YOU DON'T HAVE TO BURN BOOKS
TO DESTROY A CULTURE.
JUST GET PEOPLE TO STOP READING THEM.
(Ray Bradbury)
My husband and I like to spread our book money around. We order from Amazon. We order from an independent bookstore. And, the other day, I was in a big chain bookstore looking for a few titles in the Fiction section.
Two teenage boys were also searching for something - to no avail. Then Boy A asks Boy B, "Does M come before N?"
A pre-teen girl was sitting with her back to the magazines. Her fingers raced over the face of her phone. She was so focused, I thought she was going to topple off her seat.
I don't know the whole story in either of those scenes. Maybe Boy A struggles with a learning disability. Maybe the girl had been there for two hours and already read every magazine she cared about while she was waiting for a ride home.
But what if it really was that those kids didn't know or didn't care? About books, about stories, about reading itself? The thought makes me want to weep, not only as a writer but also as a reader, as someone who knows the joy and the entertainment and the knowledge that exists on pages and, yes, even on screens. I can't help but worry and wonder if those kids and maybe many, many others are going to miss out on it.
If you're off work today - and even if you're not - let's all pick up a book, a story, something and read, read, read!
My kids do not like reading, simple as. I've tried so hard to show them all the wonderful things that are out there - but no, reading is boring, it reminds them of school and learning, they would rather do anything else but read. I'm hoping one day they'll be drawn into a good book and not keep watching the clock. Over the school holidays I've asked them to read for half an hour a day, hoping that they'd want to read more... But no, again, after 30 minutes the book is down and they're out of the room.
ReplyDeleteIt does confuse me, as a writer and avid reader, how people can just dismiss all books. It's like saying you don't like music, or film, or food.
I think it's really hard for those of us who enjoy reading so much to get why others don't feel the same way.
DeleteI don't know how old your kids are but would they maybe enjoy age appropriate magazines or comic books or graphic novels? Those kinds of things probably wouldn't remind them of school as much. Or what about books based on favorite movies or TV shows?
See, that's why I'm raising my rug rats to be book carnivores. I can't do much about other people's kids, but mine will hopefully set an example for their peers.
ReplyDeleteMaybe other kids who aren't into reading will see your kids with their noses buried in books and wonder, Hmm, what's so interesting...? :)
DeleteYour suggestion to buy a book today is a good one. I Have so many books, what's one more, although may also need to buy a new bookshelf. Target has them on sale this week.
ReplyDeleteYou don't even have to buy a book, Donna - just pick up one from the library or one you already own and read, read, read. Although I'm pretty sure you already do that! :)
DeleteI did some reading at work today when I was supposed to be doing, you know, work. Reading just seemed like so much more fun.
ReplyDeleteAnd I always get the kids in my life books. They probably think I'm the worst aunt ever, but maybe they're turning into fans of reading.
Ha! :)
DeleteI'm that aunt, too. We've learned to make sure my nephew opens any gifts that are books last because otherwise he stops and reads them right then and all the others gifts have to just wait.
It's interesting. I read with my kids every single night when they were small. They both began resisting in middle school and I 'made' both read on their own instead. Daughter, I think just pretended and did other things. Son read. Neither reads heavily now, but my son, in deep boredom, will read. My daughter just doesn't. I suspect past the teen years, my son will pick it up again, but I don't know how to get my daughter more interested. I was a reluctant reader, but horror pulled me in as a teen and I rediscovered reading FOR FUN after college. I just hope my kids get there.
ReplyDeleteI don't have kids but I always figured they'd be readers because I was. I guess not!
DeleteLike I mentioned to Annalisa above, what about graphic novels or something like that for your kids?
I love to read and am trying to instill that in my kids. One struggles a little, which makes it not so much fun, but we'll keep working at it. I have to make up for my husband cause he's not a reader (other than the newspaper.) :)
ReplyDeleteI think it's definitely harder if reading is difficult - it's kind of like the door to all the mystery and magic is sort of stuck and you've got to work harder to push it open.
DeleteKids today have so many other ways to "escape" than before. As a boy I used to read to get away from reality - and mobile phones and gaming devices fill a a lot of that void now. I can complain, but I know I'd have been glued to a DS or an iPod if they'd existed then (and we coudl have afforded one). So, yes, it's hard. Fortunately my kids do love reading - but the books are always competing with electronic devices.
ReplyDeleteThat's a really good point, Simon. When I was a kid, I read or played games and dolls or went outside to play. It wasn't until I was a little older that we got Atari (yes, I am that old) and then a computer, so for me reading etc was what I did first. I think there's definitely room for both electronics and reading and even combining the two. :)
DeleteI feel lucky that my parents loved to read and encouraged me to read from a very young age. In fact there was nothing I loved more than having them read to me before I could do it myself. It does seem like kids now have a lot more options and things to distract them but I feel like there will always be stories and storytellers, even if the medium changes. For me it's impossible to imagine a world without books so I hope it never comes to that!
ReplyDeleteI think there will always be stories and storytellers, too. The way those stories are told will continue to change though, hopefully in increasingly better ways but without totally obliterating some of the tried-and-true ways, like parents reading to their kids. :)
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