Reader Profile Series: Interview with a Proponent…

This is the sixth in a series of interviews with Middle School readers. I took on this interview project because I wanted to showcase some of the different reader profiles that I encounter every day in the Middle School library. I will post a new interview in a blog post each week. Some of the interviewees will be self-identified "readers," but others will be non-readers. I won't identify the interviewees here by name. Instead, I'll offer a profile that describes them.

These interviews are intended to offer a small glimpse into the way that kids think about reading.

This week’s interview is with a female student who loves to read nonfiction books, but she also likes fantasy books. She defies all kinds of stereotypes about what girls her age like to read. People often assume that children don’t like to read nonfiction, or that nonfiction is only for boys, or that readers who like to read about the real world can’t also enjoy fantasy, and this week’s interviewee shows us that those things just aren’t true! She also makes a fabulous argument for reading nonfiction. Check out her interview below!

READER PROFILE:

GENDER: Female
GRADE LEVEL: 5
READER STATUS: Proponent for Nonfiction

Do you consider yourself to be a reader?

Yes I do, because I read.

How often do you read?

I usually read when I have to, but in the summer I’ll read like at camp.

Do you read when it’s not assigned for school?

Not usually.

What types of books do you like to read?

I love nonfiction.

How do you find new books to read?

It’s very hard! I try to look for things that appeal to my interests, like something that could be about a certain time period, or I’ll try to look for something different that I’ve never seen before, but try not to get something too hard. Like I found a woman’s biography about a black woman, about the Civil War, and she was an inspirational speaker, and I’d never heard of her, so I thought that was very different, so I read it.

What is your favorite book?

Harry Potter! I have to say I like how J.K. Rowling described everything, because when I read some books I can’t—I’m reading a book right now, and, I mean, it’s okay, but it’s not like Harry Potter where I can sometimes I feel like I’m a wizard, and I can picture myself at Hogwarts, and that’s what I like about it. She has very good grammar and is very descriptive, and you can’t really find that, so that’s why I like Harry Potter.

Paper, or e-reading?

Paper.

Anything else you want to say about reading?

I think that people should try to challenge themselves when they read and try to get stuff that’s different. Because I know some friends that read books that are like three levels down, and I always feel sort of bad because they’re just missing so much, and I wish that they would read the good stuff, that they would just sort of explore around the library, not do all graphic novels, not do all of one thing. Nonfiction is never the same. That’s what’s so great about it. None of it’s the same.

Image credit:

"Man Avatar Head Body Circle Sketch Drawing." Pixabay. Pixabay, n.d. Web. 24 Jan. 2013. <https://pixabay.com/en/man-avatar-head-body-circle-39087/>.

Reader Profile Series: Interview with a Proponent for Nonfiction