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Email a FriendHave we ever got books! Last Friday my daughters (6 and 10) and I had our third annual Summer Book Party. We do this on the Friday night closest to the first day of summer. We make bookmarks, eat cupcakes decorated with pictures of some of our favorite books (small pictures that I cut out and tape to toothpicks), and play a Peter Rabbit board game that we have. I also read a book to them called “Wild About Books” (about a librarian who accidentally drives the Bookmobile to the zoo, thereby introducing books and reading to the animals) and quiz the girls about books we have read recently. The quiz might sound odd but they actually love it – I give them clues and they have to name the book. The grand finale is a box with a bunch of new books in it, and then we stay up as late as we want, reading. This time I added a new element – putting aside a bunch of books to give away. Without a lot of effort, I went through the shelves in the living room and pulled out 100 books that we could peacefully do without. Obviously we love to read, but how sickening is it that we could give away 100 children’s books and never miss them?
Got Books?
Posted by Rachel Balducci in Family on Tuesday, June 22, 2010 12:00 PM
We all know how great reading is, and here is another study supporting that thought: children who grow up in homes with lots of books go further in their educations than children with fewer books.
For years, educators have thought the strongest predictor of attaining high levels of education was having parents who were highly educated. But according to the findings, a good-sized book library is just as good as university-educated parents in terms of increasing education level.
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I think the quiz is a great idea. We started doing that with my son this year when he was in kindergarten. We found that quizzing him after the book about the characters, the morale of the story, facts about the animals (he loved non-fiction) helped him retain the information better. When we visited the zoo last month, he was a wealth of knowledge.
I wish we’d see more concern about the content of the books; what exactly are our kids are reading? There are some great books out there! But there is a lot of junk, and too much of the attitude that as long as kids are reading, it doesn’t matter what they are reading. One of my least favorite kids’ authors is Judy Blume—unfortunately most educators seem to love her books, even in Catholic schools. Besides specific morally objectionable material, many kids’ books are just full of shallow, vapid self-centeredness, not to mention bad grammar and vocabulary. Hate to be a whiner but this is a pet peeve of mine, the idea that “at least they’re reading,” even if it’s junk.
Ok, so I have to confess I was one of those “it doesn’t matter what they read as long as I read it first and we talked about it” people. I say was, as of like last week. I was listening to EWTN and I think it was Dr. Ray who said, “with so many great book out there why let your children waste thier time with junk” it’s funny but that thought had never ever occured to me before. My point, no point except maybe to be kind to those who haven’t been touched by the Holy Spirtit yet, but wow I’m 32 and that thought had never occured to me before!
I agree mostly, but at the same time I don’t think silly books should be completely vilified. I know that after reading a few rich, complicated, beautiful books I sometimes need something “fluffy” to give my brain time to soak in the information I just crammed into it. My kids are all avid readers, and they all read and love lots of wonderful literature, but if they want to pick up “Calvin and Hobbes” or the “Fly Guy” books I don’t frown on it. Everyone needs some entertainment once in a while that is just fun. I think of “garbage” books (not insidious ones, of course) in the same way I think of dessert. You don’t want to make it the only element of your diet, but the healthy stuff can start to wear thin without a little bit of pure, silly fun.
With regard to objectionable moral issues in books, I think it is especially important to be aware during the innocent years before adolescence. At a certain point they will know more and should develop a more critical mind with regard to their reading material, and they will be able to discern the good from the bad. The time will come when I can’t keep track of what they’re reading (in fact I really have trouble doing that now, my oldest is 10 and reads constantly), and hopefully they will make good choices. Until then I feel a need to protect them from developing warped ideas or being exposed to certain things.
The other issue is the lame “bubble gum” books which seem so fun and harmless, but a steady diet of bubble gum books will rot the mind eventually. For example, Junie B. Jones isn’t evil, but she can barely speak English—not exactly edifying material. A friend gave me this distinction to use: bubble gum books are ok now and then, but we should seek out the “meat and potatoes” books which will nourish our minds. That doesn’t mean it has to be Tolstoy or only the classics, but the book should have something good to offer. Historical information, beautiful imagery, virtuous examples such as loyal friends or courageous exploits, or simply a good story. My husband illustrated this to our oldest daughter by having her read aloud the first lines of a Jack London book, and then, a stupid “Babysitter’s Club” book. It was an amazing difference.
@rem, I agree, we love Calvin and Hobbes, and Bad Kitty, and a lot of other silly fun stuff. Dessert is an appropriate analogy! I would distinguish these fun and witty books from a certain type of empty, superficial book which I would call bubble gum books—there are so many, especially for girls. Babysitter’s Club is an example, but there are worse. I would prefer dealing with occasional mildly objectionable language or situation issues in something witty and bright, rather than steady exposure to this superficial stuff. There is a mild form of navel-gazing narcissism in a lot of these books, e.g. the character who muses all day about her feelings and how she’s misunderstood by her parents. Often there is some politically correct “moral” to the story. There are many different series, which means kids start to read them and like them and want to read all of them. Eventually these attitudes affect the reader. And yet if you read just one such book it’s hard to point out exactly what’s wrong with it. Usually there are some positive elements mixed in. My kids read some of these books, it’s hard to avoid them.
As a teacher I’m okay with “dessert books” (I’ve used the same analogy!) as long as the kids are exposed to good books as well. Lots of time the fluffy books are learning-to-read books. They’re simpler and they help kids improve their reading skills so they can be more adept at reading books with more challenging ideas. My daughter’s only two and I don’t allow Disney character books or noise books because she doesn’t know the difference. As she gets older and is exposed to more outside of home I’ll suck it up and allow some dessert books but I’ll be sure that there are lots of great books in the house and that we keep reading books together.
You’ve hit upon a pet peeve of mine. Actually, before I was a mom, I taught English, and I regret that those kinds of words (“At least she’s reading!”) crossed my lips in conversation with parents. How wrong I was! At the time, I was not fully aware of the sarcastic attitude of many popular books.
Just this evening, my children’s school hosted a “book fair” at a local bookstore, and I was steering my children toward books of value. There are so many! But I saw dozens of wonderful, faith-filled parents with their arms filled with vapid books! Morally objectionable, not so much. And I am not anti-fluff…we need to giggle and release once in a while. But fluff and junk are different. There are so many fine books to read…more than can be read in a lifetime! Why waste time on reading material that detracts from what we’re trying to instill in our children?
And anon, you are so right…it’s when the good is mixed in with the bad that the real trouble begins.
Here is a link to 1000 good books for children organized by age level.
http://www.classical-homeschooling.org/celoop/1000.html
Then there is a set called the five foot book shelf that is of most of the western classics in literature.
So pleased that I work with a company that truly values the importance of literacy! If you have not experienced Usborne Books yet, you’re missing out! My son and I fell in love with Usborne Books when he was 18 months - he’s 4 now. Don’t get me wrong, we still check out the max that the library will let us borrow at any given time, but for the books that are his to keep, 90% of them are Usborne Books. Guess I figured that I would get the consultant discount since we love them so much! tee hee.
Oh yes Usborne Books - this is apple tree farm, this is Mrs. Boots the farmer, she has two children named Poppy and Sam… I think I can recite those ones in my sleep. As well as I do not like green eggs and ham I do not like them sam I am! Funny how kids want the same story over and over and over! As for the storage problem, some of ours are so well loved that once they can no longer be tapped back together the get thrown out - hard to do at first. I declutter and get rid of what the kids don’t care for or no longer like and donate them to the school library. The kids rooms each have 2 shelves full, some more stored in the closet that they are not ready for yet and a shelf and a half in the living room is devoted to kids books. I also have a box full of the board books for the babies in the living room. And some “car books” that always stay in our vehicle. These are the ones that usually came with a real along cd so I could play that before the oldest could read.
You are reminding me of a blog post I’ve been wanting to write: about how to tackle the “book problem” of having too many books and not enough storage space. It is a massive issue in our teeny house.
And though I haven’t yet read the study, I can totally believe it. Not that anecdotal evidence is the be-all-end-all, but both of my parents were book hounds and I always grew up with a healthy respect for reading and for education in general. The life of the mind was very valued in our home. Was it Cicero who said that “A room without books is like a body without a soul”? Amen to that.
My husband and I are both book lovers. He’s a history buff and in all my years of schooling (through law school) I think I gave away/sold maybe 5. We have the biggest IKEA bookcase and it’s overflowing. For my daughter’s first 9 months or so of life I thought something was wrong because she would not sit through even the pictures of her books. (Can you say crazy first-time parent?!) Now at 2 1/2 we have at least 3 sit-down readings a day (her choice - our encouragement) and that doesn’t include the times she grabs one and sits by herself. (I watched her grab my “Man as State” the other day!) She’s even starting to memorize phrases and repeat as we read. So now when my in-laws make a “you have too many books” comment I can just smile!
We have a huge number of books. One of DH’s first projects at this house was building me a huge, bookcase that looks like it was built when the house went up 120 years ago. Plus ever child has some in their room and the attic has the ones that are out of circulation.
I’m so glad its summer so I have some time to catch up on what the kids have been reading. Right now its If You’re Reading this It’s Too Late by Pseudonymous Bosch, sequel to The Name of This Book Is Secret. Very funny in a Lemony Snicket way.
I’m glad to hear I’m not the only one who finds Junie B. Jones a bit annoying. Last night our son brought home a Star Wars book from the library. It made no sense to me and half of it was made-up words. With an entire floor of children’s books, how did he find the true junk? Lesson learned- mommy accompanies him to the library!
At least half the books in our libraries teen section are about magic. It’s driving me nuts because my eldest 2 read voraciously and we’ve read almost everything decent at our library. I can only afford so much $ on buying books (esp when they read 250 pages in a day or 2). I really wish our church would have a lending library!
I think of books like food, it’s ok to have some fluff (dessert) but you need to be regularly filling up on the solid stuff. And there are books that are POISON, in disguise of course. The black magic and most romance types are poison. I have explained the dessert vs. healthy vs. poison to my eldest so they understand why there are so many books I won’t let them read. They understand that our mind needs to be fed with healthy things.
I am in agreement with you Rem. A bit of rubbish now and again is good for you, escapist reading. 20 years ago where i live the library services banned Enid Blyton books such as Famous five, Naughties girls etc series as being banal and a limited vocabulary. However my husband told me that his sister was a poor reader and such book series got her into reading. His brother was also a poor reader and comics got him reading. .Who nows what is going to spark a child’s interest in reading
As a librarian I personally think what you regard as poor literature and morally objectionable others do not have issues with. I have heard of too many parents trying to ban books form school and public libraries because they do not want their children reading them. Yet other parents are happy with th choices in the collection. It is up to the parent to monitor what their children choose to read not the library or school. A recent book I read by a Christian author had to me some very poor choices in his selection for children especially as he left out The Lord o the rings, the Narnian books etc.
As a kid I read anything and everything and would have probably read jam labels if nothing else had been around. Now as an adult I read “good” literature as well as “junk” like Mills and Boons if I want fluff for my brains. My daughter at 16 is a good reader devouring books and reads much much what she likes as she has commonsense however it amused me that I had to sign a consent for for her to get books from the senior college library as she had read what was of interest to her in the middle high school library
Well, then my little one is SET - I have boxes in the basement waiting for her to get old enough to read them! :>) I linked to this on my weekly roundup - thanks for sharing!
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