I’ve always been a reader. I started reading at a relatively young age, and have a very clear memory of the day that letters became words and made sense to me. At the time my own mother couldn’t believe I was reading, but I knew what the words meant. She kept on INSISTING I had memorized the text, but when she tested me by pointing out different words and I got them right, she was convinced. I remember this experience clearly in my head.
Growing up I was very fortunate to have parents who were keen for me to read. My mom used to take my brothers and me to bookstores at a very young age and tell us to pick books. We would choose what we liked, and invariably my mother would pick up the book, look at it and put it back telling us to pick a different one. She was rarely satisfied with our first choice, as it was the EASY book to choose, meaning a book that we had already read, one in a series with which we were familiar, or one that had a nice cover that we thought appealing. My mom wanted us to read books of quality and I remember hearing her say, “Choose a book that is harder or different from what you already know.” In addition to bookstores, trips to the library were an essential part of our lives growing up. Every single summer we participated in a summer reading game where we would try and read as many titles as possible, and my mother would push us to try different authors, different genres and more difficult texts. I would balk at times, but often I found myself a new book to love through her prodding.
As an adult, my love of books, texts, and the written language took me to college where I decided to be a literature major, which is basically code for read a novel and write an essay a week. I adored my major, read so many books during my studies, and never regretted any of my classes, except maybe the one on Walt Whitman, because my pea-sized intellect simply couldn’t handle his grand texts. But it wasn’t until my next decision to be a high school teacher that would radically transform my notion of why books were important to me.
I did Masters Degree at Stanford, studying education, and also received my teaching credential at the same time. I started teaching in an urban high school in San Francisco, and a revelation hit me during that experience. Not everyone reads. Not everyone likes reading. I learned terms such as “reluctant reader”, “slow reader” and even “pre-literate.” Reading was not necessarily a part of everyone’s childhood or everyone’s passion and I saw it first hand when I taught. One of the most amazing experiences came out of a moment of frustration when more than half of a class had not read the reading homework assignment. I couldn’t stand it so I simply got up on a stool, sat in front of the class, and read the text, Black Boy by Richard Wright aloud; the scene was one where a young Richard decides to hang a cat, and then he later receives punishment for taking an innocent life. The class was enthralled with my voice, the story and the words. Afterwards there was a fun discussion where people talked about the moral cost of killing something alive – is a kitten’s life worth more than an ant? A beetle? A bee? Why? At that moment I knew that by the time a child hit high school and wasn’t reading, it was almost too late. And the cost was too great. They were missing out on too much and they were also aware that they were lacking.
The experience made me all the more convinced that kids need to read, enjoy reading, and even love reading from as young an age as possible. This is done with either reading independently or being read to. The love of books and texts is so important. The skill and passion is harder to develop as one gets older, and now, when I find learn that an adult doesn’t “like” reading, I spend some time trying to recommend some titles to them so that they can possibly learn to love to read.
My friend asked me why I would write a blog about children’s books when websites like Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble.com have reviews and recommendations on their website. There were many reasons why I decided to try putting down some of my experiences with books in writing. First of all, to write about an experience with a book is incredibly different from writing down an experience with food or cooking, which is what I do on my other blog www.weekofmenus.com. As a writing teacher, I want to push myself in a variety of writing situations and this was one way I could try to do it. In addition, I spend a great deal of time creating book lists or recommending books to people who want to give books as a gift, a gesture which I highly recommend. All my baby gifts for newborn babies and 1 year olds are a bag, box, basket, or bundle of books. Come to think of it, all the gifts I give to children are books.
Finally, I want to write reviews on books that are wonderful so that no parent would mind his or her child reading it. For example, one day my daughter picked up a book from the library that looked innocent enough. I came and read it to her, only to discover that inside the book were horrible names that an older brother was calling his younger brother. I think the exact words might have been “Barf-burger baby.” I do not want my child reading it. I try and choose books that have a wholesome message, or a thoughtful one that challenges children, and books that aren’t too formulaic in content. If there is something somewhat worrisome, I try and mention it so that parents are aware of what is inside the book that could be potentially problematic.
Not everyone has the luxury to read everything that their child is going to read before their child reads it. Having three small children, ages two, four and six, being a former high school teacher, and now being a teacher for elementary students means that I read a lot. Many books. I constantly have to keep up with what is being published and push to find books that are engaging to as many people as possible. But I want every parent to have the opportunity to choose a great book for their child or as a gift. I hope that people find this blog informative and even helpful. Every book reviewed in the blog has been read by me, loved by me and sometimes even taught by me. Every book is a great book I wish I’d written.
