For the love of reading

In a world saturated with selfies and hashtags, books remain as the primary source of learning
and imagination.
by Sara Grace C. Fojas
September 14, 2014
Most people may think that reading books is
pass, with tablets and e-readers replacing paper
and pixels replacing ink. Although change is good
technologically speakingnothing can still
substitute the feeling of opening a book, smelling
the paper, and flipping page after page of good
literally work. Traditional or digital, books still
remain, people still read, and curiosity, a thirst for
adventure, and the pursuit of knowledge are still
there.
But competing with games and technology, how can books demand time from this generation?
How can parents encourage their kids to pick a book from the shelf if they are more interested in
breaking the high score in Swing Copters or level up on League of Legends?
Students who read more have a greater chance of succeeding in career and in life that is why
educators give importance to develop.
Recognizing how important reading is to childrens success, teachers and parents should get
children to find books, to get them excited about stories and information, to make reading fun,
discovering and curiosity, and to promote sheer joy, says Frank Wong, Scholastic Asia
president.
LET THEM CHOOSE WHAT TO READ
Inside the classroom, students are often given required reading assignments. Whether they like it
or not, they have to read that book and understand it. Frank says that reading for pleasure is a
driving force in students happiness and growth in school and at home.
When children choose their own books to read versus books assigned to them, they are five
times more likely to read the whole book. When a young child is excited to read about certain
topics, they can read four or five books in a single day. When children want to read, they drive
their own learning, many times powerful than simply learning in a classroom. When children
read books at home, they do well in school and develop a love for reading and learning, he says.

Some of the kids reading preference today

includes the Harry Potter series of J. K. Rowling
and the Hunger Games trilogy of Suzanne
Collins, mainly because the stories take its
readers to places and adventures they can only
dream of. Given the right material, according to
Wong, parents can motivate their child to read.
Usually its the mothers, but fathers should also
read to the kid, but they must have the right tools,
that something the father and the kid enjoy. So
we are constantly thinking of ways we can also help the fathers read to their kids as well, he
says.
Scholastic partners with schools to encourage children to read and develop the love for reading.
DEVELOP A GOOD READING HABIT
Opening a book is opening a door to many possibilities. If you cant read (or write), the
possibility of success might be difficult to achieve. Thats why it is important for every
individual to develop a good reading habit.
You cant have any form of academic excellence without the ability to read and comprehend.
Developing a good reading habit is very critical and after achieving that, everything else will
follow. In writing, the act of putting your thoughts down forces you to think. Thats why these
days, every college student has to take a writing class. It forces them to think, says Frank.
With this in mind, Scholastic Inc. spearheaded an interschool literacy contest called The
Readers Cup. It aims to recognize literacy educators (teachers, librarians, principals, and
schools), for outstanding work in improving literacy in their school. The Readers Cup awarded
the top three schools in varying categories, including Highest Increase in Total Number of
Books Read per School, Highest Average Number of Books Read per Child, Highest
Average Lexile (the reading score used by Scholastic) Growth per Student, and the Highest
Average Number of Books Read per Student.
Some of the winners were St. Paul College Balayan with 21, 454 books read (for Category A:
200-500 student population) and Saint Joseph Institute Oblates of St. Joseph with 35,686 books
read (for Category B: 501-1000 student population). These schools were chosen from over 100
participating learning institutions in Scholastics literacy programsAssessment Enrichment
Program (AEP) and Independent Reading Program (IRP). AEP and IRP are literacy solution
programs that the schools can subscribe to.
Although Im very grateful for the award that our school garnered, what is most gratifying is
that our students from simple families and students that dont have family libraries, students who
come from very simple backgrounds now have acquired the love for reading. Thats the very first
step toward the transformation of their lives, to make them ready for the future, says Fr. Noel B.

Magtaas, provincial superior of Oblates of St. Joseph Congregation in the Philippines and the
president of the schools of Oblates of St. Joseph.
5 MUST-READ FILIPINO NOVELS
MASS
Published in 1973, this historical and political novel by F. Sionil Jose is set during the rule of
President Ferdinand Marcos, prior to, and until the period of Martial Law. It follows the story of
Jose Samson, a young man who used to not care about social issues. But he later joined a leftist
revolutionary group, believing that the true answer in changing society is not by pushing for
reforms but through a revolution.
AMAPOLA
One of the things that inspired Ricky Lee to write Amapola was a childhood incident. When he
was young, he always asked people why his mother died. They would always say it was because
of the aswang, but he constantly thought the accusation was unfair. That was why he decided to
glorify the mythical creature in this novel and made the aswang a hero.
DEKADA 70
Although many readers thought this novels central theme was about life during Martial Law,
author Lualhati Bautista clarified at a recent literary forum at Polytechnic University of the
Philippines that Dekada 70 is, in fact, simply a tale of a mother. The political setting of the novel
might have been unintentional but the inspiration it brought to the Filipino was true.
CAVE AND SHADOWS
This novel by Nick Joaquin is one of the greatest Filipino mystery/thriller novels ever written.
The story revolves around the strange death of a teenage girl named Nenita Coogan whose body
was found naked and lifeless inside a sealed cave in the suburbs of Manila. The search for truth
began until the real cause of the incident was exposed. This is not an ordinary story of death.
ILUSTRADO
Ilustrado tells the story of a nation heavily chained in colonial mentality. It begins on a clear
winter day when the body of writer Cripin Salvador was pulled out of the waters of the Hudson
River in New York. Gone with him is the manuscript of his unfinished book in which he meant to
expose the crimes of the ruling families in the Philippines. Miguel Syjuco, with this novel, drew
a society torn by foreign influence and one desperately searching for a national identity.
Source:
Fojas, S. G. (2014, September 14). For the love of reading. Manila Bulletin. Retrieved from
http://www.mb.com.ph/