Reading’s the Thing

Day one and I’ve already had a full day attending educational programming, waiting in line to get copies of new books, one “The Possibilities of Sainthood,” a YA novel, looks especially promising (met the author, Donna Freitas, as well, and she was quite charming).

Started out the day at BEA Editor Buzz, a panel discussion wherein editors from major publishing houses give quick booktalks about upcoming releases they are excited about. Publishing houses represented and their respective books were:

Winton, Shoemaker LLC: The Flying Troutmans by Miriam Toews
Riverhead (Penguin): Miles from Nowhere by Nami Mun
Random House: The Book of Animal Ignorance – Everything You Think You Know is Wrong by John Mitchinson and John Lloyd
Henry Holt: The White Mary by Kira Salak http://www.nationalgeographic.com/field/explorers/kira-salak.html
Little, Brown: Heretic’s Daughter by Kathleen Kent
William Morrow (Harper Collins) – The Lace Reader by Brunonia Barry aspx
The publishers provided galleys, advance reading copies, or finished copies of all of the above books to all attendees at this program.

Good Readers Make Good Citizens
Next on the schedule was a panel discussion on the state of American reading and a look at how NEA’s “Big Read” program hopes to reverse that decline.

In their 2007 study, “To Read or Not to Read: A Question of National Consequence,” the NEA has documented that:
*Americans now spend less time reading.
*American reading skills are eroding.
*These declines have serious civic, social, cultural, and economic implications.
In addition, reading is declining as an activity among teens, and in particular YAs are reading fewer books in general.
Speakers also noted that:
*College attendance no longer guarantees active reading habits.
*American families are spending less on books than at almost any other time in the past two decades.
*A greater number of books in the home is associated with higher test scores.
*Reading for pleasure correlates strongly with academic achievement.
*On tests, reading comprehension skills are eroding and reading proficiency is stagnant and declining in adults of both genders and all education levels.
*Even among the most educated adults reading skills are in decline.
The speaker also noted that these declines portend serious civic, social, cultural and economic implications. Also that employees now rank reading and writing as top deficiencies in new hires. In addition, deficient readers are more likely than proficient readers to be out of the workforce. Nonreaders and deficient readers are less engaged in cultural and civic life.
To sum up: Americans are reading less; Americans are reading less well; these Americans are at greater risk academically, professionally, and socially.

After detailing the woeful state of reading in America, the next speaker talked about BEA’s “The Big Read” which aims to turn things around. Based on the “One City, One Book” initiatives (and hoping even to improve on those) held throughout the country, The Big Read hopes to restore reading to American culture. To that end, they’ve developed a “Readers Circle,” a group of writers, scholars, librarians, critics, artists, and other publishing professional who suggest books for the program. They also provide comprehensive materials related to each books, including reader’s teacher’s and audio guides. To support promotion efforts, community organizations also receive publicity materials including posters, banners, and bookmarks. More information, the application and guidelines for The Big Read are at http://www.neabigread.org/http://www.neabigread.org