Looking at the calendar and seeing that it's already August reminded me of years past when August meant pulling out summer reading list recommendations (which really means a list of books you MUST read before school starts or be so far behind you will never catch up). And that reminder made me both nostalgic and angry. Nostalgic not only for the dim distant past when I was young enough to look forward to back to school but for the days when August meant running from place to place getting each child their complete back to school list (even though some of the supplies would never be used and most wouldn't be used for months and months and months) and choosing the exact right outfit for that crucial first day of school impression.
But it also makes me angry to realize how many children and young people are turned off reading by these reading lists including the 'classics' and the 'must reads'. Reading should be a pleasure not a requirement. To this day I HATE Shakespeare due to an inept and pompous Sophomore High School English teacher (I won't reveal his name, my luck he's lurking in cyberspace and reading this one blog). Jane Austin, please give me Georgette Heyer instead, Homer, Beowulf, Hemingway, To Kill a Mockingbird---never. The only 'classic' I ever enjoyed throughout my many years of education was Caesar and that was only because I had the privilege to read it in the original Latin (yes I was not only a BandGeek I was also a Latin Club nerd). And I was a child who LOVED to read....just don't tell me what I HAVE to read to become a well-read and educated person. And who makes up these must-read booklists anyway?
What is my point..if you're a parent and you have a child who maybe isn't an avid reader...you know the type, we read until lights out and spent hours trying to convince our parents/grandparents/aunts and uncles and various other caretakers that it wouldn't make us too tired or sick to read all night and no our eyes didn't hurt in the dim light of a flashlight under the covers.....PLEASE don't force your child to read. I have 4 children, one of them took after his Mom and read anything and everything in sight--he even likes some of the classics! I have 2 daughters, one has always been a reader, the other one not so much at first. My youngest son devours books but only of a certain genre and then will wait months for another of his favorites to be published.
My biggest reader success was with my oldest daughter. I would always tell her "read, anything you want...read the back of cereal boxes, ads in the paper, the trailer along the bottom of the TV, anything! Someday you'll discover you actually like to read." And you know what? She does. So, don't push your non-reader. Be patient and one day you will also hear....:hey, let's go to Borders I have a BIG list of books I need to get. "
Happy reading....my bedside stack gets bigger and bigger and now that it's a new month, there will be new treasures being published and more to add to the stack. I LOVE it!
