What is your reading personality?

How do you find just the right book to recommend for a kid?  What makes a certain book a yes for one kid reader and a clear no for another?  Certainly anyone can read anything. But what is the doorway in?

These questions plagued Barb Langridge. Barb pulled together knowledge from her master’s in education and human resources development to attack the question.  She re-examined the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, based on the psychological types described by Carl Jung who believed that our seemingly random behavior is actually consistent. It is based on differences relating to the way we make use of perception (sensation and intuition) and judgment (thinking and feeling).  Barb revisited the Keirsey Temperment Sorter, which is based on the theory that there are four basic temperament groups–artisans, guardians, rationals, and idealists–and that those groups might be further divided into more specific character types.

Now, Barb has developed a way of analyzing and understanding that personality may be based on a variety of factors, including their interest in particular types of pacing, tone, subject matter, settings, emotional arcs.

Which Reading Superhero Are YOU?  is a 10-question assessment that helps identify a child’s reading personality.  The current answer key on the website divides each type, by gender, but Barb is currently working on creating new names and gender-free divisions for the four reading personalities.  She notes: “The only reason I divided it back in 2009 was to reach and meet needs of people who were Googling books for boys.”

Barb’s model divides readers into four categories:  guardian/belonger, dionysian, Joan of Arc/seeker, and answerman/investigator analyst.  Barb provides an extensive description of each along with examples.