How to Get Your Students to Read More

This year I challenged all of my students to read 20 books. I gave them a bingo-like paper with 20 squares on it. Ten squares gave specific genres they were to read, and ten were marked free choice. All of the books had to be at least 200 pages (except Newberry) and at an appropriate reading level.

As they finished a book, they brought the sheet and the book to me, and I initialed the squares. Sometimes I'd ask a probing question or two, but mostly we operated on the honor system. They were also required to keep book review blogs, which added some accountability, and gave them an authentic purpose and audience for writing as well.

This challenge was all the buzz at the beginning of the school year. The kids and some of their parents were actually angry. Fellow teachers thought it was ridiculous. (Little did they know I had actually considered a 40 Book Challenge, as Donalyn Miller, aka "The Book Whisperer," does. I was glad I made it 20 for the debut year.) Everyone eventually calmed down when they understood they weren't being graded based on how many books they read, but rather on their blogs.

Although I did have about a dozen students who were avid readers before the challenge, many of my students did not read for pleasure at all. These are gifted and advanced middle school students. They've grown up with AR and traditional book reports like posters and dioramas. In other words, they hated reading. I was determined to change their minds. 

And so, with much disdain and maybe fear, they began reading. They passed favorite books from hand to hand and read each other's blogs for suggestions when they didn't know what to read next. We speed dated books and went to the school library often. I read along with them, posting suggestions on the white board, and pulling books from my classroom shelves for display. We talked about books a lot.

Now, as we near the end of the year, I have about six out of my 90 students who have finished the challenge, and about a dozen or so who are just one or two books away and determined to. Most have at least read 10 books -- which is more than they read last year, so that's a victory in my book! At last count, in total, my 90 students have read 1,170 books and 371,165 pages since August. 

The real win though has been in some of the comments the students have made on their blogs reflecting on the challenge. 

"I found a lot of interesting books I liked and even found some new genres that I loved, like horror apparently. My reading was a great improvement from last year because last year I only read a couple of books, while this year I read almost sixteen. Next year I hope to improve even more and I'm positive that I will read over 20 books."

"Despite how difficult the 20 book challenge has been, I believe that this challenge has helped me grow as a reader." 

"I love to express my feelings with people about literature. I love recommending books to other people and telling them about my experiences." 

Others have written about favorite new authors they've discovered, or even how the challenge has improved their writing.

This has been a learning experience for me too. I know many kids did not read the required 20-30 minutes per night that I had assigned for homework. Next year, I will probably give them an assigned number of pages to read each night instead and have them use sticky notes to do some light annotating. I will also give them much more in-class time to read. I will also handle the blogs differently next year, as many students procrastinated on these leading to missed deadlines and much frustration on everyone's part.

But the 20 Book Challenge will be back!