The birthday cake theory of reading development

This will be a looong post, but stay with me.  This theory is really important stuff.

My MLS coursework at TWU was blissful.  Cheesy maybe, but true.  I took five years--purposely long because I loved it and things were hectic.

It provided the wonderful realization that I am passionate about libraries, and in those ancient days of face-to-face courses, it provided enduring relationships.

And I LOVED the things we learned. 

Early on, Dr. Betty Carter introduced us to "The Birthday Cake Theory of Reading Development" by Alleen Pace Nilsen and Kenneth L. Donelson.

I am excited to say that Dr. Nilsen kindly gave me permission to post this copy from the 1985 edition of Literature for Today's Young Adults.  In later editions of the book, the authors opted for a plainer chart, but the birthday cake remains my favorite.

The theory traces the development of readers.  Not so much learning HOW to read, but learning to LOVE to read.

To understand the theory, begin with the bottom layer of the cake and work up.  The cake has six layers representing birth to kindergarten through adulthood.  Each layer provides a basic understanding of what developing readers need in this stage.

Here's a critical piece.  Readers must go through each stage.  Stages can't be skipped.  If a reader is "squashed" in one stage, he will age chronologically, of course, but he/she may never develop a love reading.

Layer One--Birth through Kindergarten:
Enjoying nursery rhymes, folktales, picture books, cereal boxes, and anything else that shows there is fun and profit to be gained from the written word.

Layer Two--Kindergarten through Second Grade:
Learning to decode.  Developing the intellectual skills needed to read.

Layer Three--Third to Sixth Grades (Unconscious Delight)
Losing oneself in a good story.
Series books, fantasies, horse stories, dog stories, adventure tales, anything the reader can disappear into.

Layer Four--Jr. High to High School:
Finding oneself in a story.  Finding one's friends, enemies, and other people of interest.  Checking out the "facts" in realistic problem novels.

Layer Five--Upper High School to College:
Going beyond one's circle.  Finding where one fits in society.  What does it all mean?

Layer Six--Adulthood:
Aesthetic appreciation.  Identifying with the author.  How and why the reader is touched by this writing.

Why is this really important stuff? 
The birthday cake theory provides an understanding of how readers develop.  It helps us match readers with the right book at the right time.  It helps us inform parents and teachers as to why each stage is important and what the implications are. 

For example, it's critical that readers in the unconscious delight stage read series books or the same kind of thing over and over.  Squash this, attempt to push them on before they're ready, and you risk stopping their progress in developing a love of reading. 

And most of all, understanding this theory helps us help kids be readers. And that's really important stuff any day.