of the English and Media Centre, an educational charity supporting secondary English teachers through publications and continuing professional development

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本文來源：https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/feb/23/knock-children-rereading-books-read-jeff-kinney