Q & A with Paul Kropp
Q: Why did you revise The Reading Solution / Raising a Reader?
A: Doubleday ran through their print run of the book and asked me if I would be interested in
doing some revisions before reprinting. Ultimately, I ended up changing over a quarter of
the book, so we went with a new format and a new title.
Q: What did you change?
A: There are new ideas on preschool reading, new suggested reading lists and more attention
paid to computers and the internet. Also, the sidebars have been neatly boxed or put into
the text so I think the whole book looks “friendlier.”
Q: Any big new issues?
A: We’ve had another ten years of research into how kids read since I did the first book.
I wanted to include all that:
- how it’s increasingly important to start kids reading early, certainly by age three,
if they’re going to deal with the increasing reading demands of kindergarten and grade one
- the role of phonemics and phonological awareness in early reading
- more information on what parents can do to help - and what they sometimes do which
interferes with a child’s reading
- a new “danger time” at age 4-5 related to hearing discrimination
Q: Your last book, I’ll be the Parent, You be the Kid, was quite controversial. Is
there anything in How to Make Your Child a Reader for Life which won’t be
popular?
A: Yes. I have to tell parents that computers and the Internet just don’t help reading
achievement. This is a change in thinking for me, especially after working on a CD ROM
project for two years and being generally positive about technology when I wrote ten years ago.
But the independent research is increasingly clear - only book reading raises literacy.
I’m already being attacked by software developers on this one.
Q: So what stayed the same from the older book?
A: Some things we still know to be true. The three R’s are still essential - read with your
kids, reach into your wallet to buy books and rule the television and video time.
I’ve added more information to all of these based on research and many,
many conversations with parents, teachers and reading specialists.
I’ve had so many people come up to me in recent years and say, “You
know, that reading book of yours really helped my kid,” that I think the
basics were sound from the beginning.
Q: Why different editions for Canada and the U.S? Aren’t parents and kids the same
everywhere?
A: Yes, but books and schools aren’t the same.
Americans enjoy different books, face different issues in schooling and
have a whole body of research that really applies only to them.
Canadian kids’ literature is mostly ignored in the U.S., but deserves
and receives a lot of attention up here. While the two books look very similar,
the differences amounted to 25 pages of material when I sent them to Random
House.
Q: Are you on the road to promote the new book?
A: Yes. I’ll
be talking to the media and to some parent groups across Canada, starting
October 1 and going through most of the month.
The Canadian tour starts in Winnipeg, goes to Regina, then Calgary, then
Montreal and Ottawa. The Americans
are only asking me to do radio for now, but I’ll be doing a presentation in
New Orleans next spring.
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