Inspiring Readers

One person can make a huge difference in the lives of others. When it comes to fostering reading in children, a good librarian can make a huge difference. Queens librarian Sueli Zaqem is a good librarian. She inspired the kids in her summer reading program to read more than twice the number of books this summer as last summer, and donated her hair to Locks of Love. It's always nice to see a situation where everyone wins. The kids read more, and some sick kids will get to have hair. Also, the library gets some positive press in the news, which will hopefully encourage other parents to involve their children in their local libraries summer reading program.

Becoming a Reader

Alison Bechdel, the author of the graphic novel, Fun Home, a Family Tragicomic put together a great short piece on how she developed as a reader. It's a lot of fun.

Bechdel has been on my list of authors whose books I need to get my hands on for some time.

In this story she includes the advice that, if you really want your kids to read something, the best way to do it is to hide it on the higher shelves, and not tell them about it. I'm not sure this works for all kids, but for the more voracious reader it makes some sense.

This tails in nicely with the debate that's been going on in England over the age-stamping of books. Someone suggested that no one knows what book is most appropriate for any given kid more than the kid themselves, and that typically they won't read the books they're not ready for. This worked pretty well for me.

The question lies in what one does if their child is not already a reader. How do you then determine if a book is right for them before you make them read it?

There's a problem in that question. Can you see it?

Yeah, MAKE. You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make them drink. Trite, but true. The same is equally true for people of all ages and books. If you want to suggest a book to your child, but you're not sure if it will be appropriate, read it!

If you won't take the time to read a book, why should your child?

Of course, I don't know any guaranteed way to turn a kid into a reader, but if their parents don't read, and yet they try to make their kid read... well, it doesn't sound very successful does it.

I don't mind general age stamping. Children's, Young Adult (YA), and the like, but I don't think they need to be more carefully defined than that. As an early teen I read a mix of adult novels and more YA fiction, and as an adult, I know people who still read a sizable amount of YA fiction. If you're reading for pleasure, read what you enjoy. But for kids, well, they will already have the books they have to read, that's what school is for. For parents, you don't need to make your child read important works, just make sure they're comfortable reading. If they enjoy it, their reading will sort itself out. You're never going to be able to force them to like a specific type of literature, any more than you can force them to like the same music as you.

That just gave me a great image. A parent forcing a preteen to sit down and really contemplate Rubber Soul. It doesn't seem like the best way to produce a fan of the Beatles.

Readers' Choice

I've previously mentioned my fondness for Goodreads (which, spell-check informs me, is not a word). One of the great features is that you can look over the most recently posted reviews, and select it to show you just the most recent reviews of the books you've read. I really enjoy this feature, I'm curious to see what other people have read.

The first thing I learned is that I'm not the only person to have read and enjoyed Harry Potter. I know, I'm surprised too.

The second thing I learned is that there are a lot of people who are made incredibly uncomfortable by the graphic, sexually explicit nature of Michael Chabon's The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay. I was quite confused by this, had we read the same book? Then one reviewer clarified it for me. The presence of a gay character upset them. Well, you live and learn.

The third, and most disappointing thing that I learned is that a lot of people who read books aren't too bright. They told me so outright. And I don't mean that their typos and poor use of language was as good as telling me, I mean they tell you so.

It is really depressing how many people explain that they didn't like a book because they were too stupid. If we, as a culture, have failed in creating readers, this is one of the biggest ways. People, even readers, who enjoy reading enough to join a web community focused on books and reading, are taught to feel stupid when they don't appreciate the 'right' literature, and embarrassed when they like the wrong books.

We have few enough readers in our society to criticize any of them, and the people who continue reading the 'right' literature after finishing school are a small minority. Most of the people in our society, including those measurable as they smartest (by whatever flawed measurement you use), don't continue to read Dostoevsky and Joyce. They might pick up the latest Pulitzer winner, or Nobel laureate, but they're probably more likely to read Harry Potter, or Jason Bourne.

The argument could be that we've got to make students read as many major works of classical literature as possible, since they won't continue, but I don't think that's it.

As much as I'd love to blame teachers, I can't do that either. Yes we all come away from school with some author aversions, but so what?

Teachers are paid incredibly poorly to do very hard work. It's important work too, collectively, they're guiding the future (Que singing of I believe the children are our future).

It's on all of us as a society, but parents most of all. Children of readers are much more likely to be readers themselves. Here's my manifesto for parents (because no one knows better what parents should do than people without children).

1. Read to your child.
2. Let your child see you reading on your own as well.
3. When your child is too old to be read to (if that ever really happens), be curious about their reading. If they are really moved by a book read it too, then discuss it.
4. Do not discourage them from reading, just because you think they're reading something too silly. The child who starts with Daniel Pinkwater (he's a lot of fun, btw), could end up reading just about anything. Let the teachers teach the classics, you teach the love of reading.

Ok, that's my little list. Any thoughts?

When Dad Goes to War

I was very moved by this essay that Alison Buckholtz wrote for Salon. For those of you without the time to go read the article, I'll summarize it.

Alison's husband is in the Navy, and left on a 7 month deployment. For that time period she is left alone to care for their 4-year old son, and 2-year old daughter. What she writes about must be a very common problem for any military family, how to explain to the kids why mommy or daddy had to go away.

It's particularly hard when you don't feel comfortable relying on cliches about having to fight bad guys. For most people in this country, that's not what this war is about. I wish I could say what it is about, but the only answer I really have is that it's about 5 years too long and counting.

Alison wanted to find a way to let her children know "that allowed kids to acknowledge their anger or sadness at Dad's absence, even wallow in their bad mood if necessary -- all while transmitting the assurance of a better day."

Being a writer, she looked for books to communicate this. She couldn't find one. The chidren's books all had problems, the wrong political message, or xenophobia, etc.

So she wrote her own. And it worked.

When we think of books, we think of large scale publications, but that's not all they are. You have to know your audience, and hope to reach them. In her case it was two small children, upset by their father's absence. She reached them, there can be no greater success for an author.

I want to encourage increased literacy in this country, it's very important to me. It troubles me that so many people who feel this way are so concerned with encouraging people to read the 'right' books. The right books are the ones that reach us. For some that may be harlequin romances, for others it's Descartes. That's ok. Not everyone needs to read the hard stuff, but the more you read, the better for you.

And when the message you want to convey is as personal as Alison's, the audience can be as small as it needs to be.