We have long since run out of shelf space in our house, even though we have some books boxed up and others tucked behind in the shelves, so I decided to move some of our children’s books out of the main bookshelves and into the girls’ room. Doing so brought out all these visceral reactions from when I read them for the first time, and I started pondering again about what makes a child a reader.
I believe in good books. Good books teach children about the power the written word can yield. I remember reading about Sadako and her paper cranes and weeping, just weeping, and wondering how God could have let that happen. From the Mixed Up Files made me feel like loving museums was a very good and normal thing to do. There were other books as well, that made me feel accomplished or informed or what-not. And they were important to my literary development.
And yet, I loved The Babysitters Club, and probably read every single one of them and all sorts of crazy books like Bunnicula and those books, books many people I respect would refer to as twaddle, were my bread and butter in elementary school. Reading everything I could get my hands on hasn’t seemed to dull my senses for the good and the beautiful in literature as an adult.
Maybe we all need a little of both to give us balance and perspective. Everyday books mixed with really good ones, the fine wine and the steaks of the bookshelf right along with the ramen and sweet tea. What say you?
Oh, yes. I’ve got all these intense books on the floor by my bed: a novel by Shusako Endo and a bunch of theology for personal reading and school. But today? Today I went to the library and checked out four Janette Oke romances set in the Canadian prairies. And I’m not sorry.
I have similar thoughts sometimes. Nothing in my early childhood pointed to me becoming a particularly good reader. I was rarely read to as a preschooler. (I remember begging my mom to read me the Sweet Pickles books she ordered from me… she told me know, it’d make my brother jealous… then I spend hours trying to decipher them, desperate to know what the stories were.) I wasn’t an early reader, I started reading a bit in kindergarten but not fluently until first grade. But in second grade, it “clicked” for me, and from that point on I was a voracious reader. I went through everything from ALL the Nancy Drew mysteries and Trixie Belden and The Babysitter’s Club along with all the other classic kid’s literature, i.e. Montgomery, Little House books, Cleary and Blume, anything with a “medal” on it, Swiss Family Robinson, any books where kids were called to assume more adult roles (mirroring my own life at the time) or anything where they built cool forts or houses, or anything with a map. I read widely and non-discrminately, and I think that shaped my love of books.
I read less as an adult because of my responsibilities, and that leads to a certain pickiness. Growing up, I would always finish a book, no matter how terrible or boring. But now my time is limited, so if I don’t like it, I will stop reading.
Oh, Janette Oke books, loved those in high school. I re-read some of them not too long ago, still a good fun read. :)
Oh, typo above! Drives me crazy… “she told me no”, not “know”, lol.
Oh, I wholeheartedly concur. Having just devoured the Twilight Saga, which is a delicious confection, I think we should wholeheartedly embrace reading for pure pleasure. Recreational reads increase our appetite for literature and remind us that reading is even more fun than TV. They didn’t have The Babysitter’s Club back in my day, but I read all the Nancy Drew Books and all the brand-new Trixie Belden books and of course the Little House books and the Black Beauty books.
Susie said it perfectly, “Recreational reads increase our appetite for literature and remind us that reading is even more fun than TV.” A friend told me that life is too short to read a book you don’t like. And while I’ll admit it’s good to work through a book for purposes other than entertainment, there are too many good books out there waiting for me to struggle through a tough one.
I love to read. I’m glad you do, too, Kristen!
I guess this also explains my love for Us Weekly, Judy Blume, and Time Out Chicken.
I would say that if reading is only edifying or only entertaining, you take the risk of turning kids off or making them think it is unimportant. The mix is important. My mother had a rule when we went to the library when I was a teenager that for every two or three trash novels I read I had to read something that was on the list the school published of college prep reading. It worked well. I still read a mixture of great books and nonsense. The former educates, informs, and inspires, and the latter is a bit like antifreeze. I still prefer trivial reading to tv most of the time, and I think this is a good habit to cultivate in our kids.
What makes a reader? That they READ.
I learned to read when I was 4, and I’ve been reading myself to sleep ever since. It has been one of my most cherished pleasures for nearly 24 years. My mom was great about reading to us, and she has always been a big reader as well. As such, we read voraciously, and sometimes indiscriminately.
When I was in elementary school, there was only one traffic light in our part of town and we had to drive over the bridge into Jacksonville proper for groceries. And accordingly, our library was tiny. I remember clearly the day my mom convinced the librarian that I should, in fact, be allowed to read the Sweet Valley High books even though I was 9.
And I read it all–Sweet Valley (Kids, Twins, High and much, much later, University), BSC, Beverly Cleary, Judy Blume, the Sleepover books, Little House on the Prairie … Come high school, I changed it up with classics (I loved Farenheit 451 and Animal Farm as much as I hated Hemingway and Faulkner) and more garbage (Sweet Valley University).
Now my bookshelves are laden with what I would consider good reads–a mix of literary fiction, classics, food writing, Southern nonfiction, memoirs and whatnot. I gave up chick lit several years ago because I found it just wasn’t as satisfying as a GOOD book; it’s like eating a full roll of Sweettarts in one sitting. It feels good for a moment, but turns your stomach by the end. That’s not to say I don’t read for fun–I do, I absolutely do!–but my idea of what is enjoyable has changed.
I could talk about books for hours.
I am definitely a reader and agree that it isn’t always about quality. As someone who has taught (commercially and in the school system) reading skills to K-adult learners I have seen first hand the value of those “trashy” or pulp fiction books that most kids plow through in 4-9 grade. It is natural when you hit about 5th grade reading level to need MASSIVE quantities of text to read to cement your reading skills. Most never-ending series such as Nancy Drew or Babysitters Club, or their more contemporary incarnations, are written at a roughly 5th grade reading level. Even adult-focused novels like serial romances or the average crime thriller is written at this level because they are so easy to consume rapidly.
While it is important to include challenging fiction and nonfiction in the diet of any reader, these books serve a valuable purpose…. especially for children or weaker readers.
Reading seems to be on the rise in many demographics and this is encouraging. Most readers, regardless of what they start out with, will eventually make it into quality texts that stretch their mind and heart, as well as their vocabulary:-)
And like CJ I could talk books for hours, so I’ll quit while I am ahead.
Bunnicula!!!! I haven’t thought about that in 20 years! I totally read those too… along with (many others) BSC, Sweet Valley ___, and Judy Blume and Beverly Cleary. And what about those horse books– The Riding Club, or Saddle Club, or something like that? But my favorite books were also The Secret Garden, and The Little Princess, and Narnia, and Little House on the Prairie. I was always a big reader–we lived within walking distance of our town’s library, and once I was allowed to make that trek alone (on foot or bike), I’d go every week to check out a stack of books. Now, I like to mix it up (like lots of other folks)… some classics, then the latest brain candy. It keeps me reading. I think that one of the reasons I don’t mind work travel is that I give myself the green light to read while flying and in airports, so I can catch up on my to-read stack.
Liz W. brought up the Bunnicula books on twitter when I asked about what books made people readers earlier this week. I’d forgotten about them, too :)
I remember riding to the Trussville library most every day in the summer after swimming at the Trussville pool all morning. My sister and I would then head back to our grandparents for watermelon and to read our new books! That was my daily routine growing up in elementary school. Ahhhh, the joys of childhood! And I remember the wonderful summer before 4th grade when I discovered Nancy Drew.