10 book club questions

1. Go back to the “Facts and Myths” at the start of the book—why do you think that some people struggle with these concepts? Think about “sounding out” words, classical music, small versus bigger words & readability, looking at pictures, reading to your child . . .

2. When you were a child, who read “to” you, and “with” you?

3. What was your favorite book as a child? Do you remember why it was your favorite?

4. As a child, which aspects of the reading process did you struggle with? If you have children or if you teach children, do they struggle to understand the printed word?

5. Why do you think that so many people ascribe to the “earlier is better” philosophy with reading and early childhood education? Why is this not necessarily the best approach to reading and early childhood education?

6. Why do you think that one in five college students need remedial reading help in their freshman year?

7. Now that you have read this book, what did you learn about the developing brain and how we process information? What was new to you? What surprised you? Think about the hippocampus, the myelination process, the reticular formation, vision, proposition integration, schematic knowledge, societal pressure, and reading comprehension success . . .

8. Now that you have read about many of the components that are involved in the reading process, what would you do differently if you were helping a child to learn to read? Think about background knowledge, pictures, titles, decoding, inferences, perspective-taking, book choice, and promoting successful reading comprehension . . .

9. How do schools promote a “love for reading”? What could they do to encourage even more children to love reading?

10. Was this book “difficult to read”? Explain why or why not . . .