September 2022 Inspirational Reads

Welcome back! It is our pleasure to share with you the third issue of Reading Nook’s Recommended Readings.

In this issue, we are excited to bring you the recommendations from Kalthom (Pri), Meenakshi (Sec) and Adeline (Pre-U). Read on and find out more about their recommendations below!

Specialists’ Picks

By Kalthom Ahmad

These two articles by Jones, S.A. and Renandya, W.A. et. al., discuss the advantages of series books for young or novice readers. Many, many moons ago, when I was finally able to access my school library as a P5 student, I made up for lost reading-for-pleasure time by reading a book a day. I started with the Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys series, and any series books by Enid Blyton.

The articles highlighted that for children aged nine to twelve, reading series books is often a first phase in their independent reading. Series reading is a special form of narrow reading where one would read several books by one author or about a single topic of interest. Series reading is very popular because series books contain highly familiar language, easy-to-follow story lines, and relatable characters who do not seem to age. The spill over from book to book makes reading less taxing, more comforting and helps build fluency. Readers’ familiarity with a series’ context and characters is important too for them to be able to talk about books with their peers, in a kind of ‘fellowship’.

As educators, we must balance wide and extensive reading, (for which we tend to recommend books that have informational or literary value for our students), and narrow or series reading, so that we can attract novice readers who may benefit more through it.

It would also be interesting to find out what kinds of series books fellowships we have in ELLB.

References

Jones, S. A. (2015). Children reading series books: Ways into peer culture and reading development. Changing English, 22(3), 307-325.

Renandya, W. A., Krashen, S., & Jacobs, G. M. (2018). The potential of series books: How narrow reading leads to advanced L2 proficiency. LEARN Journal: Language Education and Acquisition Research Network, 11(2), 148-154.

Leaders’ Recommended Reads

By Meenakshi Palaniappan

This book by Antony Doerr, which won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction, is one of the most beautifully and magically crafted books I have read. I would highly recommend it for anyone to read and read again. Set during World War II, the book follows parallel stories of a blind French girl, a German orphan boy, and gemmologist in pursuit of a treasure. Tying these narratives together is the Sea of Flames, a legendary diamond, and a book, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.

Characters come alive, experiences feel real, and the story is gripping from start to end. The story moves back and forth in time, leading up to the moments these three characters meet. This book also explores the tender love between a father and his blind daughter, the power of stories, music and the radio, and presented me with new insights into WWII. It makes us ask ourselves what we would do in such a situation.

Some lines just take your breath away, here are just a few:

“Open your eyes and see what you can with them before they close forever”

“So how, children, does the brain, which lives without a spark of light, build for us a world full of light?”

“All your life you wait, and then it finally comes, and are you ready?”

This is a great read for the holidays, where you can immerse yourself it in and find yourself anew after you have finished. Enjoy!

Watcha Reading?

By Adeline Mah

I recommend this book as it is a moving read about a particular segment of Singapore society. It tells the stories of residents who were relocated from Dakota Crescent to Cassia Crescent. Each chapter is a three-part conversation that consists of an interview with a resident, a reflection of a volunteer with the Cassia Resettlement Team and an essay by an academic. The power of ethnographic research comes through the residents' stories and is a reminder to me of the lives behind the numbers that we often encounter in research.

As you read the interviews, you could almost hear the voices of the residents!

The book explores the role of community services and the balance between community services and self-reliance. There is much insight to be gleaned about what makes a community strong, what matters to people living in Singapore and what kind of society we would like Singapore to be.