What Impact Can Librarians And Libraries Have On The Decline Of Older Children And Teen Recreational Reading

“School made us ‘literate’ but did not teach us to read for pleasure.” -Ambeth R. Ocampo

The Pleasure Of Reading To Impress Yourself written by Rebecca Mead in August 13, 2014 was intended for older people who shared a similar experience to her. She wrote the pleasure of reading to show other readers how reading can give people pleasures. Some of people’s pleasures she tells us is that people read for the entertainment, the feelings, and the challenges they get. Most of the time people read, either because they want to or because they have to which, is why commercial novelists don’t get paid too much attention from book reviewers.

In Dana Gioia’s article titled “Why Literature Matters”, he explains about the decline of reading literature for young Americans. Although “income rose to unforeseen levels, college attendance ballooned, and access of information increased enormously” he states, “the interest young Americans showed in the arts… diminished”. In his article, Gioia uses surveys, articles, studies, and statistics to persuade his audience that the decline of reading in America can have a negative effect on society.

Dana Gioia calls out millennials and younger generations in america, to spark a conversation about the increasingly declining and destructive behavior of NOT reading! Gioia makes very many fantastic points and uses very many persuasive elements on why literacy actually is vital to to our society and the negative effects that come from this lack of literacy. She gives us factual evidence and credible sources to pull the reader into her side of the argument.

The essay “Disliking Books” by Gerald Graff gives reason to why so many kids and young adults dislike reading. Graff mentions things from his childhood, and things from his time as a college student to explain his reasoning. Being a part of a middle class family, Graff explains the stigma surrounding studying and enjoying books in his childhood. Graff then shows us his experience that changed his mind. Graff uses details from his life to give meaning to his ideas.

Have you ever read such a great book that you became completely infatuated with it? You feel the pain, happiness, sadness that the characters feel; you feel as if you personally know the characters. You begin to forget that what you are reading is just a creative piece of writing because you are so infatuated with it. Reading for pleasure is a way to escape reality, a way to be inspired, a way to become more knowledgeable, and even a way to gain a new identity (Storm). In this day and age however, students prefer not to read for pleasure during their free time, such as summer vacations (McGaha). A major obstacle that students face today is technology. With technology expanding so rapidly, it seems that students are more focused on owning

Dana Gioia, author of the article "why Literature Matters", writes about the decline of reading in the U.S. and how it affects our society. The consequences of people not reading are expressed through his specific factual evidence and his prediction of what is going to happen if the American people continue to ignore this issue.

The decline of reading by Americans isn´t by all Americans, Dana Gioia states that the “ declines have been most severe among younger adults ages 18-24.” (pg 1) Dana uses this fact from the 2002 survey to support her conclusion that the decline of reading will have a negative effect on society because it “ signifies deep transformations into a contemporary life.” (pg 1)

In this article from 2005, Dana Gioia is telling Americans how much the decline in reading among young Americans has gone. Gioia is encouraging Americans to read, and writes about the consequences of not having this literature reading skill.

Dana Gioia persuades her audience through a mix of emotions. With a lack of reading, young adults are missing out on the joys and challenges of literature.They are bypassing the cultural, emotional, and historical benefits of books and works of literature. By doing this, they are damaging their civic, personal, and economic health.

Young Americans who read, demonstrate a better civilize attitude and the necessity to learn new information. Gioia states, “One of the surprising findings of “Reading at Risk” was literary readers are markedly more civically engaged than nonreaders, scoring two to four times more likely to perform charity work, visit a museum, or attend a sporting event”. Literature’s positive effects are visible as people who tend to read more, become further intelligent. The young Americans who read know they should prepare themselves for the future. They become active in their communities and occupy their lives with productive activities rather than be indolent and negligent as someone who might not read.

Michael Henry’s article “Whats with This Summer Reading” has readers pondering why summer reading has students “moving one step further from reading.” Michael Henry explains that one day he saw a teenager becoming very frustrated with the book he was reading. He asked why the young man was reading the book and the boy said, because it was a summer reading assignment. This made Henry think and he began to research summer reading assignments. He wanted to find out what was causing so much frustration.

“Why Literature Matters” by Dana Gioia is a persuasive text on how literary interests have fallen. Gioia starts this claim by giving very promising information. The information has a great accomplishments but, Gioia also tells of how our literary interests as Americans have fallen drastically. A 2002 Survey of Public Participation in the Arts shows that eight of nine major forms of literature show decreased participation by many Americans. The “2002 Survey of Public Participation in the Arts” gives staggering results according to Gioia about many young Americans neglecting enjoying reading literature.

The Kids and Family Reading Report surveyed 500 children and discovered that more than half of them had not read books for fun before Harry Potter and 65% said they saw improvement in school after reading (Garlick). The Harry Potter books impact on pop culture lead to the rise in reading and doing well on schoolwork among

Central Idea (Need): The worth of public libraries in America extends far beyond the books they offer; libraries also provide access to computers and internet connections, meeting places for community activities and groups, guidance services for patrons, tutoring programs, and advocacy for child literacy programs. Despite the value of these resources to struggling communities, libraries have seen a decline in both public usage and federal funding in recent years.