Reading Tips

 

[PLEASE NOTE: this is an OLD post. Information in this post may no longer be accurate and/or be cringy 😑]

Sure, you can read a story. But do you understand it? Do you feel it? Do you connect with it?

Read these tips – by the time you are done, you’ll understand and connect with any story you read. Look out for a future post featuring reading tips for beginners.

• When you open a book, think for a bit about the title. What does it mean? Can you predict what might happen in the story? When a character’s name is in the title, that is most likely the main character’s name. Does that name give you an idea of the main character’s personality? Is that name of importance to you?
• Read the first sentence. Does that give you any ideas as to what the story is about? What point of view is it being told from? Here is an example from the first book in my favorite series, Harry Potter:
  • Mr. and Mrs. Dursley of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much.
  • That makes you wonder, who are the Dursleys? If they are “perfectly normal,” what are the people who aren’t normal like? What is considered normal in this world, anyway? And why are the Dursleys proud to be normal? And if you followed my first tip, you might also might be wondering where Harry Potter comes into this.
• Stop reading whenever a chapter ends to ponder over what you have read. Also try to make predictions – what could happen next based on what you’ve read so far and on the chapter title.
• If you come across a word that you don’t know, look it up or ask a family member. It’s no fun to read (and you don’t understand you’re reading) if you don’t know what the author is talking about.
• After you finish a book, record it in a book journal or write a book report about it. This is an excellent way to connect with your reading.

I hope that after you read a book following these guidelines, you will truly know what it is to read. Happy reading!