The importance of pleasure reading in the lives of young teens: Self-identification, self-construction and self-awareness

Abstract

This paper reports on a research study investigating the role of pleasure reading in the lives of 12—15 year old residents of an eastern Canadian regional municipality. Pleasure reading was found to fulfil three broad functions: it enhanced academic performance, social engagement and personal development. In conclusion, the study confirms that teens, like adults, unconsciously use pleasure reading as a means of everyday life information seeking and the reasons for personal salience identified in the foregoing discussion have a strong developmental theme: in their pleasure reading, teens gain significant insights into mature relationships, personal values, cultural identity, physical safety and security, aesthetic preferences, and understanding of the physical world, all of which aid teen readers in the transition from childhood to adulthood.

The information behaviours of disadvantaged and disengaged adolescents

“…In such circumstances public libraries (PL) can provide a key information access and support role, but we also know that the use of PL declines dramatically with adolescence, attributed to a disconnect between service provision and service demand (The Reading Agency, 2011, The Reading Agency, 2004, and negative views of libraries and librarians (Agosto and Hughes-Hassell, 2005;Julien, 1999). In relation, recreational reading, which is reported to enhance academic performance, social engagement, and personal development, also declines throughout adolescence (Howard, 2011).…”

Embracing the Other in Gothic Texts: Cultivating Understanding in the Reading Classroom

“…In Rosenblatt's (1994Rosenblatt's ( , 1995Rosenblatt's ( , 2005 view, texts and the surrounding context (related activities) must work in tandem to nurture aesthetic transactional reading experiences. Aesthetic transactions afford readers the opportunity to forge meaningful connections with characters and events (Howard, 2011;Rosenblatt, 1995;Strum & Michel, 2009). Readers may learn more about their own lives and experience a sense of comfort and confidence through participation in such moments of textual connectivity (Becnel & Moeller, 2015;Del Nero, 2017;Tatum, 2014;Wilhelm & Smith, 2014a).…”

“…Readers also aesthetically transact through vicarious participation in textual circumstances that contrast to their lives (Del Nero, 2017;Howard, 2011;Lewis, 2000;Rosenblatt, 1995). These aesthetic transactions involve learning through imaginative participation (Dickson & Costigan, 2011;Eisner, 2002;Greene, 2001;Rosenblatt, 1994;Vasudevan, 2010).…”

What, Why, and How They Read

“…As to the question of where teens access their reading material, reports also vary. Howard's () study, conducted in a Canadian regional municipality, suggests that teens acquire it from home or chain bookstores, whereas Hughes‐Hassell and Rodge, using data gathered from an urban population, reported that teens procure items from the school library, public library, and classroom.…”