Kids and Books: Taking the Easy Way out

The success of Harry Potter and Twilight has brought about a new argument (might require free registration) that college students pick books to read like 13-year-olds, aren’t motivated to read books that help them make a difference in the world and don’t debate issues. First, we must give these series credit for lighting a fire in kids to read. If it weren’t for these books, some kids may never voluntarily read a book. Besides, these stir plenty of debate about paganism and witchcraft.
Second, kids in colleges still have to read good literature. They don’t get to choose all of their books. Of course, some may get away with avoiding such classes that assign classic or radical literature. Besides, good professors know how to encourage them to speak their minds about hot topics.
I’m grateful I took the two literature classes in college even though I stupidly took them in the same semester (picture me reading EVERYWHERE when I wasn’t in class) with over a dozen books to read between the two classes. In fact, literature courses were my favorite — I also took children’s literature and African literature.
Thanks to these classes, I had the opportunity to read Billy Budd (hated it), Heart of Darkness (ditto), Things Fall Apart (classic African lit — Chinua Achebe, author, visited my campus), Shakespeare’s The Tempest to name a handful. Not all of them were from many decades ago. We read Margaret Atwood and Gabriel Garcia Marquez’ 1985 book, Love in the Time of Cholera.
As for caring about issues and making a difference — my mom instilled that in me with her mighty volunteer work and strong interest in politics. I’m not as big on politics as she is, but I always vote and do my research before voting. I’m an active volunteer with PTA and we advocate for kids by writing letters to our representatives and senators whenever we’re concerned about an issue.
I have three children. One is a freshman in high school. She didn’t read a lot though I stacked her bookshelf with books of all interests. But then, she discovered Twilight (she was the appropriate age and didn’t even like the later books), Georgia Nicholson stories and Mitch Albom. She gobbled these fast. So for her, it’s a matter of finding books she likes. I leave her alone because she never listens to my recommendations aside from Georgia Nicholson (shocked me).
She loves to debate until everyone is blue in the face. She also started a group at her high school to talk about helping other countries. She managed to do that without any books.
My 10-year-old son, on the other hand, hated reading. But he has some issues and attended an intensive program. Since completing that program, he’s more open to reading. He took turns reading Harry Potter and all of HJ Ralles‘ books with Dad. I bought him books on cars, which he loves. It’s a step forward and I’ll take whatever I can get. He’s no pushover, that’s for sure.
The youngest, a kindergartener, loves reading — both being read to and reading. But we’ll see if that lasts once school becomes more work and less play. He already speaks his mind about plenty of things and has a stubborn streak. Could be the Taurus.
I always read. Newspapers, magazines and books. My kids see me reading. That’s all I can do along with talk about something from a book that fascinated me within an earshot or to them.
But I can’t help but wonder how reading will affect the Twitter and Facebook generation. While this generation may not read as much radical lit, they do care about making a difference in the world — just not necessarily with the help of books. The Internet is not bad for them. They connect with others and share their thoughts.
So don’t let go of hope that our young generations don’t care about making a difference or pick books that aren’t as challenging. Embrace anything they read and show them the importance of helping others.
It’ll be OK.