Walk into Almaden’s Doris Dillon Children’s Library on a Wednesday evening and you will find teens reading or being read to by young children.
For the last two years, at least 15 Almaden teens annually have signed up to be Reading Buddies and read or help children from preschool through third grade with their reading on Wednesdays from 5:30 to 6:30.
It’s a program that allows parents a little time to themselves, while area teens enchant the children with different books, and encourage the youngsters to find reading fun and adventurous. It also lets these kids know that older children enjoy reading and in turn promotes emulation.
The readers, 13- to 17-year-olds mostly from Leland High School but also from Almaden’s middle schools, work on their community service requirements by donating one or two hours a month to the library. But it’s not just for the community service hours they earn; the teens really enjoy working with the youngsters, who learn to emulate their buddies’ love of books.
“We don’t always get to know the kids really well,” says Gautam Sowda, a freshman at Leland. “But sometimes, I’ll read a book to one and he’ll get up and come back with another.”
And often, says youth services librarian Ed Koetitz, the youngsters idolize the teens and think it’s cool to read and set out making reading a lifetime habit. “It’s very positive for the child,” he says.
San Jose’s Reading Buddies program started at the Tully Branch in 2007 and has since grown to most of the branches in the San Jose Public Library system. Librarians Chieu Nguyen, Carole Chisvin and Candice Tran began the program after Tully-area parents began requesting reading time for children whose elementary schools had low Academic Performance Index (API) scores.
The program grew as local teens began looking for community service hours, says Nguyen, and the children’s API scores grew along with it. Tully offers the program every Thursday and has eight volunteers an evening.
The Almaden branch has about 15 volunteer readers, but lack of space limits the program to four teens each week, says Koetitz. At the beginning of each month, the teens bid on the weekly schedules; some may work only one Wednesday during the month, while others try for at least two.
The majority of teen readers are male, Koetitz adds.
All the volunteers are self-directed, he adds. They receive some training and a green vest that signifies they are teen volunteers. A plaque and a brief announcement signals the program is starting.
The most important thing is that these buddies are “engaging in one-on-one literacy enhancement,” Koetitz says. “It’s not like a classroom; there’s no curriculum. Anyone–mom, dad or the child– can pick out the books, and often each team has a stack of books at or just above reading level to help build the child’s vocabulary.”
Gautam came to Almaden’s program already trained. He began his Reading Buddies career at Evergreen Library. When his family moved to Almaden a couple of years ago, he asked about it and Koetitz started the program.
“We help kids learn to like reading. Sometimes the parents pick a book, sometimes we find one with the child,” Gautam says. “When they want to read to us, they find the book, and we will help them sound out words and ask them what the book was about and what it meant to them.”
Eddie Chang, an eighth-grader at Castillero, has been part of the program for about eight months. “I personally got involved because I like reading, and I especially like reading to the kids,” he says.
He also likes it when youngsters ask interesting questions. “Sometimes I can’t answer them, and that makes me go off and learn about it,” he says, and often both he and his reading buddy learn something new.
Eddie and Gautam are both involved in sports. Eddie plays tennis, and Gautam is on the Leland cross country and track and field teams, plays basketball and swims in the summer. Both also love to read.
“I read every night for about half an hour,” says Gautam says.
Eddie’s tastes are varied. “I read a lot, fiction, adventure, magic and science fiction,” he says.
Koetitz says the program has been going on long enough that many parents put it on their home calendars and bring their youngsters to the children’s library promptly at 5:30 on Wednesdays. “There’s good interest on the part of both parents and young children,” he says.
Both Eddie and Gautam are confirmed reading buddies. Eddie plans to continue at least through his sophomore year at Leland. Gautam says he enjoys his job as a reading buddy. “It’s not hard work and it helps the community.”
