I agree this is an important step. But also, for many kids that age, they have no idea what’s out there to ask for. In 6th grade, at school we had a bookshelf of books you could borrow and, if you wrote a report on them within a certain timeframe, keep. That helped me discover at least 2 interests I still have to this day (philosophy and deep history) that I might not have found for years otherwise. Similarly, the next year someone I barely knew (but who apparently knew me pretty well) bought me a copy of GEB, and that was genuinely life-changing for me. Not sure if or when I’d have come across that myself. Heck, in 5th grade I didn’t even know Star Wars and Star Trek and D&D had associated book series at all until I saw them on my uncle’s bookshelf. I’d somehow never heard of Tolkien until 8th grade. And I was someone who averaged a book a week as a kid!
I agree this is an important step. But also, for many kids that age, they have no idea what’s out there to ask for. In 6th grade, at school we had a bookshelf of books you could borrow and, if you wrote a report on them within a certain timeframe, keep. That helped me discover at least 2 interests I still have to this day (philosophy and deep history) that I might not have found for years otherwise. Similarly, the next year someone I barely knew (but who apparently knew me pretty well) bought me a copy of GEB, and that was genuinely life-changing for me. Not sure if or when I’d have come across that myself. Heck, in 5th grade I didn’t even know Star Wars and Star Trek and D&D had associated book series at all until I saw them on my uncle’s bookshelf. I’d somehow never heard of Tolkien until 8th grade. And I was someone who averaged a book a week as a kid!
Exactly. You can’t make the kid read something, but if he doesn’t know the book exists he’s not going to read it for sure.