ABSTRACT
Perhaps a useful starting point is to reflect on what we actually want the children to be able to do – how do we define reading? The National Literacy Strategy was simple in its aspirations: ‘Literate primary pupils should . . . be interested in books, read with enjoyment and evaluate and justify their preferences’ (DfES, 2001: 3). So reading is everything – but yet it is even more. When I read I enter into the worlds and minds of others – I know what it feels like to be in a certain place, in a certain situation, facing a certain dilemma. When I read my feelings are engaged; I sympathise and empathise with the characters I am reading about and often my emotions are as raw as theirs. When I read I learn things; I gain new information; my bank of knowledge is enlarged. When I read I hear others’ opinions and I evaluate them against my own viewpoint and against what I know of the writer. When I read I argue with the ideas on the page; I interpret them in the light of my own experiences; I absorb them or I reject them; I create worlds and ideas which grow from what I have read. When I read I know what to do; I follow the instructions to make the Ikea bookcase, to cook that new recipe, to find an address. When I read I enjoy the delights of language, of laughing as the joke plays with the meanings of words, of struggling with hidden meanings as I complete the crossword, of revelling in the craft of the skilled wordsmith. When I read I curl up on the sofa enjoying the escape from the bustle of life, but then I want to talk, ‘Have you read this? What do you think? Did you know that . . . ? What happens next?’
