This week is Dyslexia Awareness Week, and there are great
thing’s going on all around the country to celebrate dyslexia and raise awareness
and bust any derogatory dyslexia myths. Last year I did a great many post’s to contribute
in my small way but this year a house move, deadlines and life in general has
thwarted my plans. However attending the Oxford Children’s Book Group’s ‘Way’s into
Reading’ Conference at the weekend has
inspired me to write about my access into reading, and if you grew up in the 80’s
you may well get nostalgic…
I was listening to talk my Tom and Caro Fickling about their
comic The Pheonix, and how comic and the much more en-vogue graphic novels are
gateways to reading for many children
and adults (I’m looking at you Tom) alike. This talk got some clogs
churning in my head and dislodged a long forgotten memory. The Story Teller Magazines of my child hood.
As a child reading was excruciating, I loved the stories but
the reading was so difficult and the stigma of not being able to read made me so
ashamed that most accesses into reading were barred. I did however subscribe to
the Storyteller magazine. The Story Magazine, [press here to go the fan site]
was a periodical that had short stories and serialised novels which were all
beautifully illustrated and was delivered to the door, BUT what made in accessible
was the TAPE.
Yes a tape, and for those of you too young to know what a
tape is; it was kind of an MP3 File, before CD’s. Here's a picture…
So I would look through the books again and again, and
listen to them being read on the tape recorder. The Storyteller Magazines, also
came with files to safely store your magazines, and carry-case storage for the
tapes. It was this great combo that had
me enwrapped with Gobblino, Wizard of Oz, and the Nightingale. The Storyteller Magazines were an un-barred
access into reading on that I could access with independence and make the desire
to decrypt the code of words and learn to read even stronger.
Recalling this and
listening to the Fickling’s talk about The Pheonix, got me wishing that there
were something like this now for challenged readers, a magazine with a talking component.
Surly with all the new technology this could be possible?
Well Tracey Corderoy the lovely author of many picture books
and starter novels, talked about a feature
that appears in her Picture books published by Nosy Crow. Inside the covers of her books like ShiftyMcNiffty there is a scan able barcode which you can use with a smart phone of
tablet, this will then take you directly (at no cost) to Nosy Crow’s web-site
and will then read you the text [it's sound only, no visuals] for the book,
helpfully ‘Pinging’ when it’s time to turn the page! This enables the child to
listen to story and follow the text.
Another access to reading utilising new technology is Me Books, a company which sells books apps where the books are read, or it is
possible to record your own reading of the book. This in turn can help children
to access reading, as they can listen and follow the words with out the stress of de-coding it themselves.
These are all great advances and open up more accesses to
reading, but still I think if we could get a Storyteller type magazine for the
21st century, aimed for he older challenged read this would be a
great access into reading.
