But to enjoy great poetry and prose you are going to have to do more than skim and scan.

You will need to develop the habit of paying attention to the particular words on the page
closely, systematically, even lovingly.
Just because a text isn't easy doesn't mean there is something wrong with it or something
wrong with you. Understanding complex text takes effort and focused attention. You will
need to think critically at every turn. Problem solving isn't only needed for math. Do you
sometimes wish writers would just say what they have to say more simply or with fewer
words? I assure you that writers don't use long sentences and unfamiliar words to annoy
their readers or make readers feel dumb. They employ complex syntax and rich language
because they have complex ideas about complex issues that they want to communicate.
Simple language and structures just aren't up to the task.
Excellent literature and nonfiction--the kind you will be reading over the course of the year-
challenge readers in many ways. Sometimes the background of a story or the content of an
essay is so unfamiliar that it can be difficult to understand why characters are behaving as
they do or to follow the argument a writer is making. By persevering -reading like a detective
and following clues in the text--you will find that your store of background knowledge grows.
As a result, the next time you read about global issues, financial matters, political events,
environmental news (like the California drought), or health research, the text won't seem
nearly as hard. Navigating a terrain you have been over once before never seems quite as
rugged the second time through. The more you read, the better reader you become.
Good readers aren't scared off by challenging text. When the going gets rough, they know
what to do. Let's take vocabulary, a common measure of text complexity, as an example.
Learning new words is the business of a lifetime. Rather than shutting down when you meet
a word you don't know, take a moment to think about the word. Is any part of the word
familiar to you? Is there something in the context of the sentence or paragraph that can help
you figure out its meaning? Is there someone or something that can provide you with a
definition? When we read literature or nonfiction from a time period other than our own, the
text is often full of words we don't know.
Each time you meet those words in succeeding readings you will be adding to your
understanding of the word and its use. Your brain is a natural word-learning machine. The
more you feed it complex text, the larger vocabulary you'll have and as a result, the easier
navigating the next book will be.
Have you ever been ribading a long, complicated sentence and discovered that by the time
you reached the end you had forgotten the beginning? Unlike the sentences we speak or
dash off in a note to a friend, complex text is often full of sentences that are not only lengthy
but also constructed in intricate ways. Such sentences require readers to slow down and
figure out how phrases relate to one another as well as who is doing what to whom.
Remember, rereading isn't cheating. It is exactly what experienced readers know to do when
they meet dense text on the page. On the pages that follow you will find stories and articles
that challenge you at a sentence level. Don't be intimidated.
By paying careful attention to how those sentences are constructed, you will see their
meanings unfold before your eyes.
That same kind of attention is required for reading the media. Every day you are bombarded
with messages--online, offline, everywhere you look. These, too, are complex texts that you
want to be able to see through; that is, to be able to recognize the message's source,
purpose, context, intended audience, and appeals. This is what it takes to be a 21st-century
reader.
Another way text can be complex is in terms of the density of ideas. Sometimes a writer piles
on so much information that you find even if your eyes continue to move down the page,
your brain has stopped taking in anything. At times like this, turning to a peer and discussing
particular lines or concepts can help you pay closer attention and begin to unpack the text.
Sharing questions and ideas, exploring a difficult passage together, makes it possible to
tease out the meaning of even the most difficult text.

Another way text can be complex is in terms of the density of ideas. Sometimes a writer piles
on so much information that you find even if your eyes continue to move down the page,
your brain has stopped taking in anything. At times like this, turning to a peer and discussing
particular lines or concepts helps you pay closer attention and begin to unpack the text.
Sharing questions and ideas, exploring a difficult passage together, makes it possible to
tease out the meaning of even the most difficult text.
Poetry is by its nature particularly dense and for that reason poses particular challenges for
casual readers. Don't ever assume that once through a poem is enough. Often, a seemingly
simple poem in terms of word choice and length -for example an Emily Dickinson, Mary
Oliver, or W.H, Auden poem expresses extremely complex feelings and insights. Poets also
often make reference to mythological and Biblical allusions which contemporary readers are
not always familiar M with . Skipping over such references robs your reading of the richness
the poet intended. Look up that bird. Check out the note on the page. Ask your teacher.

You will notice a nge Complexity within each collection of

readings. This spectrum reflects the range of texts that surround us: some easy, some hard,
some seemingly easy, some seemingly hard but easy. Navigating this sea of texts should
stretch you as a reader and a thinker
How could it be otherwise if your journey is in the realms of gold? Please accept this
invitation to an lectual [voyage I think you will enjoy: