Why is the grammar school library full of books for 7 year oldS?

[MrsTaraPlumbing]

I don't understand it and hope some of you can give me some perspective.
My son is in year 7 of GS. In SEpt he was assessed with a reading age of 13.
He says he has to choose from a selection of books (Yellow band) and they are rubbish - he would never read any of them but when forced to choose something he has bought home:
James and the Giant Peach
Adam Blade Beast Quest.
Books for 7-8 year olds! My mind boggles.

He never read them, in fact those books didn't appeal to him when he was younger either.

*EvilTwins "Accelerated Reader is a good system with proven results."

But what proof? The annual Rennaisance Learning reports (presumably based on data they capture from school using AR) claims progress in reading stalls at secondary age. 'Plateau' was their word.

www.arbookfind.com/default.aspx

The above link lets you search for books and find out what they are "worth" re AL.

TBH I am not convinced overly from reading about it, as yet. Seems like big business to me and a lot of money making going on, and not much to promote reading for pleasure.

www.arbookfind.com/default.aspx

Hulababy Agreed. I'm counting my blessings that there is nothing like that at Y6 DD's state primary and the upstream state secondary has an old-fashioned creature known as a 'Librarian' who is apparently quite good.

DD curls up and reads for pleasure, attempts to smuggle the current book to bed nearly every night and is quite prepared to read challenging books. I really wouldn't want that broken by the blanket imposition of some reading system (which may well contain 'perverse incentives') regardless of the effect on reluctant readers.

Thanks for all your useful comments.
I didn't know this but now I recognise that they do have this
Accelerated Reader system in place
and there is a problem with it.

In my son's year 7 they have a "library" lesson once every two weeks where they are expected to choose and read something from the group of books assessed as suitable for them.
My son says there is nothing in that group that appeals, so he hasn't read anything and he has only bought these books home because he had to take something.
That whole lesson is a waste of time, not just for my son by the sound of it.

This is not a system to encourage reading, if anything it is the opposite. Being forced to choice from a small sample of unappealing books when there are so many other good books ...

Then there are quizzes. My son has not taken any - he told me. He doesn't see the point of them. He did say some of the boys are very enthusiastic about the quizzes and they take them based on having watched the films, eg the Hunger Games - obviously none of them are able to actually read the Hunger Games - it would be far too difficult for most of those boys and they are expected to read Adam Blade!

Any boys who were good at reading and wanted to read Beast Quest would have read those books many years before arriving in year 7.

My son tells me Diary of a Wimpy Kid is in the next level up from where he is assessed at - he would choose them but obviously he is never going to move up to that level as he isn't joining in the system.

Again - he has has read them all anyway and started on them about 2 or 3 years ago!

Some one else mentioned children whizzing through books they have read before or even the Mr Men books.
I am amazed that anyone could really think this is a good thing for MOST children. Yes it might be great for a minority with particular reading problems.

Also remember son was assessed as having one of the highest reading ages in his year group, among the boys (2 years above his age).

Perhaps there is something I have missed but I will take this up with the head teacher.

MrsTara - it does sound like the school library is not equipped to give a broad enough range of books in the levels. I would check the level he has been given too. My DS is in Year 5 and I think he can read anything up to 6.0 - The Hunger Games would fall in that category. I have just looked up Wimpy Kid and am surprised to see that it is around the same level. Beast Quest tend to be in the 4.7 area.

I think the system is brilliant and DS reads so extensively it makes me very happy but you have to have a library with a huge choice of books - it sounds like that may be the issue.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid, according to the AR link, is in BL 5 - aimed at 5th grade - Wiki tells me "Students are usually 10 – 11 years old. " I assume it is a US scheme. Maybe here is a UK version too?

Beast Quest, according to the AR link, is in BL 5 - aimed at 4th grade - 9-10y.

If your DS was assessed at 13y surely he should be on Book Level 7 or 8?

TBH I am surprised that Beast Quest is aimed at 9-10 year olds. Children, ime, tend to read them in Y2/3/4 - so much younger than this.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid seems more accurately placed.

When my DD2 was in Yr5 her teacher suggested Hunger Games as appropriate for her. I had a look at it and thought 'No'.

Just because a book is suitable in terms of its complexity that does not mean it is suitable in terms of content.

I'm beginning to be really glad our local secondary does not use this system.

I'm really surprised at the limited book choice for your son.

I think it has been a fantastic scheme for my DD. I appreciate all kids are different, but she was getting a bit stale with reading towards the end of primary. She'd had a really good few years where she loved reading, and by Y6 she'd just lost interest and was just rereading old Enid Blyton books.

She really took to the quiz aspect of reading, and although she picked some very easy books in the first half term, it's really seemed to spark an interest again, and she's loving reading again now. She's come on leaps and bounds, and is reading a book most weeks.

I just checked her planner, and she got 3.0 points for Diary of a Wimpy Kid. Her highest score is 15.0 points for Swallows & Amazons. This is just from term one, so I'm not sure what she's been getting for the book she's been reading more recently.

The problem she's had is that most of the books at her level are about vampires and ghosts, and she hates that sort of thing. She's just been reading her own books, from the library and the charity shop, and all but one have been available to be quizzed.

All interesting, thank you.
Perhaps he has been allocated to the wrong group in light of these comments.
Also
A US grade 4 = Uk year 5 etc...

He has told me the range of books to choose from is very small.
They are divided into four colour groups. He is in the second one up from the bottom - as are almost all of the boys in his class.
It may well be that the fault is in how the school are implementing the system with too few books to choose from.

both my DC are still at primary, but it has always amazed me that books are graded into yr groups, especially Roald Dahl. The school covers him in yr2 - but some of the themes and ideas behind those stories just aren't grasped at that age, and it seems such a shame that older children aren't encouraged to revisit them.

that said, I don't think you should rely on just the school library - Grammar school or not..

MrsT - it sounds very much like the school isn't doing it right. In order for AR to work, it needs to be far more frequent than once a fortnight.

At my school, children's reading ages have increased by years in months. From my understanding, the "plateau" can be a result of the decrease in frequency of reading when students get to secondary school. This isn't hokum - clearly ANY skill will decrease if practise is stopped or decreased. How many of us read with our secondary school age children? Very few, I would imagine, but some children NEED that 1-2-1 attention. I have seen children's reading skills plateau, the fact is that many GCSE papers have a reading age above the reading ability of a number of students. Children need to be able to access the secondary curriculum and if their reading ability is preventing that, then surely a programme which addresses that is a good thing.

FWIW, we also have a librarian. The two are not mutually exclusive. Does it encourage reading for pleasure? I don't know, but in many cases, that's not the priority and anyone who thinks it should be is rather naive.

Just to clarify. I don't expect him to rely on the school library.
We have loads of books at home and reading time is part of our routine.

Just with my son at the centre of my attention I am wondering about him wasting time in a 1 hour library lesson once a fortnight.
Obviously there may be far more that goes on than I am aware of - and of course my son may be very selective in what he has told me.

I have just emailed the school to ask to meet with the teacher in charge of that lesson to find out what my son is doing for that hour and to go and see the books.

This thread has been very informative so thanks everyone.

What Kids Are Reading 2014:

The average book difficulty rises as students get older, but not in proportion to the rate at which the students should be improving in reading. At secondary school (Year 7 onwards) difficulty tends to plateau. The book difficulty level declines below the actual age of the students. After Year 9 it tends to decline absolutely, which is alarming.
...
There is a marked downturn in difficulty of books at secondary transfer - even with highly motivating books. Secondary teachers and librarians need to get better at encouraging children appropriately.

Struggling readers and high-ability readers are seriously under-challenged.

---

There's obviously a lot happening at secondary age to derail what was happening in those more innocent primary days, but...

Is there actually anything for your average 12 year old to read though? Boys, particularly?

Everything pushed at them seems horribly mawkish and miserable (Private Peaceful) or it's still toilet humour, which never appealed. And then people label other, possibly more suitable books (Dahl, Colfer) as being for younger children (a point I disagree with).

It's only now, at 13, that ds is finding things he quite likes. It's been a fight, though.

Johnny

I agree that the majority of newly published books are of a type, and if that type isn't what suits your child, you have to dig around, but my DD is a voracious reader, and I know a lot of what she reads might not appeal to a boy (eg Anne of Green Gables / Jacqueline Wilson), but just off the top of my head, books she's enjoyed recently are:

The Lost series by Michael Grant
Tom Sawyer / Huck Finn
The entire output by Arthur Ransome (she started these age 8 but is still finishing them off)
Hunger Games
Malorie Blackman - Noughts & Crosses etc
John Greene (Fault in our Stars etc)
Hitchhikers Guide series
Anything by Terry Pratchett (she hasn't started on Discworld yet but I think she will soon)
All the Horrible Histories books.

All or most of these would be just as suitable to a Y7 boy I would have thought.

I appreciate there isn't the same range for boys, but there's still more than enough.

As a PP said, if you can still manage to read with them it makes a massive difference. There are some books (eg Hitchhikers) that my DD wouldn't have read on her own. I read a few chapters each night, and then once she's hooked she carries on by herself.

This also means we can explore some books that would be much too hard for her on her own, eg Dickens, which she loves, but really needs to hear out loud, rather than try to read by herself.

I don't see the problem either. My dd2 (7) has a reading age of 9.5 but a reading taste and patience of age 5. My y6 Dd1 got friends are already 11 year old since last Sept and going to gs in this Sept but they still like to play with the littlest pet shop toys etc. I think it is nice that the school library showing a variety of books to cater for different individuals. I am sure the school has a good reason for the books to be there. I had seen children books even in our uni library in my days. I really rather the kids read something that they enjoy when at their leisure than insisting that they have to read books according to their reading age or year levels.

I don't think that it is at all naive to think that reading for pleasure is an important thing to aim for, Twins. There is already so much dissection of books in the school system - and for good reasons - that there has to be something to counterbalance it. How many people stop reading for pleasure once they are done with secondary school? A shocking percentage of households have no books at all, a shocking percentage of people never read anything more than the odd magazine. Too many people never read to their children and more still stop while their children are still young. What is going to happen when those children have children? What incentive do they have to foster a love of reading in their children when they perceive reading as something that is duty? We have to look beyond the short term gains of whatever reading programme we use.

I do agree that it is sad hat so many secondary age children regress in their choice of reading material. I suspect the constant reading-for-analysis that the curriculum demands is at the root of this, and there isn't an easy fix. However, I would say that there is a role for parents here, and that there are options besides the endless spill of teen misery-and-vampire lit. Classic Diana Wynne Jones, T.H White, Susan Cooper, Lloyd Alexander's Prydain series for the slightly younger ones - people just have to make an effort. That includes school librarians as well as parents.

"Is there actually anything for your average 12 year old to read though? Boys, particularly?"

I think there are plenty of excellent YA books available, far more than in the early 80s when I was that age. DD comes home with endless books from her school library, in fact she hardly uses the town library any more except to get the 2nd/3rd book in a series if there's a log jam of pupils all trying to read them at the same time.

The people she seems to swap recommendations with the most are boys, so I don't think they are only appealing to one sex. Admittedly if you didn't like dystopian / adventure type fiction it would be a bit more tricky as that does seem to be the fashion at the moment.

My only slight issue has been the number of books with "13+" and "14+" stickers on the cover, but I'm reluctant to put her off books she's enjoying and sharing with friends.

QOD - I am shocked that your school has no library!
At my DCs school they built a new library a couple of years ago - although it is called a Research Centre! It is very well used. It has lots of desks with computers on, tables for studying in small groups, kindles, lots of books, reference guides etc. They do have a librarian who is apprently very strict There is also an adjacent 'Quiet' room where no talking is allowed officially
This is a state school (was comp, now academy).
It is also open after school, I think until 5pm. So if DCs are waiting for siblings to finish at a club before getting a lift home or club is cancelled they can sit and study/read.

whoops typo

There's a strong correlation between reading for pleasure and success at GCSE (and beyond), so definitely not a naive aspiration.

Exactly, Amber - and the success isn't just in English, it's in maths as well.

I've double checked and apparently there is one, it sounds like its still the musty old one I went in! Same books, dd saw it in her first week in yr 7, she's yr 10 and not been in since
In their defence, it's a computer science grammar and they do have resource rooms with printers, 'puters and reference books in the newer bit