Taking All the Fun Out of It

My third-grade daughter normally has to keep a reading log (and you know how I feel about that!) as well as write 1-2 paragraphs per week about the books she is reading, which are due on Mondays.  But the last two weeks, she had to do neither, in order to lessen the workload on the days surrounding the NYS ELA tests (another topic about which I have a lot to say).  I've been sick with what was first the flu and then pneumonia (that, plus our move into a still-being-renovated apartment account for my online absence lately), and this weekend her sister and dad were sick too.  We couldn't entertain her much.  My husband was worried that she was bored.  But I knew better.

She was thrilled.  Thrilled to have time to read just for fun.  She read two books in their entirety and started another, and possibly finished another one in there.  I read to her.  She went to the library and checked out thirteen books (nowhere near her record of 27!), ranging from classics (Daddy-Long-Legs) to junk (every balanced diet - reading or otherwise - needs some junk).

She read and she read and she read.  And she was so happy.

Sure, there's something to be said for reading deeply and analyzing what you are reading.  But there's also a lot to be said for just reading for pleasure.  Reading to be taken out of yourself.  Reading to get absorbed in a story, in someone else's life, in the rhythm of the words.  And I know that even this type of reading has all sorts of educational benefits: my daughter's vocabulary astounds me.  She never opens a dictionary.  She has learned from context.  (That's why the best SAT prep is not vocab lists but reading.)  But even if reading for pleasure had no educational value, who cares?  There's nothing wrong with reading solely for pleasure.  That's right.  There's nothing wrong with reading solely for pleasure.

With high-stakes tests and new curricula and the Common Core, reading for pleasure has all but disappeared.  The teachers no longer have time to let the children read independently, just for fun.  They no longer have time to read aloud to the class books of their own choosing.  What a loss.

Yes, some learning is boring and repetitive, of necessity (think times tables).  But if you take the fun out of reading, children aren't going to want to read any more.  I hope my daughter always finds joy in reading.  And I hope she is granted the gift of time in which to do it.

Let's Start With Chapter... Seven?!?

My daughters' school rolled out their new ELA curriculum, Ready-Gen, yesterday.  By today, my 3rd grader was complaining about it.  And I don't blame her!  She told me that the teacher read aloud a chapter from The Lemonade War by Jacqueline Davies, an excellent book.  So far, so good.  The students were required to follow along, pointing with their fingers.  OK, I can see the rationale here, but my daughter hated this.  She said it was hard not to race ahead of the teacher.  Don't we want to encourage readers like her?  I can remember this type of frustration from when I was a kid - but even worse, other kids were reading aloud, much slower than a teacher would.  I always read ahead and then couldn't find my place when I was called on to read! 

The questions following the read-aloud were boring too.  They had to write something they "learned" (it is unclear if this means something they learned about a character or plot point or something factual)  and write down what questions they had.  Not scintillating.  Not inspiring.  Not thought-provoking.

But what really got to me was that the teacher read Chapter 7 - and only Chapter 7 - to the kids.  Really?  Chapter 7?!?  Why not Chapter 1?  Why not the whole book in fact?  This curriculum seems like a step backwards to the days (my days) of what were called basal readers - boring collections of stories and excerpts, rather than actual books.  No one learns to love reading by reading from a basal reader.

What do you think about this type of reading curriculum?  What type does your school or your child's school use?

Read This Article

I'm a day (or two or three) behind in my reading of the New York Times and so it wasn't until this morning that I happened upon this article in yesterday's paper.  In it, a a father writes about how he is packing up his now-teenagers' picture books.  But it's much more than that.  It's about how packing up picture books is a way of saying good-bye to your children's childhoods, it's an elegy for Eden Ross Lipson, the late New York Times Book Review's children book editor, it's a review of several picture books, only one of which I've ever heard of, it's a discussion of how to match a child to a book.  I'm going to put every book he recommends at the library on hold immediately, and not think about the day when it might be time for me to pack up my children's picture books.

Where We Read

The other day we took a short (1 express stop) subway ride.  My 7-year-old brought two books - one she was almost finished with and a back-up, and I brought the chapter book I've been reading to my 4-year-old.  We all snagged seats and began reading.  As we exited, another woman complimented me on raising two such voracious readers, noting their concentration (my older daughter later told me she didn't even realize I had been reading aloud to the younger one, so engrossed was she in her own book).

One of the ways to raise a reader is to bring a book everywhere.  My phone is the flip variety from 1998 or so so it has no games, no apps, no nothing.  So what do we have with us?  Books!  We read on the subway and the bus, while waiting at the doctor and the dentist and the post office.  But we also read on benches, stoops, and even sidewalks all over the city.  We read at the park, in between the monkey bars and games of "shark" (where one person pretends to spot a shark and then everyone has to run away).  I read to my younger daughter while we stand in the schoolyard waiting to pick up my older one.  My older one reads in the schoolyard in the mornings while waiting for her teacher to pick up the class - unless the supervising teacher has the chutzpah to insist the children run around so they don't freeze!  My husband has even been known to bring a book in the elevator for the ride down to the laundry room!

Of course, raising a reader is not as simple as bringing books everywhere, but it certainly helps!

Where do you and/or your kids read?

When to Read What

Annie of Annie and Aunt directed my attention to a discussion on the New York Times website about What Books Are 'Just Right' For the Young Reader.  I haven't read either Annie's post about it or the Times discussion because I wanted to write this without any preconceptions.

On the one hand, I don't have a problem with kids reading books that are "above" them, either emotionally or in terms of vocabulary or other difficulty.  In my experience, young readers often just pass over the subjects that are emotionally or contextually beyond them.  So I'm not worried about a young reader being traumatized or exposed to something too early.  And often readers come back to these books and glean more from them each time.  Just as adult readers do, in light of their own life experience.

My daughter still often asks me if I think a book would be right for her, or if it would be too hard or too scary, and then I give my honest opinion.  She recently picked out The Ballad of Lucy Whipple by Karen Cushman, the story of a young girl during the California gold rush.  I knew that it would be beyond her but she insisted she wanted me to read it to her.  As I noticed her attention waning each evening, I asked her if she was sure we should continue and she replied in the affirmative.  Finally, about halfway through the book she confessed to me, "It's kind of boring but I didn't know how to tell you.  I think it would be a good book when I 'm older, though."  Out of the mouths of babes.  (And I assured her that I did not take personal offense at her dislike of - or, more properly, lack of readiness for - the book!)

However, she may not pick it up again, and that's what I'm worried about.  I'm concerned that a young reader might miss out on a fantastic book because she picked it up too early, found it "boring" or confusing, and then never tried reading it again.  Although I don't censor my child's reading, I also don't go out of my way to introduce her to books that I think she's not ready for.  That's why I'm waiting to give her The Phantom Tollbooth, Anne of Green Gables, From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, and many, many others.  What a shame it would be if she missed out on any of those because she picked them up too early and was turned off of them forever!

And now I'm off to read all those other posts on the topic.  What do you think?

She Can Read!

I've been pointing to words as I read to my almost-five-year-old, asking her to sound them out.  At first she was very resistant, so I didn't push it.  If she wanted to try, great, if not, not.  But lately she has become more receptive, even volunteering to read and I've noticed that she was able to sound out more and more words with more ease as well as read some words by sight.

However, I have found it hard to find books for the very earliest of readers.  Either they are too hard or have so little content that they are deathly boring.

So last night I wrote two very short "stories" on our whiteboard.  They weren't too thrilling either but this way I could come up with a mix of words I knew she knew by sight, words I knew she could sound out, and words that would be a little challenging.  My funny husband added his own unique touch at the bottom. 

And she did it!  She can read!

Do you have any book recommendations for the just-barely-starting-to-read reader?

That First Chapter Book Read-Aloud

I just finished reading my younger daughter her first chapter book!  It was Beezus and Ramona by Beverly Cleary, the very same first chapter book I read to my older daughter.  It was a hit both times.  I picked it because Beverly Cleary gets real kids so right (Ramona thinks growing up goes so slowly, Beezus confronts the fact that while she loves Ramona, she doesn't always like her), it is funny (I mean, really, what is better than a kid who takes one bite out of every apple or bakes her doll inside her sister's birthday cake because she is pretending to be Gretel), and it is timeless (the lack of computers, cellphones and other gadgets just doesn't matter).  And of course, there is what it is not: scary, boring, or sad.

What's the first chapter book you read to your children?  Why did you choose it?

The Final Tally

So my daughter diligently kept a reading log throughout the summer, in order to be inducted into her school's Reading Hall of Fame.  While I am opposed to reading logs, this one was merely a list of every book she read - she didn't have to count pages or minutes - and it is kind of nice to see what books she read this summer.  I have been keeping a similar list for myself using the NYPL's "completed" shelf feature.  In any case, the final tally, after 75 days of vacation is..............(drum roll)............. 85 books!  They vary widely in terms of length and difficulty but still, what a difference a year makes!  I'm kvelling.

More Books for a Seven-Year-Old

My daughter has been happily devouring books, sometimes even turning down activities like playing with her sister and baking with me in order to read!  She's been zigzagging back and forth between the series I mentioned here, as well as adding some new favorites to her list.  Here they are:

Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle by Betty McDonald.  My daughter loved this one and we're going to look for the others in the series.  I haven't read it and now it's on MY reading list now, since in each chapter Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle provides a "cure" for a different childhood misbehavior: picky eating, messy rooms, "answering back."  I could use the help!

The American Girl books.  These books are several series, actually, each about a different girl and each set during a different time (and place) in American history.  They are related to the extravagantly expensive American Girl dolls, with the girl on the cover of each book made to look like the corresponding doll, but the books make no explicit reference to the dolls, not even at the end of the books or on the back cover!  There are no product tie-ins at all!  So if your child doesn't already know of the existence of the dolls, these books won't clue her in.  The books are short but the vocabulary is not easy, and some of the concepts introduced are difficult or may be new to your child.  Mine exclaimed in confusion and frustration when reading about the selling of slaves, "But how could people be sold?  What does that even mean?!?"  At the end of each book is a short (5 pages or so) non-fiction description of the historical era in which each book is set.  A nice introduction to historical fiction.

The Year of the ... books by Grace Lin.  This well-known semi-autobiographical series by Grace Lin, with the first two books named for a year in the Chinese zodiac, follow Pacy Lin as she struggles with the normal difficulties of growing up and being different.  The third (and so far, last) book in the series doesn't follow the naming convention and is Dumpling Days.  All three are wonderful.

The Dessert books by Hallie Durand. 

The Great Cake Mystery: Precious Ramotswe's Very First Case: A Number 1 Ladies' Detective Agency Book for Young Readers by Alexander McCall Smith.  The author of the Number 1 Ladies Detective Agency books has gone back in time and written about his protagonist as a child.  This is a gentle, non-scary mystery with an exotic (to us) setting in Africa.  So far this is the only book for children but I suspect this prolific author will not stop here!

Stand-alone books that she's read include:

The Pepins and their Problems by Polly Horvath.

A Necklace of Raindrops by Joan Aiken.

What has your child been reading?

Non-scary Realistic Fiction for a Seven-Year-Old

The title of this post is cumbersome but accurate.  My 7-year-old loves reading books about kids like herself, realistic books that are not scary at all.  Here is a list of the series that she's been enjoying this summer.  Some I had heard of; some we just found at the library.  The difficulty level varies quite a bit - some of the books are easier, or shorter, or both - but I don't believe in restricting her only to books that are at her level.  These are in addition, of course, to those I've read to her and mentioned elsewhere: the Ramona series, the Betsy-Tacy books, the Fudge books, and the Little House books.  Without further ado:

The Dyamonde Daniel books by Nikki Grimes

The Amber Brown books by Paula Danziger

The Ivy and Bean series by Annie Barrows

The Clementine books by Sara Pennypacker

The Weird School series by Dan Gutman

The Wayside School series by Louis Sachar

The Zigzag Kids books by Patricia Reilly Giff

The Ready, Freddy! books by Abby Klein

The Sophie books by Lara Bergen

The Humphrey the Hamster series by Betty G. Birney (okay, this one may be slightly less realistic)

The Nikki and Deja books by Karen English

The Frankly, Frannie books by A.J. Stern

The Anna Hibiscus series by Atinuke

The Judy Moody books by Megan McDonald

The Simply Sarah series by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor

The Piper Reed books by Kimberly Willis Holt

Do you have any other realistic fiction series to recommend to her?

Reading for Pleasure As an End in Itself

Every student, teacher, and parent should read this letter to the New York Times about the importance of reading for pleasure. Reading isn't always - or even often - a means to an end.  It often IS the end.   And that is just as it should be.

Books for a Seventh Birthday

Usually, I have great ideas for birthday gifts for my older daughter.  By great I don't mean fancy or expensive - just things I'm 99% sure she'll love.  But this year, I was pretty stumped.  Her only request was for books, especially poetry books.  I wanted to give her at least one or two poetry books, one or two chapter books she could read to herself, a book or two that was meaningful to her and/or me, and at least one read-aloud.  As much as possible, they also had to be purchase-worthy, not just library-worthy.  After much agonizing, here's what I finally settled on.

From me and her dad:

Amelia and Eleanor Go For A Ride by Pam Munoz Ryan.  Two amazing feminist role models, a great story, beautiful illustrations by Brian Selznick.  The birthday girl loved it when we had it out from the library, so it should be a sure bet.

Emma Dilemma: Big Sister Poems by Kristine O'Connell George.  Another winner when we had it out from the library, it seemed appropriate for a big sister.  I'm just worried the little sis will be jealous.  It fills both the "meaningful" slot and the poetry slot!

Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein.  This one is to fulfill the poetry request.  We already have A Light in the Attic.

Tumtum and Nutmeg: Adventures Beyond Nutmouse Hall by Emily Bearn.  For me to read to her.  I'm excited to try something different, since we've mostly been reading about kids her own age (Ramona, Betsy-Tacy, Little House, Fudge).  Animal protagonists (here, mice) will be a nice change, I hope.  The birthday girl was eager to read it but we decided it was more prudent to read The Long Winter first, since that one's a library book.  I'm kind of regretting that decision as The Long Winter may take as long to read as the winter actually lasted. 

"From" her sister:

The Elevator Family by Douglas Evans.  Not pictured as it is the birthday girl's backpack for reading during downtime at school.

Homer Price by Robert McCloskey.  Did you know he wrote chapter books?  I didn't.

Both recommended by our local independent bookstore staff (and yes, purchased there), the latter because of the birthday girl's love of Ramona.

"From" our babysitter:

Clementine by Sara Pennypacker.

The Mouse and the Motorcycle by Beverly Cleary.  Another mouse book.  I'm thinking Stuart Little will be next.

 I chose both of these with the idea of "If she loves Ramona she'll love..." in mind, too.

And I'm expecting she'll receive The Random House Book of Poetry for Children this weekend at her party (hint, hint!).

So, how'd I do?

To (Junie) B. or Not to (Junie) B.

The other night my daughter was sitting on the couch, reading a book to herself and laughing out loud.  She was not reading a great work of literature, but one of the Junie B. Jones books.  Now, I know that Junie has been criticized as modeling poor behavior, not to mention poor grammar, but I was still surprised when talking with some acquaintances to find that several of them do not allow their children to read these books.  (I wonder what they would do if their children were in my daughter's first grade class, where her teacher is actually reading the first book aloud to the whole class!)  Why would I deprive my child of that laugh?  And more importantly, why would I deprive her of the chance to make her own judgments about Junie's behavior?  Characters in books are not supposed to be role models.  They are supposed to be friends, entertainers, and sometimes, a jumping-off point for a discussion about the choices they make. They are supposed to show us new ways to think about ourselves and other people and the world around us.  A role model rarely does that as well as a more complex, nuanced character does.

That doesn't mean that I don't think that certain books are inappropriate for my daughter right now.  So I will warn her if I think a book is too hard or too scary.  And I will not go out of my way to present her with books that I don't think are appropriate... or even all that good.  And if I can't stand the book personally, I won't read it to her.  But when she finds a book on her own, I let her read it.  And laugh.

Reading Is An Adventure and the Positive Power of Peer Pressure

"Mom, this book was so good I felt like I was going on the adventure!"  Well, that statement which came out of my six-year-old's mouth was a far cry from her "I'm starting to hate reading these books!" of just a week earlier.  The difference?  The books in question, of course - and their source.

The first sentence - the one that every parent and book-lover wants to hear - was said when my daughter finished reading, by herself, the first book in the Magic Ballerina series. The book had been not only recommended to her but actually loaned to her by a friend.  Twenty-four hours after giving her the book, the little girl was so anxious to know what my daughter thought, she called and left a message: "Have you finished the book yet?  Do you like it?"  My daughter, who had not even started the book, promptly took it to bed with her, whereupon she read it in its entirety before going to sleep.  The series, by well-known dancer Darcy Bussell, is not going to win any literary awards.  But it goes a long way toward filling that huge empty spot on the bookshelf between Henry and Mudge and, true middle grade fiction like say, The Year of the Dog or Ramona.  The books are short (90 pages but with some illustrations and moderately large print) and extremely fast-paced with cliffhanger endings to each chapter (think The Da Vinci Code).  So literary merit aside, this book - and the fact that it was recommended by a friend - got my daughter excited about reading.  In my book (pun intended), that's the most important thing a book can do.


What books got your reluctant (or not-so-reluctant) child excited about reading?  How did he or she come across them?

"I'm Starting to Hate Reading These Books!"

Yup, that's what my daughter said last night about the school books she brings home every night to read and record in her reading log.   Not words any parent, especially a bookworm, wants to hear!

I don't think she hates reading in general.  And I don't think she hates the books she's bringing home.  It's more the fact that reading them is an obligation and that she has limited choice in what to read which makes the whole thing a chore rather than a pleasure.  I did tell her she could choose something else to read and we'd record it in the reading log, but rules-following-first-child that she is, she refused.

On the upside, she actually enjoys reading many of these books once we sit down with them.  They always get a smiley face rather than a sad one on the reading log!  It's the idea of having to read them rather than actually reading them that she hates.

That means to me that so far this is not a problem.  But I hope it doesn't become one.  Any advice?

The Trouble With Double Yellow

My daughter's school uses the Fountas and Pinnell system of leveled readers.  The books (and children!) are rated on a scale of A (easiest) to Z.  Presumably to avoid competition and feelings of inadequacy, the school marks the books with colored stickers rather than the letters.  Of course, the kids figure out the meaning of the stickers right away!

My daughter's teacher has her reading at Level J (or, "double yellow" in sticker parlance), which are heavy on Cynthia Rylant's Henry and Mudge and Mr. Putter and Tabby books.  When she recently told me that the double yellow books are too easy for her, we decided she'd ask her teacher if she could try harder books.  But before she had a chance to do so, she came home with Mirette on the High Wire by Emily Arnold McCully, marked with the same double yellow stickers.

Mirette is a far cry from Henry and Mudge.  My daughter can read 95% or more of the individual words in Henry and Mudge and understands them all.  In Mirette, though, she was faced with words she either couldn't pronounce or didn't know the meaning of - or both!  And while she is pretty good at figuring out the meaning of words from context, these had her stumped, and with good reason.  Mirette contains words like vagabond and widow and boardinghouse and phrases like "traveling players."  Not something your average New York City first-grader is familiar with and not exactly in the same class as Henry and his big dog Mudge!  While it is great to read about unfamiliar things, this book is completely impenetrable to my daughter on her own.  It is far from a "just right" book, as books that are supposedly on her level should be.

While the contrast between the difficulty of Henry and Mudge and Mirette is dramatic, it's not the first time I've noticed inconsistencies among books which are ostensibly at the same level.  No leveling system can be perfect but, given these inconsistencies, how useful are these systems?  Are they popular now because they are yet another way to "objectively" evaluate student (and, by erroneous extension, in my opinion, teacher) progress?  They are helpful as general guidelines, I think, but not beyond that. 

What is your experience with leveled readers?

Reading Is Not A Sport, Take Three

Yesterday my 6-year-old was inducted into her school's Reading Hall of Fame.  In order to be inducted, the child has to read a certain number of books and/or do a certain number of book-related activities (taking online quizzes about the books, for example) over a specified period of time (here, summer vacation).  The required amount of reading varies with the children's grade. 

The inductees were called up to the stage by name and received a certificate and a badge, with the rest of their class watching.  Then the principal announced that they would also get a special snack in the cafeteria and extra recess time.

I have mixed feelings about this.  Oh, who am I kidding, I have mostly negative feelings about this.  First of all, as I've said repeatedly here, here, and here, I'm opposed to rewarding reading.  Reading should be its own reward.  Reading for donuts (the special snack) just doesn't cut it for me.  The principal's speech about how the kids would "get lost in their books" was rendered less convincing by those donuts waiting in the next room.

Second, the idea of rewarding quantity doesn't sit well with me either.  My husband likened it to the testing craze.  There is such desperation to measure student progress, which is only partially measurable, that administrators have to pick something they can measure.  Number of books (or pages) is an easy, objective, measurable item.  The book's degree of difficulty, or how much the student learned from the book, or how much effort or time the student put in, or, heaven forbid, how much the student enjoyed the book are not quantifiable.  But real literacy and a real love of reading are not about racing through books just to list them on a reading log.

Finally, there was a shame element to the ceremony that I was really uncomfortable with.  The kids who weren't up there on the stage, did they really need to witness their peers being rewarded?  And then watch them as they marched off for their special snack and extra recess time?  There's something to be said for incentives but I'm not sure this is the way to do it.

On the upside, my daughter said that she would definitely participate in the next reading challenge, because she wanted more donuts, although she would read even without them.  She told me "I think my school really wants kids to read so we can learn and stuff."  Admittedly, seeing her happy, proud face as she ascended the stage gave this mother naches (Yiddish for parental pride).

What do you think about rewarding reading and measuring reading by the number of books read?

A Game with a Twist

I love games but most of the fun, non-boring ones are still too hard for my kids.  That's why we were delighted to discover Toot and Otto, a twist on a childhood favorite, Connect Four.  Here, instead of creating rows or columns of red or black pieces, you have to spell your character's name.  A further twist comes because both names are spelled with the exact same letters - 2 Ts and 2 Os - Toot and Otto.  If you're not careful, you might spell your opponent's name!  While more of a strategy game, Toot and Otto also includes literacy elements.  My daughter received this game when she was 5 and it was a bit too hard for her.  After not having played it in several months, we picked it up today and it just clicked for her. 

What games do you recommend for beginning readers - which won't bore their parents to tears?

Reading the Familiar

I'm not a teacher or a literacy specialist so my latest revelation is probably something that is taken for granted by those of you who are.  But to me, it was a real discovery.  My find - reading a familiar book enhances literacy skills. 

Before my child reached this early-reader stage, I would have thought that reading a book that she has heard read to her dozens, if not hundreds, of times would do nothing to improve her reading.  Many of us have had that moment where we think our toddler can read - after all, she's even turning the pages at the right moment! - until our bubble is burst when we realize that she has "merely" memorized the book. 

But for a child who has some reading skills, reading a familiar book has its place.  It helps the new reader make that connection between the sounds of words and their visual representation.  My daughter also reads with more expression and has a better grasp of the arc of each sentence and the story as a whole when she is already familiar with it.  When the book is new to her, she puzzles out each word individually and then sometimes gets to the end of a sentence confused, particularly if the sentence is complex.  That never happens when I read to her and it doesn't happen when she reads a book she already knows.

So, those of you who ARE experts (or, like me, play one in the blogosphere) - do I have it right or am I fooling myself?

Extrinsic vs Intrinsic Rewards

I like to think that reading is a reward in and of itself.  But when you become a parent, a lot of your beliefs (no child of mine will ever sleep in my bed!  no child of mine will eat pasta for dinner every night!) run smack into reality and reality often wins.

My daughter's school signed every child up for an online reading program called Raz-Kids to encourage children to read over the summer.  She was given a password and the program was customized to her reading level.  Each child's page has books which the child can read (and even record) or listen to, as well as take a quiz about the content upon completion.  The books are a mix of fiction and non-fiction and are not, in my opinion, either especially compelling or especially awful.

My daughter picked a book to read, not knowing anything else about the system.  When she finished, she took the quiz.  She was thrilled to discover that she got "points" for both reading (50) and taking the quiz (150 for getting every question right).  You can apparently "spend" the points on something, presumably something virtual, but the mere idea of points was enough for her to beg every night to read more.  But I think even without the points she would have been sufficiently motivated by the progress bar which shows her movement from her current level to the next level, the sheer novelty of recording the book and hearing it read back in her own voice, and the satisfaction of taking the quizzes. 

These type of rewards straddle the extrinsic/intrinsic divide, in my opinion.  The rewards are not tangible but they are visible.  She can see evidence of her progress and that is motivation enough for her.  At least for now!

What motivates your somewhat reluctant child to read?