Quote

We're promoting such a narrow version of literacy that we're not including what a lot of boys like.

Children have to be motivated to want to learn to read. Reading must not be taught simply as a school exercise.

The simplest way to make sure that we raise literate children is to teach them to read, and to show them that reading is a pleasurable activity.

Reading develops cognitive skills. It trains our minds to think critically and to question what you are told. This is why dictators censor or ban books. It's why it was illegal to teach slaves to read. It's why girls in developing countries have acid thrown in their faces when they walk to school.

Girls read a boy book, but boys don't necessarily want to read a girl book.

We need to tell kids flat out: reading is not optional.

I think every parent knows that, like, boys and girls are different. And we just don't take that into account in schools on those things like required reading lists. 'Cause that was my experience, say, with my son, who had to read 'Little House on the Prairie' when he was in third grade.

Children should learn that reading is pleasure, not just something that teachers make you do in school.

You teach a child to read, and he or her will be able to pass a literacy test.

I think sometimes parents and teachers can push children away from reading by telling them it's something they must do, the same way they must eat their greens and must pass their exams in school. Poppycock! Read or don't read - that's your call.