Back to school: Jackie French inspires children to read

Then, somewhere between six and 12, your kids have turned from book lovers into "Why isn't there an Olympic electronic game event?" enthusiasts. School readers are left in school bags, to acquire the faint tang of fermented tomato sandwiches and mouldy oranges over the holidays.

Here is a secret adults rarely admit. Most books are boring. If they weren't boring I'd need a wheelbarrow each time I walked out of a bookshop, instead of carrying a mere one or two.

Here is another secret: school-books are even more boring, because they have been chosen for a purpose: to teach the kids to read, or expand their knowledge of literature and how it can be used.

"Compare and contrast six examples of descriptive writing" does not make a book more enthralling. (NB, please do not write to me and ask me for six examples of descriptive writing in any of my books. I don't notice descriptions as I write them, and hope you don't when you read them. Similes et al should be as unnoticed as the workings of your bowels.) Excuse the digression. And mention of bowels.

Unless the author is Dr Seuss, it is rare to find a book of short simple words that is fun. And even counting Dr Seuss, you won't find any books with the same complexity as the shows your kids watch on TV or even their electronic games.

Be honest. What did your kids watch these holidays? When I ask classes of eight year olds if they have seen Game of Thrones, at least two thirds put up their hands. No, I am not advocating Game of Thrones as anyway suitable for eight year olds, and they have probably seen it on a friend's pirated version. But no one ever says to kids "You can't watch Game of Thrones because you won't understand it." We don't want them to watch it because they will, with its graphic horror.

Now look at the books they read at school, or the simple books they are capable of reading to themselves when they go to bed. No wonder we lose our young readers by adolescence. Run Spot Run does not inspire anyone to race to the library for the sequel.

Last year I asked about 10,000 kids to put their hands up if they found books boring. At least 80 per cent did – but only when all adults' eyes were closed (Writers don't count as adults. We can ride dragons, too.)

So how can we keep kids reading? Simple. Keep reading to them, especially when they are just beginning to master reading themselves. Keep reading to your kids until they ask you to stop. (They may never ask you to stop. Dad still read to me over the phone when I was in my 50s, and I read my favourite books to him.)

Read your kids the challenging, exciting books they'll love, but can't quite read: Lord of the Rings, the Tomorrow When the War Began series, Rowan of Rin, or Harry Potter ... head to the library and choose at least six books together, then try them all, till you find a book your child is fascinated with.

And cheat, a bit. Leave the book open when you've read a chapter and you may find they read another half chapter themselves, just to see what will happen next, though they'll still want you to read most of it. But also offer kids books that are written for adults, too. By the time kids are between 10 and 12 years old they are ready to enjoy the types of books they'll read all their lives, including thrillers and romances.

By seven to 10 years old, kids can understand adult shows on TV. We don't say, "You can't watch that" because they don't understand it. We say, "You can't watch that" because we know they will understand it and it contains themes that are too confronting for them.

And keep reading to them when they are eight, or 18, too.

Last year I also asked "How many of you would LOVE to tidy your room if someone read you your favourite book at the same time?" Every hand went up. Every. Single. One.

"How many of you would read your parents their choice of book if they made your favourite meal?" Once again, all hands shot into the air.

We forget the joy of reading aloud and being read to, in this age when machines so often do it for us. About a dozen years ago, speaking to a prestigious boys' school's year 12 boys, averaging 2.5 metres high and profoundly sophisticated in the way 17-year-old boys can be, I asked the standard question at the end of the talk "Any questions?" (This can come half way through the talk if you forget the rest of it).

The most hulking male pointed to the copy of Diary of a Wombat that the librarian had perched among more, shall we say, mature books, behind me. "Could you read us that?"

I did. They giggled. They glowed. Hardly anyone reads great hulking males picture books. Or any books. Picture books are not less fun when you are 18. It's more.

We need to teach kids that there are two kinds of books: the ones you HAVE to read – i.e. a text book, school reader, or the manual for the computer or new oven (I really wish I hadn't lost the oven manual). There are books that Auntie Debbie gives you that you say "Thank you" for then donate to St Vinnie's as some other kid will love it. Then there are the books YOU love – the magic books that are so fascinating you want to read another straight away. Magic books turn kids into readers.

They may be funny, but they will also probably be longish and complex, because those are the richest worlds to dive into. A simple funny book is fun, but it usually doesn't lure you to another book. A movie tie-in will be interesting, but it is more likely to encourage you to see the film sequel than to head to the library to stock up on books to read under the bedclothes or in a fort of cushions where no one will disturb you.

1.You have the right to find most books boring;

2. You don't have to finish every book you start;

3. You can read the ending first;

4. Boys can love romances and girls the more technical extremes of sci-fi;

5. You have the right to adore a kids' book when you are 85.

6. You have the right to enjoy a book for adults (like the Complete Guide to Amphibians of Australia, not necessarily Fifty Shades of Grey) when you are 16 months old. (I've just read A Guide to Australian Mammals to my toddler grandson, for the umpteenth time. His choice, not mine.

But readers have a duty too. Read to your kids till they ask you not to ­– or at least when nobody is looking. Read to your parents when they cook the dinner, even when they are 85; read to the dog, because dogs never criticise how you pronounce "orgy" and most dogs love to be read to. Read to tired friends in hospital.

And if you want your child to be a reader, read to them.

• Under 2s

Make words out of spaghetti and slurp them up. It's called "eating your words" and a great way for kids who still explore the world via their mouths to learn 10 or more basic words, including their name. Stick to simple words for real things, like dog, if you have 
a dog, or eat me – words that have a strong meaning for your child. By the time a kid has eaten a word every day for a week, he'll know that word. After a year, he'll know 52 words. After two years, he'll have over a hundred – an excellent basic vocabulary.

• Three years old

Feeling words – young kids learn by touch too. Give children letters to feel. Make them out of fluffy material and paste them onto cardboard. Wrap wool in different colours around cardboard letters or glue fine sandpaper onto them.

• Four years old

Display words around the house. Write the names of things in your house (e.g. door, bath, bed) on cardboard. This is a great way for kids to learn what many common words look like before they try to read them in a book.

Print big, clear, letters in lower case, not capitals. Stick them appropriately around the house at child-height.

Now and then remove the cards and get your child to return them to the right places. Don't stress about this or make it too challenging and if it's too difficult for your child don't do it. But if she starts getting them right, cheer!

• Five years old

Tap words on the computer. Learning to read AND write at the same time combines the two hardest tasks you'll ever learn even if you become a neurosurgeon or an astronautical engineer. Learning to write via a keyboard is MUCH easier than handwriting … and at eight or so you can learn calligraphy.

• Six years old

Teach writing while moving. Find a blank concrete wall outside. Use water pistols to write words.

• Seven years old

Turn the loo into a poetry studio. Stick them up with Blu-Tak. You can only paste over someone's poem after it's been there for six months, then it's fair go. Luckily, there's a surprising amount of wall space in a loo, especially once you can reach the ceiling on a stepladder. It really is the most interesting loo I know.

• Eight years old

Give kids recipe books – the ones with great colour pictures of each dish – and let them work out what they want for dinner. Kids will ponder all the hard-to-read ingredients to make sure that they don't include coconut or pumpkin or whatever they particularly hate. The reward is that they get to choose what's for dinner tomorrow.

• Teenagers

It's not helicoptering to be a book delivery service: "Tell me what you want, i.e. title and author, and I'll hunt it out for you." Have books on hand for them to read and magazines on subjects they enjoy. These magazines may well be aimed at adults, in which case rejoice, as they'll be expanding their vocabulary beautifully. Have this sort of reading around especially in the holidays or at weekends when they have time to browse.

And (in a whisper) keep reading to them, if they're not too embarrassed, especially if they are crook, but don't tell anyone. Not even Grandma.

Everyone

Read; to those you love; to those who need a story; for the sheer joy of hearing perfect sentences spoken aloud. Just read.

Every night: read a story at bedtime.

Every dinner time: ask your kids what they're reading. And why they like it, or suggest ways they might find a book they like more.

Once a week: share a household chore like unpacking the dishwasher or tidying their bedroom – one person works while someone reads to them.

Once a week: visit the library together and hunt for books you might like to read. (You don't have to read them all!)

Every weekend: share what you're reading with your kids. Share an item in a newspaper or magazine or a text from a friend or an online article.

Every weekend: find a new way to share a book or a poem or a story. Get Grandma to read a story via Skype. Blu-tack up a poem in the loo. Read the dog a bedtime story. Tell the kids a funny story about your childhood, or their grandparent's.

Every week: lend a friend a book you love.

Jackie French is the Australian Children's Laureate 2014-2015 and Senior Australian of the Year 2015. Her book I Spy a Great Reader is published by Angus and Robertson.