Reading Programs: What’s Beyond the Classics for Kids?

Schools need a reading curriculum that connects with children and youth audiences. Here are some options.

Reading is a valuable learning resource. In previous articles, we have discussed the benefits of this activity, the need to be attentive to the quality of the content read by children and young people, and keeping the curricula updated. A helpful conversation would point to learning options that encourage reading at the preschool, elementary, middle, and high school levels. Cultivating the habit of reading from an early age increases the chances significantly that a student will continue reading in their youth and adult life. With this in mind, we have compiled several recommendations of quality contemporary books to consider for school and home libraries.

A good beginning (3-7 years)

Preschool age is when many children learn basic ideas such as the concept of the self, bodily autonomy, healthy habits, and hygiene. The author Patricia Arredondo contributes to these learnings with Poems for When Your Teeth Fall Out, a book with a lyrical, haiku-like structure that addresses anatomy and dental hygiene. The work won honorable mention in the Laura Méndez De Cuenca Contest 2018. It combines Arredondo’s experience as a writer with her contextual expertise, coming from a family of dentists. This title can be found in the catalogue of the Fondo Editorial Estado de México (FOEM). It is not distributed through commercial channels, but the Secretary of Education of Guerrero (Mexico) shared the complete work as a document through social media.

For the English market or language teaching, My Tree is an excellent choice. Author Hope Lim tells the story of an immigrant boy from South Korea who takes refuge in the shade of a tree to rest and recall his home. Also an immigrant, Lim uses this opportunity to talk about the experience of missing a place of origin and the healing that makes the new site home. The book has had positive reviews from several newspapers and media specializing in education and promoting reading.

Making a path (6 to 9 years)

This age range is conducive to encouraging the individual reading habits of children. Stories of personal development through adventures or difficulties are especially effective in creating connections between the books and the experiences of the child readers. It is time to understand that a book is a journey. The book  9 Kilometers is an excellent example of these necessary narratives. This book by author Claudio Aguilera recounts the story of a boy who must cover a great distance daily to get to his school. Through this story of determination and growth, Aguilera makes an apt social commentary about socioeconomic inequalities and the universal right to education. The book has been awarded several prizes, such as the White Ravens and the Martha Brunet Awards in 2021.

The Stone Giant is one of the few literary offerings for these adventures and occasions of growth to be dimensioned in the story of a girl. Author Anna Höglund introduces us to a world of knights and ogres, in which the father of a girl disappears on a mission, and she goes in search of him. The book is available in English and Spanish.

Building ideas and habits (10 to 12 years)

Puberty is a critical transitional stage for students. They need to surround themselves with readings that help them contextualize their experiences and accompany them during their passage to adolescence. Luna de Gatos (Cat Moon), by author and cartoonist Jis (José Ignacio Solórzano), offers support through a story that is neither complex nor difficult to read. The work is interactive because it is also a stamp album that will make each rereading a different day. The book handles issues of defining identity, transitioning to a new age range, and what it entails.

At this stage of life, children begin to have their own interests and seek a sense of belonging and group identity with their peers. Jazz Santos vs. The World  tells the story of a girl who gathers a group of classmates to create a soccer team. The book belongs to a series called The Dream Team, in which the author, Priscilla Mante, explores adolescent challenges by discovering and pursuing activities that form and excite them. The series also includes the title: Charligh Green vs. The Spotlight.

Across the universe of the word (12 years and older)

From the age of 12, if children have formed the reading habit, they begin to gravitate to more complex stories with richer narratives, structures, and a broader range of words and story plots. The books we put in their hands during this time will have a significant impact; the children will continue through a youth and adult life in which reading remains a constant.

Understanding how society works is crucial for the kids this age. El niño que vivía en las estrellas (The Boy Who Lived in the Stars) makes us participants in the difficulties of a child who claims to be from another planet. How the adults around him handle his case is an integral element of this story. This work by the author Jordi Sierra i Fabra received the National Prize for Literature of the Ministry of Culture in 2007 and, in 2013, the Ibero-American SM Prize for Children’s and Youth Literature. Its sales figures exceed 12 million copies.

The teach
ing of history, diverse cultural heritages, and languages are academic areas that can be nourished by the books that parents and teachers choose for their libraries. Soul Lanterns is one of those works that serves all three purposes. Published only in English, it tells the story of three children from Hiroshima in the 1970s who conducted a school project on the consequences of the atomic bomb in their city. The anecdotes collected by the protagonists are a window not only to a high-caliber historical event but to the human experiences and emotions linked to these 27 years afterward.

Like the works discussed above, there are hundreds of other books by young authors with a solid literary basis to accompany the learning of children and young people in the classroom and the home. It is only a matter of looking for media that give space to contemporary authors. Do you think including these works in curricular programs would be a step forward in teaching and encouraging reading? Do you prefer the classics? Would you like a balance between both types? Let us know in the comments.

Translation by Daniel Wetta

Sofía García-Bullé

Share

This article from Observatory of the Institute for the Future of Education may be shared under the terms of the license CC BY-NC-SA 4.0