Supporting Children’s Wellbeing Using the Reading Well Home Reading Program

Siobhan O’Brien is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Education at La Trobe University, Victoria, Australia. As the Director of Professional Experience she supports pre-service teachers professional practice in school and early childhood settings. Before this she has worked in primary schools across a range of settings and age groups as a Leading teacher and School leader in Curriculum, Wellbeing and Literacy. Siobhan's research is focused on parent/child engagement with a ground-breaking program titled The Reading WELL [Wellbeing in Everyday Language and Literature] a home reading program using books to support self-esteem, body image and resilience.

• PrefaceList of Figures and TablesPart 1: Critical Pedagogy1 Becoming a Reader, A Personal Vignette1 And so, to School2 The Reading WELL Study3 A Transactional Approach to Reading4 Reading Engagement and Interaction with Narrative ‘Reader Response Theory’5 The Reader Stance Efferent and Aesthetic Reading6 Narrative Absorption through Fiction – Text, Personal Identity, Experience and Self2 The Reading WELL Theoretical Perspective1 Mental Health of Children in Australia2 Eudaimonic Wellbeing3 Developmental Bibliotherapy4 Developmental Bibliotherapy in Educational Contexts5 Transactional Reader Response Theory, Alignment to Developmental BibliotherapyPart 2: Language and Literacy Teaching3 Generating the Aesthetic Transaction through – Life to Text – Text to Life1 Children’s ‘Picture Story Books’ Narrative Absorption through Fiction2 Literacy as a Cultural Practice3 Co-Construction of Meaning through Shared Reading4 Parental Influence on Children’s Reading Engagement4 Literacy-Focused Home Reading Programs1 Funds of Knowledge2 The Opportunities, Recognition, Interaction and Modelling (ORIM) Taxonomy3 The Four Resources Model4 Creating The Reading WELL Home Reading Program5 The 3 Wellbeing Focus Areas6 The Reading WELL Key Messages7 Previous Programs Informing the Reading WELL Key Messages – Body Image8 Previous Programs Informing the Reading WELL Key Messages – Self-Esteem9 Previous Programs Informing the Reading WELL Key Messages – Resilience10 Developmental Bibliotherapy Book SelectionPart 3Research Literacy Using Critical Creative Approaches5 Creativity within the Narrative Field1 Narrative Research as an Interpretive Methodology2 The Ethics of Re-Storying the Evidence3 The New Reading WELL Narratives (Story)4 The New Reading WELL Narratives as Fiction-Based Research6 The Reading WELL story, Story and STORY1 story2 Story3 STORY4 In ClosingAppendix A: The Reading WELL Child JournalAppendix B: The Reading WELL Books Bibliotherapy Questions and Suggested ResponsesReferencesIndex