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How to encourage teens to read - THE EDUCATION HUB

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Why reading for pleasure is so beneficial for teenagers’ learning and wellbeing, and what the research says about getting them to read more.

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10 Reasons You Should Read Aloud to Big Kids, Too

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Even after kids can read on their own, they benefit from being read to. Here are 10 good things that come of it. Advice from Common Sense Media editors.

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I've had a couple of requests via Instagram and Twitter to explain my 2017 Reading Challenge. This reading challenge started as a way to increase reading on my campus and hopefully facilitate growing our reading culture.

Background on Reading Challenge

In December, Carol Richmond the awesome librarian at Wilson Elementary, sent out an email about Reading Challenge that she was sharing with her staff. I loved the IDEA and quickly decided to adapt it for my high school students and teachers!

The challenge is to read outside of your normal reading zone. For my high schoolers, the challenge is to just get them reading! I also thought it would be good to challenge our teachers to read and share what they are reading on a regular basis. I'm planning on sending out a monthly email recapping what I read for the month and reminding my teachers of the different reading categories (and reminding them to submit reading responses via a Googleform on my library page.) My method is to pretty much hassle everyone to read all the time. 🙂

Here is a list of the categories (updated from Mrs. Richmond's form to include high school reading materials like the TAYSHAS and Nerdy Book Club winners.)

Display

My first display is below, and I'm brainstorming ways I can update the Reading Challenge display by month... so if you have any ideas, let me know! I'm currently thinking of choosing a category (recommended by a student) and making the whole display about that category. Plus I'll update the "Reading Challenge" signage.

For this first display, I've included lots of categories and labeled what category each book will fill on small laminated speech bubbles.

I was hoping to make our Google Form for submitting reads more accessible by creating this QR code bookmarks. For teachers, reminding via email seems to work the best.

Submitting Reads

For students, I've also got the link to submit books open on a Chromebook right next to our dropbox. (Which also happens to be a Makey Makey Minion)

Promoting Reading and the Library

Another idea I've had for promoting a reading culture is to take pics of teachers and students reading their favorite books and posting these around our campus. Or maybe rotating "Currently reading" slides on our Google Slide announcements.

I think small quick displays seem to work the best for getting students to pick up new books. So I'm excited to copy this idea from The Daring Librarian for the "student recommendation" category for the next Reading Challenge Display.

How do you promote a reading culture in your library?

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Reading Challenge - Promoting a Reading Culture

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I've had a couple of requests via Instagram and Twitter to explain my 2017 Reading Challenge. This reading challenge started as a way to increase reading on my campus and hopefully facilitate growing our reading culture. Background on Reading Challenge In December, Carol Richmond the awesome librarian at Wilson Elementary, sent out an email about...

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It's important for people to tell you what side they are on and why, and whether they might be biased. A declaration of members' interests, of a sort. So, I am going to be talking to you about reading. I'm going to tell you that libraries are important. I'm going to suggest that reading fiction, that reading for pleasure, is one of the most important things one can do. I'm going to make an impassioned plea for people to understand what libraries and librarians are, and to preserve both of these things.

And I am biased, obviously and enormously: I'm an author, often an author of fiction. I write for children and for adults. For about 30 years I have been earning my living through my words, mostly by making things up and writing them down. It is obviously in my interest for people to read, for them to read fiction, for libraries and librarians to exist and help foster a love of reading and places in which reading can occur.

So I'm biased as a writer. But I am much, much more biased as a reader. And I am even more biased as a British citizen.

And I'm here giving this talk tonight, under the auspices of the Reading Agency: a charity whose mission is to give everyone an equal chance in life by helping people become confident and enthusiastic readers. Which supports literacy programs, and libraries and individuals and nakedly and wantonly encourages the act of reading. Because, they tell us, everything changes when we read.

And it's that change, and that act of reading that I'm here to talk about tonight. I want to talk about what reading does. What it's good for.

I was once in New York, and I listened to a talk about the building of private prisons - a huge growth industry in America. The prison industry needs to plan its future growth - how many cells are they going to need? How many prisoners are there going to be, 15 years from now? And they found they could predict it very easily, using a pretty simple algorithm, based on asking what percentage of 10 and 11-year-olds couldn't read. And certainly couldn't read for pleasure.

It's not one to one: you can't say that a literate society has no criminality. But there are very real correlations.

And I think some of those correlations, the simplest, come from something very simple. Literate people read fiction.

Fiction has two uses. Firstly, it's a gateway drug to reading. The drive to know what happens next, to want to turn the page, the need to keep going, even if it's hard, because someone's in trouble and you have to know how it's all going to end ... that's a very real drive. And it forces you to learn new words, to think new thoughts, to keep going. To discover that reading per se is pleasurable. Once you learn that, you're on the road to reading everything. And reading is key. There were noises made briefly, a few years ago, about the idea that we were living in a post-literate world, in which the ability to make sense out of written words was somehow redundant, but those days are gone: words are more important than they ever were: we navigate the world with words, and as the world slips onto the web, we need to follow, to communicate and to comprehend what we are reading. People who cannot understand each other cannot exchange ideas, cannot communicate, and translation programs only go so far.

The simplest way to make sure that we raise literate children is to teach them to read, and to show them that reading is a pleasurable activity. And that means, at its simplest, finding books that they enjoy, giving them access to those books, and letting them read them.

I don't think there is such a thing as a bad book for children. Every now and again it becomes fashionable among some adults to point at a subset of children's books, a genre, perhaps, or an author, and to declare them bad books, books that children should be stopped from reading. I've seen it happen over and over; Enid Blyton was declared a bad author, so was RL Stine, so were dozens of others. Comics have been decried as fostering illiteracy.

No such thing as a bad writer... Enid Blyton's Famous Five. Photograph: Greg Balfour Evans/Alamy

It's tosh. It's snobbery and it's foolishness. There are no bad authors for children, that children like and want to read and seek out, because every child is different. They can find the stories they need to, and they bring themselves to stories. A hackneyed, worn-out idea isn't hackneyed and worn out to them. This is the first time the child has encountered it. Do not discourage children from reading because you feel they are reading the wrong thing. Fiction you do not like is a route to other books you may prefer. And not everyone has the same taste as you.

Well-meaning adults can easily destroy a child's love of reading: stop them reading what they enjoy, or give them worthy-but-dull books that you like, the 21st-century equivalents of Victorian "improving" literature. You'll wind up with a generation convinced that reading is uncool and worse, unpleasant.

We need our children to get onto the reading ladder: anything that they enjoy reading will move them up, rung by rung, into literacy. (Also, do not do what this author did when his 11-year-old daughter was into RL Stine, which is to go and get a copy of Stephen King's Carrie, saying if you liked those you'll love this! Holly read nothing but safe stories of settlers on prairies for the rest of her teenage years, and still glares at me when Stephen King's name is mentioned.)

And the second thing fiction does is to build empathy. When you watch TV or see a film, you are looking at things happening to other people. Prose fiction is something you build up from 26 letters and a handful of punctuation marks, and you, and you alone, using your imagination, create a world and people it and look out through other eyes. You get to feel things, visit places and worlds you would never otherwise know. You learn that everyone else out there is a me, as well. You're being someone else, and when you return to your own world, you're going to be slightly changed.

Empathy is a tool for building people into groups, for allowing us to function as more than self-obsessed individuals.

You're also finding out something as you read vitally important for making your way in the world. And it's this:

The world doesn't have to be like this. Things can be different.

I was in China in 2007, at the first party-approved science fiction and fantasy convention in Chinese history. And at one point I took a top official aside and asked him Why? SF had been disapproved of for a long time. What had changed?

It's simple, he told me. The Chinese were brilliant at making things if other people brought them the plans. But they did not innovate and they did not invent. They did not imagine. So they sent a delegation to the US, to Apple, to Microsoft, to Google, and they asked the people there who were inventing the future about themselves. And they found that all of them had read science fiction when they were boys or girls.

Fiction can show you a different world. It can take you somewhere you've never been. Once you've visited other worlds, like those who ate fairy fruit, you can never be entirely content with the world that you grew up in. Discontent is a good thing: discontented people can modify and improve their worlds, leave them better, leave them different.

And while we're on the subject, I'd like to say a few words about escapism. I hear the term bandied about as if it's a bad thing. As if "escapist" fiction is a cheap opiate used by the muddled and the foolish and the deluded, and the only fiction that is worthy, for adults or for children, is mimetic fiction, mirroring the worst of the world the reader finds herself in.

If you were trapped in an impossible situation, in an unpleasant place, with people who meant you ill, and someone offered you a temporary escape, why wouldn't you take it? And escapist fiction is just that: fiction that opens a door, shows the sunlight outside, gives you a place to go where you are in control, are with people you want to be with(and books are real places, make no mistake about that); and more importantly, during your escape, books can also give you knowledge about the world and your predicament, give you weapons, give you armour: real things you can take back into your prison. Skills and knowledge and tools you can use to escape for real.

As JRR Tolkien reminded us, the only people who inveigh against escape are jailers.

Tolkien's illustration of Bilbo's home, Bag End. Photograph: HarperCollins

Another way to destroy a child's love of reading, of course, is to make sure there are no books of any kind around. And to give them nowhere to read those books. I was lucky. I had an excellent local library growing up. I had the kind of parents who could be persuaded to drop me off in the library on their way to work in summer holidays, and the kind of librarians who did not mind a small, unaccompanied boy heading back into the children's library every morning and working his way through the card catalogue, looking for books with ghosts or magic or rockets in them, looking for vampires or detectives or witches or wonders. And when I had finished reading the children's' library I began on the adult books.

They were good librarians. They liked books and they liked the books being read. They taught me how to order books from other libraries on inter-library loans. They had no snobbery about anything I read. They just seemed to like that there was this wide-eyed little boy who loved to read, and would talk to me about the books I was reading, they would find me other books in a series, they would help. They treated me as another reader - nothing less or more - which meant they treated me with respect. I was not used to being treated with respect as an eight-year-old.

But libraries are about freedom. Freedom to read, freedom of ideas, freedom of communication. They are about education (which is not a process that finishes the day we leave school or university), about entertainment, about making safe spaces, and about access to information.

I worry that here in the 21st century people misunderstand what libraries are and the purpose of them. If you perceive a library as a shelf of books, it may seem antiquated or outdated in a world in which most, but not all, books in print exist digitally. But that is to miss the point fundamentally.

I think it has to do with nature of information. Information has value, and the right information has enormous value. For all of human history, we have lived in a time of information scarcity, and having the needed information was always important, and always worth something: when to plant crops, where to find things, maps and histories and stories - they were always good for a meal and company. Information was a valuable thing, and those who had it or could obtain it could charge for that service.

In the last few years, we've moved from an information-scarce economy to one driven by an information glut. According to Eric Schmidt of Google, every two days now the human race creates as much information as we did from the dawn of civilisation until 2003. That's about five exobytes of data a day, for those of you keeping score. The challenge becomes, not finding that scarce plant growing in the desert, but finding a specific plant growing in a jungle. We are going to need help navigating that information to find the thing we actually need.

Photograph: Alamy

Libraries are places that people go to for information. Books are only the tip of the information iceberg: they are there, and libraries can provide you freely and legally with books. More children are borrowing books from libraries than ever before - books of all kinds: paper and digital and audio. But libraries are also, for example, places that people, who may not have computers, who may not have internet connections, can go online without paying anything: hugely important when the way you find out about jobs, apply for jobs or apply for benefits is increasingly migrating exclusively online. Librarians can help these people navigate that world.

I do not believe that all books will or should migrate onto screens: as Douglas Adams once pointed out to me, more than 20 years before the Kindle turned up, a physical book is like a shark. Sharks are old: there were sharks in the ocean before the dinosaurs. And the reason there are still sharks around is that sharks are better at being sharks than anything else is. Physical books are tough, hard to destroy, bath-resistant, solar-operated, feel good in your hand: they are good at being books, and there will always be a place for them. They belong in libraries, just as libraries have already become places you can go to get access to ebooks, and audiobooks and DVDs and web content.

A library is a place that is a repository of information and gives every citizen equal access to it. That includes health information. And mental health information. It's a community space. It's a place of safety, a haven from the world. It's a place with librarians in it. What the libraries of the future will be like is something we should be imagining now.

Literacy is more important than ever it was, in this world of text and email, a world of written information. We need to read and write, we need global citizens who can read comfortably, comprehend what they are reading, understand nuance, and make themselves understood.

Libraries really are the gates to the future. So it is unfortunate that, round the world, we observe local authorities seizing the opportunity to close libraries as an easy way to save money, without realising that they are stealing from the future to pay for today. They are closing the gates that should be open.

According to a recent study by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, England is the "only country where the oldest age group has higher proficiency in both literacy and numeracy than the youngest group, after other factors, such as gender, socio-economic backgrounds and type of occupations are taken into account".

Or to put it another way, our children and our grandchildren are less literate and less numerate than we are. They are less able to navigate the world, to understand it to solve problems. They can be more easily lied to and misled, will be less able to change the world in which they find themselves, be less employable. All of these things. And as a country, England will fall behind other developed nations because it will lack a skilled workforce.

Books are the way that we communicate with the dead. The way that we learn lessons from those who are no longer with us, that humanity has built on itself, progressed, made knowledge incremental rather than something that has to be relearned, over and over. There are tales that are older than most countries, tales that have long outlasted the cultures and the buildings in which they were first told.

I think we have responsibilities to the future. Responsibilities and obligations to children, to the adults those children will become, to the world they will find themselves inhabiting. All of us - as readers, as writers, as citizens - have obligations. I thought I'd try and spell out some of these obligations here.

I believe we have an obligation to read for pleasure, in private and in public places. If we read for pleasure, if others see us reading, then we learn, we exercise our imaginations. We show others that reading is a good thing.

We have an obligation to support libraries. To use libraries, to encourage others to use libraries, to protest the closure of libraries. If you do not value libraries then you do not value information or culture or wisdom. You are silencing the voices of the past and you are damaging the future.

We have an obligation to read aloud to our children. To read them things they enjoy. To read to them stories we are already tired of. To do the voices, to make it interesting, and not to stop reading to them just because they learn to read to themselves. Use reading-aloud time as bonding time, as time when no phones are being checked, when the distractions of the world are put aside.

We have an obligation to use the language. To push ourselves: to find out what words mean and how to deploy them, to communicate clearly, to say what we mean. We must not to attempt to freeze language, or to pretend it is a dead thing that must be revered, but we should use it as a living thing, that flows, that borrows words, that allows meanings and pronunciations to change with time.

We writers - and especially writers for children, but all writers - have an obligation to our readers: it's the obligation to write true things, especially important when we are creating tales of people who do not exist in places that never were - to understand that truth is not in what happens but what it tells us about who we are. Fiction is the lie that tells the truth, after all. We have an obligation not to bore our readers, but to make them need to turn the pages. One of the best cures for a reluctant reader, after all, is a tale they cannot stop themselves from reading. And while we must tell our readers true things and give them weapons and give them armour and pass on whatever wisdom we have gleaned from our short stay on this green world, we have an obligation not to preach, not to lecture, not to force predigested morals and messages down our readers' throats like adult birds feeding their babies pre-masticated maggots; and we have an obligation never, ever, under any circumstances, to write anything for children that we would not want to read ourselves.

We have an obligation to understand and to acknowledge that as writers for children we are doing important work, because if we mess it up and write dull books that turn children away from reading and from books, we 've lessened our own future and diminished theirs.

We all - adults and children, writers and readers - have an obligation to daydream. We have an obligation to imagine. It is easy to pretend that nobody can change anything, that we are in a world in which society is huge and the individual is less than nothing: an atom in a wall, a grain of rice in a rice field. But the truth is, individuals change their world over and over, individuals make the future, and they do it by imagining that things can be different.

Look around you: I mean it. Pause, for a moment and look around the room that you are in. I'm going to point out something so obvious that it tends to be forgotten. It's this: that everything you can see, including the walls, was, at some point, imagined. Someone decided it was easier to sit on a chair than on the ground and imagined the chair. Someone had to imagine a way that I could talk to you in London right now without us all getting rained on.This room and the things in it, and all the other things in this building, this city, exist because, over and over and over, people imagined things.

We have an obligation to make things beautiful. Not to leave the world uglier than we found it, not to empty the oceans, not to leave our problems for the next generation. We have an obligation to clean up after ourselves, and not leave our children with a world we've shortsightedly messed up, shortchanged, and crippled.

We have an obligation to tell our politicians what we want, to vote against politicians of whatever party who do not understand the value of reading in creating worthwhile citizens, who do not want to act to preserve and protect knowledge and encourage literacy. This is not a matter of party politics. This is a matter of common humanity.

Albert Einstein was asked once how we could make our children intelligent. His reply was both simple and wise. "If you want your children to be intelligent," he said, "read them fairy tales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales." He understood the value of reading, and of imagining. I hope we can give our children a world in which they will read, and be read to, and imagine, and understand.

This is an edited version of Neil Gaiman's lecture for the Reading Agency, delivered on Monday October 14 at the Barbican in London. The Reading Agency's annual lecture series was initiated in 2012 as a platform for leading writers and thinkers to share original, challenging ideas about reading and libraries.

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Neil Gaiman: Why our future depends on libraries, reading and daydreaming

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A lecture explaining why using our imaginations, and providing for others to use theirs, is an obligation for all citizens

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Australian Verse Novels National Centre for Australian Children’s Literature

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You may already know I adore verse novels (click the link from my sidebar). I am not sure which verse novel was my first taste of this genre...

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Australian Verse Novels Resource - NCACL

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Special Launch Event TBA Virtually Yours with Jackie French AM Celebrating Australia's Verse Novels for Young People Australian Verse Novels: Younger Readers Australian Verse Novels: Young Adult Readers Bibliography of... Read more

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The hidden treasures of Timbuktu - Elizabeth Cox

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The world’s most mysterious book - Stephen Bax

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So, you want to learn how to become an audiobook narrator, but don't know where to start? Say no more-we've come up with a thorough guide on everything you need to know about this type of vocal art. To provide even deeper and hands-on insight, we've enlisted the help of Audible Studios's very own Kat Lambrix, who dives into everything you need to know about being an audiobook narrator. Starting with basic information about how audiobook narration works, you'll find techniques and skills to build upon, plus practical advice on breaking into the field and finding audiobook narrator jobs. You'll also get some welcome guidance for long-term career planning and resource suggestions, all from one of the foremost experts on the subject.

So You Want to Be an Audiobook Narrator?

Many people want to become audiobook narrators because they love books and audiobooks, and they like reading aloud. Others are inspired to follow this path because they're told they have a unique talent and a great voice for narration. While those are both great starting points, it takes a lot more than a pleasant voice and a love of audiobooks to become a successful audiobook narrator.

Listening to an audiobook isn't simply about reading the words on the page: an audiobook narrator must have the skills and empathy to bring a book to life for the listener.

From a business standpoint, many audiobook narrators work as freelancers, so you must be organized, professional, and have the ability to work on your own time, meet deadlines, and keep track of invoices and contracts. While it might not be the most stable career choice at first, if you're passionate about audiobook narration, it can be a dream job.

What Skills Do You Need to Become an Audiobook Narrator?

It goes without saying that audiobook narration isn't just a hobby; it's a career. And like any career, there are certain skills required to just get started. So, before you dive into the world of narration, make sure that you can confidently say that you possess the following:

Background in Acting

It may seem obvious but having some type of foundational knowledge of acting makes a huge difference when making the transition to narration. "Narration is an acting gig. You're embodying different characters, you're telling stories. So, it's really important to be able to do that," Lambrix stresses. "Lots of people have gone to theater school. Some people have come to us from other parts of the acting world. But no matter what, being able to act is a foundational skill...you're telling a story, and it's not your story."

Ability to Differentiate Voices, Accents, and Dialects

This may seem like another given but knowing how to expertly embody characters of different backgrounds is an essential skill that will separate you from other narrators. "Inevitably you'll run into a scene with seven sisters or four women who are in their 30s, and you have to find a way to make their voices all sound distinct for your listener," says Lambrix.

Stamina

Getting through a day of narrating may seem simple: you're sitting down for a few hours and reading a book you like (hopefully) out loud. But in reality, these hours can chug along and exhaust you in the process, so it's important to be able to keep up as best you can. "We tend to record about six hours a day. So, you have to physically be able to do it. And it's a lot; it's not just sitting and talking," Lambrix acknowledges. "It's breath control. It's knowing when to be loud. It's knowing when to pull back. Those quiet scenes can be just as fatiguing as the the big loud ones, because you're handling a lot of emotion and a lot of nuances."

Research Skills

And finally, research! Now how does this fit in? You're just narrating a book, right? But what happens when you're in the studio and you stumble across a word, country name, or anything else you aren't familiar with how to say? Doing your research beforehand can go a long way towards making your narrating skills that much better. "So rather than pretending to know it all, the ability to know what you don't know, and to go out there and do that research is important," says Lambrix.

Plus, this research may save you from potentially embarrassing situations in the booth. "We were recording a nonfiction book and the narrator watched a video of an interview with this person and used the pronunciation of their name for the book. It turned out the interviewer said the person's name wrong. So, the narrator said the name wrong throughout the entire book." Needless to say, research goes a long way!

Refining Your Skills as an Audiobook Narrator

Practice

You've identified that you have the necessary skills to get started, so how do you further refine those skills? "Practice!" Lambrix emphasizes. "It's a great idea to go to your bookshelf, close your eyes, and pick a random book to narrate. Maybe it's a book you don't like-that's even better. And go and read that and see if you can do it. Because the fact is, you don't always get to read what you want to read."

Learn from the Pros

Much like anything else, you can get better and learn a lot from experts in the field, so listen to your favorite narrator-a lot! "Listen to people who are best in class at what they do. And then see where you can take those things and incorporate them into yourself," says Lambrix. "The more you do it, the easier it gets. The more you prepare, the more you can step into the booth and just let go."

Getting Started as an Audiobook Narrator

Most everyone in the industry recommends that you start by practicing on your own. Read aloud in a quiet, enclosed space where you won't be distracted, and get a feel for reading slowly, clearly, and with distinction. If you mess up, take it from the top. Don't be afraid to mark up your "script" and practice reading aloud while also scanning ahead to know what's coming up. Build up your stamina. Then, record yourself reading, play back the audio, and critique your performance. Identify areas to improve. It helps to identify and practice various vocal patterns, dialects, and accents. There are also voice-over classes you can take to master different narration styles.

When you feel confident in your abilities, consider recording a demo. This is the perfect time to invest in a good quality microphone, noise canceling headphones, and a pop filter (a screen that goes in front of your mic to filter out the sound of your breath and the noises your mouth makes while speaking). Set up a quiet studio area. There's no need to remodel a room in your house to be soundproof, but you want the best possible environment for recording. You'll also need a computer with recording software, such as GarageBand or Audacity, and it won't hurt to know a few things about sound editing in order to put together the cleanest recordings. Most audiobook narrators also read off of a tablet screen, so you might want to invest in something that will allow you to read and scroll ahead without noisily flipping pages. Once you've finished your demo, you can use it on your website or in your profile for one of sites listed below.

How to Find Work as an Audiobook Narrator

Now you're ready to start looking for work as an audiobook narrator-where do you begin? Thankfully, there are plenty of routes to enter the world of narration.

Volunteering to Read

One of the simplest, and likely most rewarding, ways to get into narration is by volunteering to read for the blind. While this method may not pay, it's a good way to get your foot in the door while doing a service for someone-a winning proposition. "Volunteering to read is a great way to refine the narration skills that you've been practicing. But it's also a great way to meet other people in the space," says Lambrix." A lot of really well-known narrators do volunteer work as a public service, which is lovely."

Networking In-Person and Virtually

No matter your career path, networking events are always a great place to meet others in your field and potentially find your next job. The same holds true for narrators. You'll be able to meet other aspiring narrators, learn tips and hear advice from pros, and even pitch yourself for potential gigs. "Networking is really important. You can consider joining the Audio Publishers Association. Pre-COVID, they hosted mixers, and events. But even now, they're actually doing producers speed dating, virtually-which has been awesome," says Lambrix.

Create a Standout Website to Showcase Your Work

Especially today, being able to market yourself online is key to gaining any traction in the narration space-so having a strong website is essential. You should have a good selection of samples that showcase your talents and abilities. To stand out even more, be sure to highlight some skills that can potentially set you apart, like fluency in another language or a specific topic that you're an expert in. "When I'm looking for a narrator, or when I'm researching somebody, I will listen to their samples. And it's always better if you have them easily accessible on your website," says Lambrix. In short, the more you can showcase, the better off you'll be.

Be Kind

While this may seem unrelated, it goes back to that old adage of "treat people how you want to be treated." The narration industry is tight-knit, so if you give off stellar first impressions, this will only benefit you in both the short and long term. On the other hand, if you're abrupt, dismissive, and rude, you'll likely find it hard to find work. "People in the industry are nice and really willing to share what they know. So, if you're putting that good energy out there, it's going to come back to you. Because, people are not hesitant to recommend actors," says Lambrix.

Resources to Find Work

You might want to gain some experience before auditioning for major audiobook publishers, so consider looking for work on Guru, Freelancer, Fiver, or Upwork. You might not find audiobook narration jobs right away, but you can build your portfolio. More audiobook-specific venues for jobs include ACX.com, VoiceBunny.com, and Voices.com, though some of these platforms are looking for narrators with experience.

What to Expect on Your First Day in the (Home) Studio

So you landed your first narrating gig-congrats! Now, what does a typical day look like? Once you're in the booth, your day will be relatively straightforward. You'll normally record for about six hours with brief breaks throughout. Be sure to use these breaks to eat, stretch, and do whatever you need to do to stay loose and focused. "I'll walk through the studio and see people doing pushups or jumping jacks or yoga. So do whatever you do. You want to sound the same at the end of the day as you do at the beginning of the day," says Lambrix. "Because somebody who's listening isn't going to start and end their day with you. They're going to listen all the way through."

During the day, be sure to take advantage and connect with those around you if you're in a studio. Remember the tip above about networking? Here's your opportunity to do just that, even if you are a bit more conservative in your approach. "Get to know everybody at the studio. Talk with your producer, your engineer. Figure out how they like to work. Let them know how you like to work. And then make sure that you're getting your styles to mesh," says Lambrix.

At the end of the day, whether you're recording on site or at home, you'll likely finish off with something called "pickups," which are essentially do-overs for any audio mishaps. Maybe there was background noise or your producer wants you to go back and repeat a line. This will be the time to do it. But don't worry-just because you have pickups doesn't mean you aren't doing a good job. "Everybody has pickups-even Richard Armitage. It's not a big deal," Lambrix assures.

Rising Through the Ranks as a Narrator

For many aspiring audiobook narrators, it's not enough to work on a single book-you want to work on many! But how do you go from being hired for your first narrating gig to your 20th?

Find Your Unique Voice

While you may be skilled as a narrator in general, the most successful audiobook narrators typically have found a specific niche that they focus on. Let's take award-winning narrator Ray Porter as an example. While Porter is an outstanding narrator in his own right, he particularly shines in science fiction and thriller audiobooks. Because of this, he's the go-to narrator for many high-profile sci-fi and thriller releases throughout the year. "Figure out where your voice fits. If you have a great voice for sci-fi. really dig in on sci-fi. Develop great relationships with your authors, publishers, and producers in that genre and really dive right in," says Lambrix.

Harness the Power of Social Media

Social media platforms can be incredibly useful tools for people across many professions, but particularly up-and-coming narrators. From connecting with other narrators and reaching out to authors and publishers, there are plenty of ways to make social media your best friend during the course of your narrating career. "Put your work on social media. See what people's reactions are-see what people are engaging with. Lots of narrators have social media followings, and listeners find them through their accounts. Sometimes authors even approach narrators through their social accounts," Lambrix says. So, be sure to slowly but surely build out your social media presence. There's a good chance that you'll land your next gig because of your efforts!

Get Better Through Coaching

It's a simple formula: the better you are at one particular skill, the more people will reach out to you for your expertise with that skill. It's the same with narration. So even if you're landing gigs left and right, be sure to consider a dedicated narration coach to help you fine tune your skills. Remember, just because you have a coach doesn't mean you're doing anything wrong or you aren't good. The opposite is true-you're trying to perfect your craft, which is a huge step in the right direction. "Even if you've done 20 books, if there's something that you're just not getting or you really need to get to that next level and it's just not happening for you, reach out and find somebody," Lambrix advises. "There are a ton of great audiobook coaches who can help you. Maybe it's just something that you're not hearing, but somebody else is going to listen and say, 'Here, let me help you make this better.'"

How Much Can You Make?

The amount of money you'll earn as an audiobook narrator will definitely depend on your experience and the publisher you work for. Some audiobook narrators get paid per hour of finished audio, but keep in mind: payment must also cover the amount of time you prepare, record, and edit your audio. Some publishers may have you come into their studio, where you'll work with a director or producer and a sound engineer, and then you'll be paid by the hour. Some audiobook narrators are members of SAG-AFTRA, which means their rates are subject to further rules and negotiations. Many professional audiobook narrators also have agents to help them navigate negotiations and find jobs. But for someone just starting out, you can expect to earn less than established talent.

It's important that you understand how to manage your time wisely, so that you're working efficiently and getting paid fairly.

How to Build Your Career as an Audiobook Narrator

Once you've polished off your narration skills, gathered the tools you need for a home studio, mastered audio editing, and have a few voice-over and narration jobs under your belt, you can send demos to major audiobook publishers and audition for the opportunity to narrate traditionally published audiobooks. Most major audiobook publishers have a section on their website where potential narrators can submit demos. You might not get your first choice of genre or book when starting out, but this is a career that requires patience, determination, hard work, and lots of stamina.

You might also consider networking with other voice actors and learning as much as you can about the audiobook industry. Read AudioFile, keep listening to audiobooks, and study different types of narration and performing techniques to grow your skill set. Oftentimes, one opportunity will lead to another, so always be professional, kind, and gracious to anyone you work with.

Resources for Audiobook Narrators

If you want to know about becoming an audiobook narrator from an established pro and an industry insider, we recommend checking out Storyteller: How to Be an Audiobook Narrator by Lorelei King and Ali Muirden. Lorelei King is best known for her work on Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series, Patricia Briggs's novels, and many more beloved books that have earned her Earphones Awards plus the distinction of being named Audiobook Narrator of the Year and a member of the Audible Narrator Hall of Fame. Ali Muirden is a producer and director who has been nominated for a Grammy Award. Together, they reveal many of the top secrets in the audiobook narrating industry. King and Muirden offer practical advice on the nitty gritty work of narrating, from preparing for a job, marking up your scripts, and researching before recording, along with tips on expected in-studio behavior and troubleshooting recording issues. They also touch on how to market yourself and future-proof your career, making Storyteller an indispensable guide for anyone who's passionate and serious about becoming an accomplished and successful audiobook narrator.

This article was updated in August 2021 to include guidance from Kat Lambrix by Audible editor Luis Gonzalez.

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So, you want to learn how to become an audiobook narrator, but don't know where to start? Say no more-we've come up with a thorough guide on everything you need to know about this type of vocal art.

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The resources below cover assessment processes and teaching strategies that support all students, especially those with reading difficulties.

Some resources below do not currently meet website content accessibility guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 requirements. Please contact 02 9244 5504 to request an alternative copy.

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The resources below cover assessment processes and teaching strategies that support all students, especially those with reading difficulties. Some resources below do not currently meet website content accessibility guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 requirements. Please contact 02 9244 5504 to request an alternative copy.

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It's not uncommon for classroom literacy practices to stick around in spite of, as in the case of round robin, well-established research and readily available resources offering a variety of research-based alternatives for improving reading fluency and deepening comprehension and engagement. In fact, when literacy specialists Gwynne Ellen Ash, Melanie R. Kuhn, and Sharon Walpole surveyed teachers and literacy coaches to more deeply understand "the persistence of Round Robin Reading in public schools in the United States," they found that close to half of the 80 teachers they surveyed admitted to using some variation of round robin, and more than 30 percent "acknowledged that the research said Round Robin Reading was not best practice but they used it anyway."

As students return to school and educators begin to plan for instruction that adequately challenges kids but also catches them up after a year of uneven pandemic learning, there's a valuable opportunity to reconsider-and ultimately retire-some of the stale literacy practices that research suggests aren't the best use of limited instructional time. We combed through our Edutopia archives to find practices that shouldn't make the cut and selected more effective alternatives that come recommended by literacy experts and experienced educators.

4 LITERACY PRACTICES TO RETIRE

Reading logs (and other rote accountability tasks): Like many teachers, Allie Thrower had her fifth-grade students fill out daily reading logs as part of their homework. But after some time, Thrower, now an elementary school continuous improvement coach, noticed that her students' log entries looked the same each day. "It was always 20 [minutes]," Thrower writes. "My students seemed to be reading merely because they had to-not because it opened up windows to the world, because reading about a character who looked like them brought them a sense of belonging and hope, or because they wanted to learn how to change the world for the better."

After discussing the topic with colleagues and digging into the research, she realized that "many parents and educators had strong negative feelings about reading logs," Thrower writes. And a 2012 study of the practice found that "students with mandatory logs expressed declines in both interest and attitudes towards recreational reading in comparison to peers with voluntary logs, and attitudes towards academic reading decreased significantly."

Turn-taking oral reading practices: In this type of practice-round robin reading is probably the most common; similar approaches include popcorn reading, combat reading, and Popsicle stick reading-students "read orally from a common text, one child after another, while the other students follow along in their copies of the text," writes Todd Finley, a professor of English education at East Carolina University. Finley surveyed more than 30 studies and articles about this close-knit family of reading strategies and concluded that oral turn-taking reading practices like round robin stigmatize poor readers, weaken comprehension, and sabotage fluency and pronunciation.

"To be clear, oral reading in other formats does improve students' fluency, comprehension, and word recognition, though silent or independent reading should occur far more frequently as students advance into the later grades," Finley notes.

Awarding prizes for reading: In a well-intentioned effort to motivate students to read more, schools and teachers sometimes offer prizes for meeting reading goals-rewards might range from small items like stickers or bracelets to movie or amusement park tickets, gaming tokens, and fast food coupons. But research shows that extrinsic motivators like these don't do much to build reading habits and, especially among students who already enjoy reading, may actually decrease motivation to read, say literacy experts Barbara A. Marinak and Linda B. Gambrell, authors of No More Reading for Junk: Best Practices for Motivating Readers, in an interview for Education Week. Instead, offer rewards that are closely aligned with reading, like books they can keep and extra reading time, for example.

Overemphasis on reading as a discrete skill: Traditional ELA reading curriculum tends to focus on exposing students to unfamiliar subjects while teaching them ostensibly transferable skills like summarizing and finding the main idea. But a growing group of educators, writes journalist Holly Korbey, are shifting away from this approach, based on research indicating that predominantly skills-based instruction does little to improve overall reading proficiency for many students.

In the landmark baseball study, for example, Donna Recht and Lauren Leslie found that "struggling readers who knew a lot about baseball did better on a reading comprehension test about the topic than strong readers who knew nothing about the sport," Korbey writes. Similarly, high school students who "met a basic knowledge threshold on a dense topic like ecosystems had much stronger performance on a reading test about ecosystems than those who didn't," she notes. "For low-income students and students of color, these disparities were particularly pronounced."

6 READING APPROACHES THAT WORK BETTER

Reading accountability partners: After quitting reading logs, Thrower tried several alternatives before settling on reading accountability partners, a strategy where partners meet daily for 10 minutes to discuss the previous day's reading. "The practice may seem simple, but the results have been impressive," Thrower says, noting that pairings work best with students who will challenge each other academically and encourage each other emotionally.

Via mini-lessons, she helps students understand their roles, discusses how to hold peers accountable and how to be receptive to feedback, sets kids up with guiding questions, and circulates among the groups to make sure everyone's on task.

Choral reading: In this oral reading activity, the teacher and class read a passage aloud together, reducing "struggling readers' public exposure" and extending the length of the passages that kids are exposed to, writes Finley. Or try a variation on choral reading in which "every time the instructor omits a word during oral reading, students say the word all together," Finley suggests. Lowering the stakes for all students in this way allows everyone to practice reading for longer chunks of time and smooths out modeling hiccups and individual fluency issues. The research, meanwhile, shows that the practice results in marked improvements in decoding and fluency.

Scaffolded silent reading: Silent reading is important, but before sending kids off with a book, consider scaffolding the activity by pre-teaching vocabulary, providing a plot overview, and maybe introducing a K-W-L activity.

"Many of us, myself included, are guilty of sending students all alone down the bumpy, muddy path known as Challenging Text-a road booby-trapped with difficult vocabulary," writes Rebecca Alber, an instructor at UCLA's Graduate School of Education. "We send them ill-prepared and then are often shocked when they lose interest, create a ruckus, or fall asleep." When pre-teaching vocabulary, "introduce the words to kids in photos or in context with things they know and are interested in," Alber suggests. "Give time for small-group and whole-class discussion of the words."

Teacher read-aloud and modeling: It's tough to find time in the school day for read-alouds; however, "reading aloud to students each day is not only a productive investment; it also has powerful benefits for learners of all ages," writes educator Christie Rodgers, who routinely alloted five to seven minutes to the task every day with her fourth- and fifth-grade students. It's a practice that's rewarding and beneficial for middle and high school students as well.

"Throughout my 25 years in education, the read-aloud was my way of getting the most stubborn students to fall in love with reading," says Rodgers. Besides being enjoyable-a 2019 report from Scholastic found that 83 percent of students ages 6 all the way to age 17 surveyed said that being read to was something they either loved or liked a lot-it's also a powerful opportunity to model reading strategies, stopping frequently to wonder out loud and thus showing students "what good readers do when they don't know a word, understand a plot twist, or agree with a character in the story," Rodgers writes.

Reading buddies: For this practice, pair upper-grade classes with lower-grade ones-third graders with pre-K students, for example-and plan to set aside at least one 30-minute session per month for students to read together. Kids can work in pairs, but groups of three work too. "Let the younger students pick the books at first so they get hooked with an interesting read," says Ryan Wheeler, a behavior specialist in Houston, Texas.

The practice builds community, but it's also a powerful literacy tool. "Reading buddies allows younger readers to see what being fluent looks like as they have a peer model demonstrating reading skills," notes Wheeler. "For upper elementary students who are struggling with grade-level reading, the opportunity to access easier reading material without stigma or shame while sharing with a novice reader can create a positive experience with an activity that may otherwise be less than enjoyable."

Building background knowledge: Background knowledge-about the topic and about the world in general-"plays an important role in helping students make sense of a text because the things readers already know work like a scaffold on which to build a more complete, and nuanced, mental model of the subject matter," writes Holly Korbey. Try pre-teaching key vocabulary and concepts, and reduce the cognitive load by linking the new, unfamiliar material to material they've already learned.

In order to teach the kind of knowledge-rich lessons that will effectively boost students' reading comprehension, cognitive psychologist Daniel Willingham, author of The Reading Mind: A Cognitive Approach to Understanding How the Mind Reads, tells Korbey, "teachers should emphasize a cohesive, well-sequenced curriculum with lots of background information on different topics embedded within it so that no students are left hanging when they read."

Ultimately, beyond abandoning ineffective practices, the deeper work of motivating kids to read starts with connecting them to books that genuinely reflect their own interests-and giving them some choice in the matter. This may require being flexible about reading levels so kids are exposed to texts that provide them with an abundance of cultural, racial, and socioeconomic perspectives and cater to a wide variety of reading tastes across a broad range of reading levels-from books that are easy to read to ones that pull them into unfamiliar and demanding territory.

When we provide young readers with a rich mix of books, Melanie Hundley, a former English teacher and now professor at Vanderbilt University, tells Korbey, it primes students to feel more engaged and excited to take on tougher texts. "If kids will read and you can build their reading stamina, they can get to a place where they're reading complex texts," says Hundley. "Choice helps develop a willingness to read... [and] I want kids to choose to read."

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4 Reading Strategies to Retire This Year (Plus 6 to Try Out!)

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It's not uncommon for classroom literacy practices to stick around in spite of, as in the case of round robin, well-established research and readily available resources offering a variety of research-based alternatives for improving reading fluency and deepening comprehension and engagement. In fact, when literacy specialists Gwynne Ellen Ash, Melanie R.

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With special thanks to Sydney Opera House Major Partner

Mastercard and Priceless are registered trademarks, and the circles design is a trademark of Mastercard International Incorporated. @2020 Mastercard.

By day, he investigates insurance claims; by night, Graham Hosking is the genius creator of children's book Sidney Opera Mouse - the little mouse with big dreams. We spoke to the English author about what his big dreams were when he was little, and what he might tell his young self all these years later.

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Our brand new podcast Arty Farty - A Podcast for Kids has been created especially for Kid Creatives. We're excited to share special moments, insights, tips, tricks and more from kids themselves, and creative types who appear here at the House.

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Curious kids step through the giant doors of the scenery lift at the Sydney Opera House and meet some amazing people from the stage and behind the scenes.

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With special thanks to Sydney Opera House Major Partner Mastercard and Priceless are registered trademarks, and the circles design is a trademark of Mastercard International Incorporated. @2020 Mastercard.

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The SAG-AFTRA Foundation's Daytime Emmy-nominated, Storyline Online, features celebrated actors reading children's books to inspire a love of reading in millions of children worldwide.

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Stories and Poems as audiobooks

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Welcome

Lit2Go is a free online collection of stories and poems in Mp3 (audiobook) format. An abstract, citation, playing time, and word count are given for each of the passages. Many of the passages also have a related reading strategy identified. Each reading passage can also be downloaded as a PDF and printed for use as a read-along or as supplemental reading material for your classroom.

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Lit2Go is a free online collection of stories and poems in Mp3 (audiobook) format. An abstract, citation, playing time, and word count are given for each of the passages. Many of the passages also have a related reading strategy identified.

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TEd Talk

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Designing books is no laughing matter. OK, it is.

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Chip Kidd doesn’t judge books by their cover, he creates covers that embody the book -- and he does it with a wicked sense of humor. In this deeply felt (and deeply hilarious) talk, he shares the art and the philosophy behind his cover designs. (This talk is from The Design Studio session at TED2012, guest-curated by Chee Pearlman and David Rockwell.)

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TEd Talk

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What happens when a dream you've held since childhood ... doesn't come true? As Lisa Bu adjusted to a new life in the United States, she turned to books to expand her mind and create a new path for herself. She shares her unique approach to reading in this lovely, personal talk about the magic of books.

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TEd Talk

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Ann Morgan: My year reading a book from every country in the world

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Ann Morgan considered herself well read -- until she discovered the "massive blindspot" on her bookshelf. Amid a multitude of English and American authors, there were very few books from beyond the English-speaking world. So she set an ambitious goal: to read one book from every country in the world over the course of a year.