You’ve got to be a reader to raise a reader: My take on recent research on teens and reading

May 14, 2014beccakinla advice, literacy, parenting, reading, recommended reading, teachers, teens Tags: adolescents, advice, book, common sense media, habit, kids, kids reading material, library, literacy, literature, media, parenting, reading, reading habits, teaching, teens Leave a comment

Common Sense Media recently issued a report about kids and teens and their reading habits. The four principal findings (I’m going to quote CSN directly) were these:

Reading rates have dropped precipitously among adolescents.
Reading achievement among older teens has stagnated.
There’s a persistent gap in reading scores between white, black, and Latino kids.
There’s also a gender gap in reading across ages.

The NY Times and NPR are both aghast at the findings, but their responses focused more on the problem — and how it has arisen — than on solutions. Common Sense Media itself has offered several strategies to increase reading, but I’m going to suggest my own. Continue reading →

Reading a great book? Do you get that “Can’t put it down” feeling?

May 12, 2014beccakinla reading, recommended reading Tags: book, book recommendations, can't put it down, can't stop reading, classic, contemporary classic, favorite, favorite book, great book, reading, recommend Leave a comment

I’m not writing a long post tonight, because I’m reading an outstanding book I’ve wanted to read for a long time. I plan to curl up in bed with it shortly. It’s been a while since I’ve had that “can’t put it down” feeling, so I’m going to indulge it.

Anybody want to share what books have recently (or not-so-recently) given them the “can’t put it down” feeling?

One week until seder night! How to keep focused and full of joy

April 7, 2014beccakinla advice, Jewish, Jewish writing, Judaism, passover, pesach Tags: advice, cleaning, focus, hard, I L Peretz, inspiration, joy, music, Passover, Pesach, pleasure, reading, recommended reading, work Leave a comment

Here’s today’s teeny post:

Getting through the long, hard slog with a smile on your face.

Passover is just a week away, but if you’re cleaning your house like me, scrubbing mysterious substances off of flatware and appliances you intend to use during the holiday, it can get hard to think beyond getting the house chometz-free. To get myself in the mood, I listen to lots of fun music while I clean (Jewish, classical, and jazz) and attend classes about Passover with local rabbis and teachers. I enjoy practicing singing the seder songs with my kids during carpool, and we usually read I.L. Peretz’s “The Conjuror” at some point during the week.

Writing can be hard work like that, too. What do you do — either while Pesach cleaning or while plugging away at the keyboard — to give you inspiration and focus?

New wacky Passover poetry

April 6, 2014April 8, 2014beccakinla advice, Jewish, jewish motherhood, Jewish writing, klempner, literature, passover, pesach, poetry Tags: chometz, jew, jewish, judaism, kooky, laugh, levity, limerick, Passover, passover cleaning, Pesach, pesach cleaning, poem, reading, share, silly, wacky Leave a comment

I’m not going to have much time to post in length before Pesach hits next week, but I’m going to try to share something small every day to make up for it.

So here’s your tiny morsel of Passover-related kookiness for today:

(throat-clearing)

You cleansed the windows of mud

And you scrubbed all the toys in your tub

But you still won’t be through

When Pesach is due

If you don’t clean chometz off the rug.

Free writing tip…don’t be afraid to write bad poetry. And if you’d like to share your own corny/hammy/couldn’t-hechsher-if-it-tried Pesach poetry, just add it in the comments.

Take 2 Books and Call Me in the Morning: British docs prescribe books for patients

December 22, 2013December 22, 2013beccakinla parenting, parents, personal safety, reading, recommended reading, research, students, teachers Tags: alternative, anxiety, benefit, book, books, britain, british, depression, docs, doctor, doctors, eating disorder, england, general practitioner, gp, health, library, mental health, mood, patient, prescribe, prescription, psychologist, psychology, read, reading, recommend, recommended reading program, relationship, research, shrink, social worker, therapist, therapy, uk, united kingdom, wales 1 Comment

Therapeutic reading?

Imagine popping a couple chapters of a book instead of two of these.

Newspapers are reporting that doctors in the United Kingdom will be prescribing self-help and health books as reading material for those suffering from a variety of mild-to-moderate mental ailments, such as mild depression, anxiety and panic attacks. The CEO of the British charity the Reading Agency, Miranda McKearney, explained in an article in The Guardian, “There is a growing evidence base that shows that self-help reading can help people with certain mental health conditions to get better.”

Wales has already started the recommended reading program, with England scheduled to start in a few months. Continue reading →

Movies vs Books: in theaters 2013

December 16, 2013December 16, 2013beccakinla book, books, reading, recommended reading Tags: 2013, adaptation, advertisement, big screen, billboard, billboards, book, catching fire, commercial, ender's game, fall 2013, film, hollywood, Living in Los Angeles, movie, movies, novel, read, reading, screen, story, suggestion, the hobbit, the secret life of walter mitty, version, winter 2013 Leave a comment

Living in Los Angeles, I’m pretty much surrounded by billboards. About half of these advertise television shows or movies. These billboards are usually lost on me because I neither own a TV nor go to the movies.

And then, there was the trifecta of Fall 2013. Continue reading →

Rebecca Klempner

Author page of Rebecca Klempner

reading

You’ve got to be a reader to raise a reader: My take on recent research on teens and reading

One week until seder night! How to keep focused and full of joy

Getting through the long, hard slog with a smile on your face.

Writing can be hard work like that, too. What do you do — either while Pesach cleaning or while plugging away at the keyboard — to give you inspiration and focus?

Movies vs Books: in theaters 2013

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Anybody want to share what books have recently (or not-so-recently) given them the “can’t put it down” feeling?

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Getting through the long, hard slog with a smile on your face.

Writing can be hard work like that, too. What do you do — either while Pesach cleaning or while plugging away at the keyboard — to give you inspiration and focus?

Share this:

So here’s your tiny morsel of Passover-related kookiness for today:

Free writing tip…don’t be afraid to write bad poetry. And if you’d like to share your own corny/hammy/couldn’t-hechsher-if-it-tried Pesach poetry, just add it in the comments.

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Therapeutic reading?

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