Reading Nurtures the Mind and Moves the Heart
There’s a quiet crisis growing in Australia and it’s something worth reading about.
Recent data has revealed a concerning drop in literacy levels amongst Aussie students. In fact, as reported by The Age in 2023, some year 9 students are writing at a year 4 level – that’s 5 years behind where they should be. In NSW alone, The Sydney Morning Herald reported that a quarter of year 9 students did not meet the national benchmark for writing in the latest NAPLAN results. Teachers across the country are seeing the effects in their classrooms every day, as students struggle to comprehend texts, express ideas clearly, or engage with written material on a deeper level. Poor literacy skills limit future job prospects, contribute to disengagement, and can even impact mental health.
There is no doubt that screen-time and social media have shortened attention spans and made reading in any form a laborious exercise. In an interview with The Conversation, education expert Professor Pasi Sahlberg stated that “when children spend hours on screens but not reading long-form text, their attention spans, vocabulary, and comprehension suffer.”
Building a good practice of reading is critical to turning this around. In fact, reading for fun is one of the strongest predictors of both future academic success and personal wellbeing. A 2018 OECD study found that students who read for enjoyment are more likely to perform well in school regardless of their socio-economic background. Reading has been linked to:
- Improved vocabulary and grammar
- Higher overall literacy scores
- A lifelong habit of learning
- Greater empathy and emotional intelligence
However, many Australian students, especially those in upper primary and lower secondary years report that they find reading ‘boring’ or ‘hard’. It isn’t surprising. If a student is already behind in reading, struggling through a novel can feel more like punishment than pleasure.
So how can we foster good habits of reading?
Good storytelling matters
When I was in grade 3, my teacher was a master of storytelling. We would start every single morning sitting in front of her while she would recount a funny story from her childhood. She’d then open the floor to us and we would subconsciously adopt her mannerisms and delivery style to share our own stories with the class. During our reading sessions, she would tell us about the book she was reading at the time, and in her natural, charismatic way, she made us feel invested in her book journey and motivated by the concept of reading and recounting what we read. She used connection as a way to pique our interest, and it worked. Her passion for stories planted the seeds of my love for reading.
I remember my friends and I becoming really competitive about who could read better. Not because we wanted to be better than one another, but because we simply couldn’t wait to be the first to read a book that our friends hadn’t read yet and be able to share the stories with each other. As I got older, stories like The Chronicles of Narnia took on a deeper meaning. Then came other books that shaped our high school years and sparked endless debate among friends. Book-based films were being released quicker than you could finish reading a series. There simply wasn’t enough time to read, especially if the books weren’t on your reading list.
Start small with the right book
I was recently speaking with a School Principal from Regional Victoria (let’s call him Mr Jones) who I work with every year to publish their school’s student diaries. One of his Year 10 boys (let’s call him Sam) is aspiring to enter a trade but doesn’t have the literacy skills to apply for TAFE. So, Mr Jones decided to take Sam to the library and help him pick out a novel to read. Very reluctantly, Sam went along with the idea and picked one out. Every lunchtime, Mr Jones would sit with Sam and help him read through a chapter of the book. Within two sessions, Sam was hooked by the story. After four sessions, Sam asked Mr Jones whether he could take the book home to read. Sam finished it in a week, and Mr Jones got his lunchtimes back!
Reflecting on this story, this Principal affirmed what I had sensed to be true – that quality stories, particularly for boys, are hard to come by. In place of books like The Lord of the Rings, you’ll find empty BookTok viral romances taking centre stage at your local Big W or Kmart. Our aim with the Saint Francis Book Club is not only to make high quality literature accessible to Australian families to improve our children’s literacy skills, but to introduce children to the stories that reflect Truth, Beauty and Goodness which can move their hearts towards the things that are above.
A virtue that can draw us to God
The late Pope Francis, writing on the role of literature in formation, stated that through reading, “we are enriched by what we receive from the author and this allows us in turn to grow inwardly, so that each new work we read will renew and expand our worldview”. Reading forms our character, our understanding of the world, and prompts us to engage the world more deeply. It builds more than just vocabulary; it nurtures empathy, strengthens imagination, and teaches us how to see the world through someone else’s eyes. Being drawn into a story which inspires, challenges and provokes reflection transforms the act of reading from a school-imposed chore to a powerful movement of the heart.
Author and literacy advocate Jackie French stated that, “If we want kids to read, we need to treat books like chocolate cake – something to be devoured and delighted in, not dissected and graded.” One might extend this analogy beyond ‘the food that perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life’ (Jn 6: 27). When a story reflects the transcendentals of Truth, Beauty and Goodness, or enlivens the stories of Scripture, Jesus Christ, or the truths of our Christian faith, we see something deeper taking root – a movement of the heart towards God. In this way, the joy of a good story becomes more than entertainment or pleasure; it becomes our nourishment which draws us to seek out God.
