“My child is not a reader…”

Is a common response I get from parents when I do an initial testing intake. I usually respond, “Does your child see you reading for leisure?” Frequently, the answer is a sheepish no. Just like exercising benefits the body, reading benefits the mind. 

I know we are bombarded with reading, from snippets on Facebook to articles our friends send us. However, there is no substitute for reading a good book or interesting news article. 

Here are a few of the many benefits of reading that will help your student master the Reading section on the SAT and ACT:

1. Learning how to decipher vocabulary in context.
2. Understanding the usage of different elements of punctuation.
3. Identifying transitions in a passage and how they move a story.
4. Increasing focus for a sustained period.

Make it fun! Here’s how:

1. Find another family (or two, or three) and create a book club. Agree on a book and discuss it frequently.
2. Go to the library and browse the new books. Find something that looks appealing. Be daring. Go outside of your comfort zone.

Since most of the SAT and ACT reading is non-fiction, I am going to recommend some books that are at the level of the reading on both exams. They are all interesting and relevant. Try one this summer:

1. The Aquariums of Pyongyang by Kang Chol-Hwan is the autobiography of a person who spent ten years in a North Korean gulag – and escaped to South Korea.
2. The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank. A Jewish adolescent chronicles her daily life in hiding from the Nazis in wartime Netherlands.
3. A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah. A first-person narrative about a boy soldier in Sub Saharan Africa.
4. Silent Spring by Rachel Carson. One of the first books to warn us about the indiscriminate use of pesticides. This book launched the environmental movement.
5. Periodic Tales: A Cultural History of the Elements by Hugh Aldersley-Williams. A captivating look at the discovery of the elements and little-known facts behind them.

Here are a few of my favorite classic fiction books. From quick reads to heavily detailed, they are all among my favorites:

1. The Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut.  A dry, but very funny, story of the richest man on Earth who is offered a chance to take a journey through space.
2. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. A look at a dystopian future where people are genetically bred, socially indoctrinated, and pharmaceutically anesthetized.
3.  A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. A story of England and France during the French Revolution.
4. Germinal by Emile Zola. The story of worker exploitation in Victorian France and the man who leads the workers to strike.

Remember, reading translates into SAT points. And SAT points translate into merit scholarships!

Share This