Competitive Reading

[CattiGuen]

I remember back in elementary school the books that every student was reading were the Goosebumps books. Everyone wanted to read more of them than anyone and faster than anyone.

For the past few years The Harry Potter Series has been what kids (and some grown ups) use to "compete". Kids would be like "I read HP 6 in 2 days!" "Oh yeah, I read it in 1 day!" I was wondering what everyone else thinks of this "reading to compete" thing. I think that reading for whatever reason is a good thing, but this bothers me a bit.

Any one know what I'm talking about?

 

[SFG75]

I could see it as a good motivational tool in regards to encouraging kids to read. Competition is a good thing to use within reason. With that being said, I really don't see the value of keeping that mindset after the elementary years. While I have completed works in a short time span, I'm of the belief that laying back and digesting what you've read is more important than being able to tell anyone that you've read a huge book in two days.

 

[Fantasy Moon]

I could see it as a good motivational tool in regards to encouraging kids to read. Competition is a good thing to use within reason. With that being said, I really don't see the value of keeping that mindset after the elementary years. While I have completed works in a short time span, I'm of the belief that laying back and digesting what you've read is more important than being able to tell anyone that you've read a huge book in two days.

Agreed. One of the older women in my history classes keeps repeatedly saying that once Christmas break started she was averaging a book a day. One, did I ever give the impression that I cared? Two, is this supposed to be considered some great accomplishment?

I don't remember such a competition reading the Goosebumps series. I just remember that they were fun because I liked creepy stories. I still have most of mine. It would be difficult to part with "Deep Trouble" and "Piano Lessons Can Be Murder". They are so worn from repeated readings in my youth.

 

[HermioneWeasley]

well, i'm obsessed with how fast i read harry potter cuz i'm addcited to it, otherwise i take my time with books and make sure i dont' miss anything.

 

[Øystein]

A friend and I sort of competed back in primary school. There was a series of books here in Norway called "The Story Of [some famous person's name]" ("Historien om...") that consisted of easy-to-read biographies of various famous people. Marie Curie, Jeanne D'Arc, Albert Schweitzer etc. the only pop culture types I remember were Elvis Presley and Walt Disney. I've later found out that the books in the series were Norwegian translations of various unrelated American books. Anyhoo, it was a good idea, as it made us keep tabs on which books in the series we'd read etc.

I have fond memories of how we'd go through the jacket flap's list of books, listing up which one each of us had read etc.
Neither of us were overly competitive, but there was a certain cool feeling in having read one the other hadn't read.

For some reason I recall us reading Jack London's "White Fang" at about the same time too, but no competition there, just excited discussions about it during school recesses.

 

[TheRedNewt]

Personally, I set realistic goals for the number of books I want to read. For instance, perhaps I'll try to read at least a book a week. If I don't set some sort of broad goal up, I will inevitably find myself lagging behind or getting distracted with other trivial activities.

I think that is the kind of thing these contests are trying to promote in kids. If you tell a kid to try to read as many books as possible in some number of months for a prize, the child will be more likely to read than if you just told him to read. However, there are always some unintended consequences, but the people running these events believe the good outweighs the bad.

 

[Bountyhunter]

Agreed. One of the older women in my history classes keeps repeatedly saying that once Christmas break started she was averaging a book a day. One, did I ever give the impression that I cared? Two, is this supposed to be considered some great accomplishment?

I don't remember such a competition reading the Goosebumps series. I just remember that they were fun because I liked creepy stories. I still have most of mine. It would be difficult to part with "Deep Trouble" and "Piano Lessons Can Be Murder". They are so worn from repeated readings in my youth.

I LOVVEED Deep Trouble. And the sequel.

Concerning competitive reading, I did it... with Animorphs.

 

[wilderness]

I'm about to go into my final year of school and I find its still the same.
We have a list of books to read over the holidays that we will be studying during the year, and I find that everyone in the year is asking everyone how much they have read. It's soooo frustating! I sign into MSN and people straight away ask if I have read them all. Then, they answer and say 'Read them all twice'.
Its so frustrating!

Lani

 

[WoundedThorns]

hm, in elementry school there would be this thing where you'd read books under specfic genres, but you were able to go beyond. [this was a summer thing] i guess it was kind of a competition as to who read the most over the summer.

 

[SFG75]

In our area, we had a "Book It!" program where you earned stickers for books that you read. If you collected a set number, you'd get a free pizza from pizza-hut. I believe elementary schools in the area still have that program.

 

[abecedarian]

In our area, we had a "Book It!" program where you earned stickers for books that you read. If you collected a set number, you'd get a free pizza from pizza-hut. I believe elementary schools in the area still have that program.

Lots of homeschoolers do the Book It program too.