Fairbanks book group taps into the one of the world's great mysteries of learning

I had planned to start this with a casual comment that there's nothing magical or mysterious about learning to read.

Then I remembered the moment all those years ago when I saw a child climb up on a couch and read aloud from a book,  inventing a story by looking at the illustrations and dutifully turning the pages, though she had yet to learn her letters.

There was some magic there, nurtured by the thousands of hours her mother had spent in her company, sharing stories from hundreds of books.

I don't know exactly how a child discovers reading can be fun, but I believe those who do will have an easier time at school, and discover untold numbers of things they would never dream of.

A lot of programs, professionals and parents work to build reading skills, but there is one regular exercise in Fairbanks that could be a model for the nation in the fun department.

It's a unique volunteer low-cost program that has helped foster a positive attitude about reading among fourth-grade boys in 18 elementary schools for more than a decade.

The program has spread to a handful of communities in Alaska and beyond. A school district in Maryland has adopted the format pioneered in Fairbanks and presented at a national library conference.

It's called "Guys Read" and it works because it is simple, it doesn't cost much, it is aimed at a receptive audience and it is led by volunteers who believe this is a small thing they can do to improve education without a major time commitment.

The goal is to reach fourth-grade guys at the one time during the day when the chances are greatest they are not punching one another, joking or wiggling in their seats: Lunchtime.

"This is our 11th year, we've read to over 5,500 boys. Only one time has one boy ever been asked to leave the program for that day," said volunteer organizer Greg Hill, retired director of the Noel Wien Library in Fairbanks.

Hill and his wife, retired teacher Clare Hill, work with a committee that selects books fourth-grade boys like, which keeps behavior problems to a minimum, they said.

During his decades as a librarian, Hill learned firsthand many boys stop reading for pleasure in about the fourth grade. In some cases it is because the boys don't see men reading for fun and don't regard it as a male activity.

As boys grow, some keep reading only if they have to, an attitude that limits their horizons.

For two weeks in the fall and again in the winter, the young guys are invited to visit the school library at lunchtime, where the kids eat their sandwiches while an older guy reads for 20 minutes from the kind of book young guys like — an exciting or outlandish volume with great illustrations that doesn't get bogged down with complicated characters.

The volunteers leave a few copies behind of what will soon be the most popular book in the school library. About 30 men read books this fall to hundreds of kids.

"Ultimately they get eight books read to them each year and hopefully they get eight different sets of men who like to read presenting the books to them," said Hill. "The goal is to have as many different role models as possible."

A similar program for fourth-grade girls, Gals Read, offers books tailored for an audience more receptive to character development and human relationships.

The Fairbanks program received the National Association of Counties Academic Achievement Award in 2010, and Innovations in Literacy Award in 2013 from the Public Library Association.

The volunteers don't just read from the text. They use a computer projector to show the pages on a blank wall or a screen. If there is a third volunteer, he gets to hold the laser pointer and shine a light on the spot on the projected page where the action is unfolding.

It is the combination of an exciting book read aloud with pictures on the screen that grabs the interest of the boys, Hill said. The hope is boys to will look and find other fun books and make it a habit.

A child who reads books that are fun is more capable of handling difficult books that may not, Hill said.

Last week I had the honor of holding the laser pointer during a lunchtime visit to North Pole Elementary School while more than three dozen fourth-graders ate their sandwiches and listened to Greg Hill read from "This or That: A Wacky Book of Choices to Reveal the Hidden You."

The second volunteer was North Pole Police Chief Steve Dutra, a great reader who wore his uniform and had several kids come up to him and ask if he was a real policeman and if the gun was real. No one asked those questions of the librarian and the newspaperman.

The kids followed along as Hill read from the text, raising their hands on the "this or that" choices — would they rather swim in the Arctic Ocean or walk on hot coals? Would they rather have oatmeal or cold pizza for breakfast? Would they rather be able to climb like Spider-Man or move like The Flash?

The idea of the book is that the kids are supposed to keep track of their "this" or "that" choices and the results will reveal something about their personalities and interests.

I'm not sure the boys emerged from the session with a psychology lesson, but as they filed out of the library and collected bookmarks listing other titles they might enjoy, several guys announced, "This was fun," which was just what the guys who read to them wanted to hear.

Columnist Dermot Cole can be reached at dermot@alaskadispatch.com. 

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