Summary: People, particularly students, are choosing to read books well below their reading level, which could be one of the reasons literacy scores are declining.
I found this article astounding. Most particularly horrifying is the following quote: "Eric Carle's classic picture-book The Very Hungry Caterpillar.. emerged as the most popular book among girls aged 14 to 16." I remember reading this book in early elementary school, maybe even Kindergarten. I know that it is not expected for teenagers this age to be reading The Communist Manifesto or Beowulf, but it should be at least common to see these teens reading something remotely close to their reading level. This makes me think of the "text sets" we will be doing in class--I now do not want to add books below students' reading level because it seems inevitable that most will pick the lower books. I read many YA books, so I guess it could be said that I am reading below my level, but I also read many books above my level for school, so I think there's a good balance there.
Toppling's comment, "If we are to address the worrying decline in reading skills.. we have to ensure our children are reading at or above their reading age," shows how important it is for teachers to teach students how to read as best as possible while they have the students in the classroom. Having the students appreciate different texts should also be a key goal.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1362459/Teenage-literacy-steep-decline-schoolchildren-favour-books-expected-reading-age.html
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