Angela Jerabek, Search Institute Trainer
What does a hammock, a glass of ice cold lemonade and a stack of new books remind you of? Summer! Nothing feels quite as indulgent, invigorating, and refreshing as reading books for fun. What a wonderful time to think about Asset #25, Reading for Pleasure. Reading for pleasure is incredibly powerful in that it is applicable to both youth and adults and helps build a sense of community for all.
When working with groups, I encourage adults to prioritize reading for pleasure in the communities with which they work. A wonderful aspect of this asset is that love of reading often is contagious. My 11-year-old son is an avid reader. He is the boy walking through the store with his nose in a book almost knocking over the displays. His animated conversations with friends and enthusiastic descriptions of stories at soccer and baseball fields about his most recent read often results in calls from parents asking for author’s names and titles of books. The same phenomenon occurs with adults as the name of a good title is shared between co-workers, friends, and family. Love of reading can spread like wild fire while building relationships along the way.
Another benefit of reading for pleasure is that other assets can be built while working toward this goal. An example of this: parent-child book clubs can build the reading for pleasure asset while deepening the bond between parents and their children and building community with others. It also can increase achievement motivation, school engagement and bonding to school.
Some age appropriate strategies to offer to increase reading for pleasure include:
• Birth to age 5: Sing and read to babies, toddlers and preschoolers daily
• Ages 6 to 11: Let children read to you every day as they learn to read. Celebrate their first reading!
• Ages 12 to adult: Read, join or start a book club and talk about the books you are reading with others.
There are many resources that can assist in this process, including the following Search Institute publications:
• Playful Reading: Take a playful romp through asset-rich children’s picture books, with activities and discussion topics that emphasize early literacy skills, reading for pleasure, and the eight asset categories.
• Take It Personally: A great book club resource for adults who are engaging with the asset language . . . whether for the first time or on-going. A great way to re-energize your asset-building work over the summer months!
• Just When I Needed You: A compilation of powerful asset-building stories from across North America. Makes a wonderful group read with fellow asset builders.
• Stopping at Every Lemonade Stand: A summer time reading feast! Filled with everyday acts of asset building we can all give a try over our summer days.
As summer time stretches out before us, I wish you all a quiet afternoon with a great book to fill your days…and then tell me about it!
