Gateway books
1. Show of hands: who has the new HP in their hot little hands right now? How many of you picked yours up at midnight?
2. Last night on The Newshour with Jim Lehrer, there was a segment on the phenomenon of Harry Potter–whether it’s created more readers, why the books have been so popular, etc.
The guests were Nancy Pearl, a Seattle librarian and author of Book Crush and Dana Gioia, poet and Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts. When asked whether reading “any book” was better than reading “only those books of the highest literary quality,” they both said that any book–whether or not it’s “great literature”–is a gateway into reading more and more. THANK YOU. And Mr. Gioia pointed out that the more kids and adults read, the better able they are to discern between good and bad writing, well-done characterizations, etc. They become more discriminating on their own, without some book snob (okay, my word, not his) trying to make them feel bad about their “inferior” selections.
This is one of the reasons the Tuesday Book Club is a No-Shame Zone. I have no patience with people who look down their noses at romances or graphic novels or science fiction or anything other than “literary” fiction. We all read what we want for the joy of reading, and it’s nobody’s business to tell us that what brings us joy isn’t good enough. I’m sending Peeves to follow those people around blowing raspberries.
So what do you think? Do you think we, as adults, should be steering young readers to only the award-winning, widely-acclaimed books, or is it more important (as Mr. Gioia said) that the reader feel passionate about the book he or she chooses?
Technorati Tags: Harry Potter, Reading, Books, Children’s Books, Book Snobs
July 21st, 2007 at 6:04 am
I’ve always looked down my nose at literary fiction. (just kidding!!!).
I say we just get kids reading. My son buzzed through eight Captain Underpants, and even though the whole poopy, peepy pants thing was hard for me to take, he loved them and read them like there was no tomorrow!
So go Captain Underpants!
And no - not in my hands yet. I’m heading to get it later today. I’m afraid if I don’t read it immediately, I’ll have to cut off my blog reading until I have.
July 21st, 2007 at 7:44 am
PJ, I’m having that same mild anxiety about reading any blogs until I finish HP. I purposely haven’t read any discussions in the newspaper or magazines, either. And I almost didn’t listen to that segment on The NewsHour last night because I was afraid there might be some discussion of the spoilers already out there.
It’s hard when not everybody agrees we should maintain a Cone of Silence on this for a few weeks so that everyone who wants to read the book has a chance.
July 21st, 2007 at 7:50 am
I have it! I have it! I got my copy by 12:25 last night! I read the first few chapter before I zonked out and I’m about to start back up again! So far it is FANTABULOUS!
I went with a group of friends to get the book and it was awesome. We took lots of pictures, so as soon as I have them, I’ll post them! They’re a riot!
And you know how I feel about book snobbery! Grrrrr! My motto: If it makes you happy, read it!
July 21st, 2007 at 8:06 am
As a kid, I read: the backs of Cheerios boxes, Richie Rich comics, Scientific American, How to Do Magic Tricks, Nancy Drew, Judy Blume, Shakespeare, Holocaust studies, Seventeen, Anne of Green Gables, Joan Aiken, C.S. Lewis, The Green (and every other color) Fairy Book by Andrew Lang, e.e. cummings, The Thorn Birds, the jokes that came with bubble gum, the words to Bridge Over Troubled Water, Star Trek fan fiction, Agatha Christie, Carl Sandburg, The Phantom Tollbooth, Peanuts cartoons, Rumor Godden, E.B. White, Sylvia Louise Engdahl, the New Living Bible, Lloyd Alexander, A Wrinkle in Time, Ogden Nash, The Borrowers and every sequel, A Little Princess, Tiger Beat, Playboy (found under the coffee table after the kids I was babysitting went to sleep) and the dictionary.
Any questions?
July 21st, 2007 at 8:30 am
I went and got my copy at the grocery store at midnight, and Tricia was there! :)!
The question of what we should be encouraging kids to read is one I grapple with all the time in the Children’s Room at WPL, but I always come down on the side of letting the kids read what they want. I love the way Liz B. engages this topic, comparing reading to sports. Naturally, being a reader, I live among many other readers, but I also look around me and see a number of highly-functioning, kind, and worthy adults who don’t read fiction and, often, don’t consider themselves readers at all. Of course, these pople *do* read: they read magazines and manuals and patterns and recipes. A lot of these people know how to make things and fix things. A dear childhood friend of mine still to this day thinks of herself as less intelligent because she’s not a big reader, but, seriously, this woman can make *anything*. She reupholsters furniture and fixes machines and makes clothes for people. She is kind and generous and is raising her children (one of whom is a devoted reader) well. She’s smart; she just doesn’t respond to fiction. Some people grow up to read Shakespeare; some grow up to read People. There is nothing wrong with that. I feel like my responsibility to kids is to give them a wide selection (honestly, I buy *everything* for the library — comics, pop-culture tie-ins, you name it) and the freedom to explore. Do I display and promote stuff I think is worthy that I think they might miss? You bet! Do I suggest things I think of as quality when they ask my opinion? Of course. But I think one of the reasons kids seek out my opinion is because they realize I’m someone who’s there trying to help them along — not to pressure, not to judge. I love that part of being a public librarian.
Another way to think of it is to think about how much you enjoy being told what to read or what you should like. It’s irritating. Kids feel no differently about it. Kids need guidance, and I really, really advocate reading with kids — even as they get older — and talking to them about what they’re reading. A significant adult’s honest thoughts and opinions will generally have much more of a lasting impact on a child than what he or she has actually read. But we spend enough time telling kids what to do; let them have a little space in their brains to enjoy whatever leisure reading they want.
Maybe *this* should be my next book.
July 21st, 2007 at 9:34 am
I let my children read The Day My Butt Went Psycho(and the rest of that trilogy) along with Walter The Farting Dog.
I say whatever it takes, man.
July 21st, 2007 at 9:42 am
My mom’s reading our copy right now. We went at 9:45 last night and hung out ’til twelve. At eleven I pulled out the video camera and started interviewing people and taking crazy line and crowd footage–that video’ll be up on my blog as soon as I edit it together.
I think it’s completely insane to only steer kids toward the “literary” stuff. For one thing, I find most of it extremely boring. Yeah, that’s the message we really want to spread to kids: Reading is boring, but it’s good for you. That’s like…vegetables. Ew.
I want reading to be my chocolate, my pizza, my fried rice with extra soy sauce. I want to be excited, amazed, entertained. Literary fiction, in most cases, still doesn’t fit the bill for me. I know that when I was seven, when I picked up a Harry Potter book for the first time, it definitely wouldn’t have interested me.
And, in the course of reading the Harry Potters and, in the…wow, it’s been awhile…years that followed, if I’ve managed to pick up my fair share of vegetables…well, it’s not my fault, now is it?
Seriously, I’ve won Academic Bowl matches based on fun facts that Eoin Colfer and Hiromu Arakawa slipped into their work. My fierce interest in medieval history comes exclusively from alternate-universe medieval fantasy. This stuff does a kid good. It just doesn’t ram it down their throats.
Actually, I’ve kind of got a challenge for anyone who’s interested. Read a graphic novel. A manga, if possible. It’s amazing how similar and yet not the storytelling formats are. And I think you can only really appreciate your preferred format when you’ve experienced others. (My suggestions are, as always, Fullmetal Alchemist by Hiromu Arakawa (for the not-as-romantically inclined) and Fruits Basket by Natsuki Takaya (slightly more girly, I must admit. This has been a shameless manga pimp brought to you by Miri. Again.) So, I know a lot of people are reading HP at the moment, but perhaps when you’re done (or while you’re waiting, for the people in my boat), take a look.
Also, has it occured to anyone else that ‘gateway to reading’ sounds an awful lot like ‘gateway drug’? Hello, my name is Miri, and I’m a literature abuser.
July 21st, 2007 at 10:15 am
Last year I got into a debate with some friends who were mad about being taught HP in their (college) English class. That it’s not a classic. I argued that while it may not be old, boring, and written by someone who no doubt died alone and destitute, does not mean it’s not a classic. On the contrary, more people have read the HPs than probably any “classic”, it has brought so many people together across cultural and language borders, brought children and their parents together every night for bedtime reading… honest to god, wouldn’t you rather be writing an essay on Harry than whale blubber and why Melville decided it would be fun for people to read about knot-tying for seventeen chapters? And aren’t classics only classics because we say they are!? Because your English Lit. teacher when you were 16 told you you had to read it? I doubt there’s more than a handfull of people in my whole generation that know more than the CliffsNotes version of anything that might have been forced upon them between the ages of 14 and 20. Cept Catcher in the Rye… Emo kids looooooove Catcher in the Rye.
Anyway, I know the HPs are books I will read to my kids 20 years from now, and I’m really looking forward to it. I don’t think there’s a much better definition of “classic” than that.
(And yes, I DID buy it at midnight, along with several hundred other adults… if there were 20 kids in the whole place, it was a lot.)
July 21st, 2007 at 11:02 am
Speaking as a remedial reading teacher, I am just thankful to get my kids reading any thing at all. In order to get better at something you have to practice.I look for books that will hook kids on reading-middle school is almost too late.
What I love about HP is that not only are they fun & great books, but it has made it cool to read.
I am still waiting for UPS to deliver mine-I watch the tracking-it went out & came back in. What is with that?
July 21st, 2007 at 12:11 pm
Whatever it takes. I come from a family of readers, but my son didn’t have interest for the longest time . . . until I challenged him once. He’s a horror movie buff, loved all that Friday the 13th stuff and other, and I insisted that those movies weren’t HALF as scary as The Elementals by Michael McDowell. He picked it up and could NOT put it down and ended up agreeing with me. To this day whenever we go to the beach we end up walking across the sand very carefully, and staring out at the sailboat on the horizon in absolute terror. And he’s the one who got ME started on the HP books.
Sarah, if you had added the toothpaste tube (for that all important porcelain throne reading when you forgot to bring the book in with you) that list could have been mine . . .
July 21st, 2007 at 12:27 pm
readerdiane: Check your mailbox. My UPS tracking said the same thing. I was expecting a doorbell ring and package drop like normal UPS, but no, it was delivered through my regular mailbox. (My son snatched it.)
July 21st, 2007 at 2:24 pm
HP is on the reading list for both my kid’s school summer reading. I believe you get kids to like reading by letting them read what they like. As a reader and a parent, I make suggestions, talk about books I liked, etc, take them all the time to the library and bookstores, but the ultimate choice of what they lay there eyes on is pretty much up to them. And I have kids who love to read. I so love it that I have to say in a loud voice (but secretly pleased at the same time) “Put the book down now and do” whatever. Fortunately, their teachers, without exception, have had the same philosophy, gently shove some books in their hands, require a few, but let ‘em loose for the rest.
I’m happy to say that they have a piano teacher with the same approach to teaching music: let them play what they want-it keeps them interested, they actually practice and they love it. One of my kids knew every Broadway show tune by heart before he ever played a note of traditional classical music.
Bottom line: adults need to guide, support, expose, entice, set some limits, but kids need to ROAM.
I didn’t get the HP yet. But I did watch Little Miss Sunshine again. I love that movie.
July 21st, 2007 at 3:54 pm
Miri, I caught the “gateway” thing , too. So many parallels, don’t you think? Glad to hear you’re standing up bold and proud for your addiction. And yes, I’ve read graphic novels, and I think they’re a great medium.
Deborah, yes to “kids need to ROAM”! Not just in their reading choices, but in life. I’m amazed by how closely-scheduled kids are anymore. What happened to all those open-ended hours we used to fill on our own? I understand the philosophy behind all the overscheduling–parents want their kids to have every opportunity and lots of choices–but there’s much to be said for sitting them in an electronics-free room and letting them entertain themselves.
Sara, LOVE the list of everything you used to read. BJ, I’m sure you’re not the only one who recognized your childhood in that list.
Christen, I’m guessing by now you’re at least half-way through. Don’t say a word about what’s been happening in the book so far, but are you loving it?
Lizzie, thank you for sticking up for HP as a classic. I completely agree with your reasoning. I think a lot of high schoolers would be a lot more jazzed about reading if they weren’t having to plod through some of the books some of the well-meaning teachers are assigning. I can think of a few that might have turned me off completely if I weren’t reading so many other great books on my own. And to be fair, I was introduced to a lot of great books I wouldn’t have otherwise found on my own, so I guess it all balanced out. But still, there’s so much of value to get from the HP series as literature, not just entertainment. I’m glad to hear some college professors embrace that.
Readerdiane, that’s a great point about treating early books as practice. Get them hooked on anything so they can build their skills and confidence.
Which is why I love that Heather lets her kids dine on The Day My Butt Went Psycho. I’ve heard that’s a really great series! I know one bookseller in particular who hand-sells that book like crazy. Once kids find it, they go nuts for it.
BJ, I’ve never heard of The Elementals. From the sound of it, I don’t know if I could handle it! I’ve become such a chicken in my adult years. But it’s cool you turned your boy into a reader with books just like that. And even cooler that he turned around the introduced you to HP. That’s an excellent payment for your efforts.
July 21st, 2007 at 5:58 pm
even if patrick won’t fess it up, i will–i have not read a single harry potter book. wow it feels good to get that off my chest! that said, i love the hp mania because its about a book!!! not ipod, not paris, but the written word, and good, wholesome, fun, fantastical, word at that. (i did see the first movie, and LOVED it). so go harry go.
July 21st, 2007 at 7:05 pm
Annette, thank you for your confession, and especially thank you for pointing out that the mania is great, no matter what, since it’s about a book!
July 21st, 2007 at 7:12 pm
Actually, I’ve read the first book at least three times. the rest just once.
I just saw the Phoenix movie today, and personally, I think a lot was lost in translation. Not my favorite of the movies so far.
Lots of good previews though.
For books that I haven’t read — that would be LoTR. Only read the Hobbit. Never read the actual LoTR. Is that enough of an admission, annette?
What amazes me is the need to get it at midnight or pre-order it. I’ve walked by about 200 copies of it today.(Haven’t bought yet. Probably won’t for a few months. I really enjoy the series, but ain’t that fanatical about it.)
July 22nd, 2007 at 8:44 am
The difference between The Hobbit and LOTR in terms of tone and scope is the difference between grape juice and wine. The Hobbit is a children’s story. LOTR is not.
I am currently in the grips of much righteous indignation in regards to the value of books, because of an interview I recently did where the first question out of the journalist’s mouth was: “So you went to Yale and studied Literature; you must have read all the classics. So why do you write THIS?”
Also, there was a truly deplorable article in the Washington Post about how the “Potter frenzy” was destroying “reading” which is supposed to be a “private experience” with you and the book.” Pardon me, but I call BS. What about the thousands of people waiting on teh wharf in NYC for the newest chapters of a Dickens novel? They shouted to the boat, “Is Little Nell dead?” Oh, this lovely “senior book editor” also called the popularity of any children’s novel “cultural infantilism.”
Oh, more righteous indignation. I feel it a’comin’.
July 22nd, 2007 at 8:51 am
Well,I recieved my copy of HP at 9:48 AM and finished reading by about 2:30 PM(had to take food breaks,plus a nap-I was up at six in the morning,waiting for it to arrive!). Rowling outdid herself,in my opinion. I will be blogging about the book on Monday but will keep as spoiler free as possible:)
As to the topic at hand,yes,let the kids read what they want and give them some guidance when they ask for it. I loved reading film novelizations when I was a kid(even had one of them confiscated by a nun,who showed it to my mom who told she had no probelm with what I was reading)and when you get older,you should appreciate the need for brain candy in a reader’s life.
July 22nd, 2007 at 8:54 am
way to go patrick, honesty really is the best policy. i only read the “hobbit” as well and then it was only a skim and, here it goes, i didn’t like the movie! there, i said it, go ahead ban me from the blog rb or banish me to movie siberia were i’ll be forced to watch “waiting for godot” over and over and over. (but see above, i did like the first hp movie and would have probably liked all of them if i had seen them).
July 22nd, 2007 at 9:51 am
Oh, and I meant to add that I think Phoenix has been the best Harry Potter film to date.
July 22nd, 2007 at 10:23 am
Diana, I can’t believe that interviewer! What a clueless thing to ask! I’m sure you handled it with great dignity, but sheesh.
And I agree with you about the HP film. Except I still wish it had been about an hour longer so we could have had more of the book in there.
Lady T, love that your mother supported you vs. the nun! No wonder you still enjoy hanging out with your mom. And I’m happy for you that you finished and loved HP. I ‘ll be getting my copy tomorrow and reading as much as possible every night after finishing my own work.
Annette and Patrick, even though you’re not HP or LOTR fans, I’m not going to criticize that too much because this is also a No Bullying Zone. But Annette, you in particular really missed out if you didn’t watch Aragorn in the LOTR movies. Sigh.
July 22nd, 2007 at 11:22 am
I fall solidly in the camp of read what you enjoy, and that will make you want to read more. It’s great to read the comments by so many kindred spirits. My much younger brother had a lengthy phase where he enjoyed those abridged illustrated classics, and I would buy them for him whenever I saw them, glad that he was enjoying reading.
I want to read Adrienne’s book on this topic (reading advocacy, etc.).
I went to a local independent bookstore on Saturday morning to get the book. I enjoyed seeing the activities that they were doing, the people in costumes, etc. But I didn’t stay, because I wanted to get home to read the book. I pretty much lay on my couch for 8 hours reading, until I had finished it. I’ll say no more, maintaining that cone of silence. But I’m relieved to be finished, so that I don’t have to worry about anyone else spoiling it for me.
July 22nd, 2007 at 12:01 pm
1. There are not one but two copies of the new HP in this household but I have no plans to read either. Just not my thing.
2. I used to teach art to middle school kids and they all walked into that class announcing that they couldn’t draw and no one could possibly make them an artists and, oh, by the way, how are you gonna grade us?
This is relevant to reading in that almost all the students I taught had their heyday of art back in kindergarten and first grade when the majority of them showed promise and creative expression. By second grade formal art history and instruction was tossed by the wayside and they lost their creative spark, their ability to see themselves as creative people with individual ideas, and became hostile to the subject. Imagine if we treated reading the same way, how would a child feel about reading by the time they hit middle school if it were tossed aside at an early age?
Sounds like I’m making a case for art in the classroom (which I always am) but the idea is that we keep giving kids reading because they will grow reading muscles and become strong readers. If we tell them that only certain books are good (just as only talented people can be artists, only certain works of art are “good, and other great lies) then we teach them the idea that a vast majority of books can be ignored without a thorough understanding of personal tastes and the ability to discern for themselves what constitutes “good” in their own eyes.
Basically, I feel anyone who suggests that we should be steering kids toward “classics” and away from the pleasure of pleasure reading is, in essence, in favor of top-down censorship and probably swallows every word that comes out of a government official’s mouth regardless of niggling little things like facts and truth.
Short version: let kids read whatever they want and as much as they want and they’ll learn to think for themselves; tell them what to read and you’re creating an ignorant society of sheep who can be told to do anything without question or thought.
That’s how I feel at least.
July 22nd, 2007 at 1:01 pm
David, YES! Thanks for what you said. I never thought of it in the larger context–arts in general–but I can see that you’re absolutely right. I also think you’re right about the sheep training. Let’s not support that, shall we?
Jen, I have that same feeling about wanting to read HP as quickly as possible before anyone ruins it for me. Even though I have work that just has to get done, I know I’ll be very tempted to spend my own 8 hours reading it straight through just like you. We’ll see.
And good for you, feeding your little bro’s hunger for illustrated classics. What a nice big sister.
July 22nd, 2007 at 2:33 pm
is aragon the horse?
July 22nd, 2007 at 3:28 pm
Robin,
I was an elementary classroom teacher for more than three decades and later a school librarian. As an educator, I introduced my students to all genres and to the works of many different authors and illustrators–to books that had kids rolling on the floor with laughter–books like Pinkwater’s FAT MEN FROM SPACE and Palatini’s PIGGIE PIE–as well as books considered to have true literary merit. I think the best thing to do is to open children’s minds to the diversity in the world of literature in hopes that children will find the kinds of books that they enjoy reading…in hopes that they’ll find authors whose books speak to them.
There are lots of great books that don’t win awards. One of my favorite books of all time is Beverly Cleary’s RAMONA THE PEST. It was the first chapter book I read to my students every year. My students loved and identified with Ramona. They would rush in from recess to hear me read a chapter in RAMONA THE PEST as well as other books about that spunky heroine.
July 22nd, 2007 at 4:19 pm
Good work, Elaine! I’m so glad there are teachers and librarians like you. I was a big fan of Ramona the Pest myself–how great that you read aloud from that and got kids hooked!
I have a friend who taught high school English for many years, and she’d read aloud the first chapter of Great Expectations just to show the kids how exciting and dramatic it was. They got over the fact that it was such a thick book, and just looked forward to each new chapter.
Love teachers who make it their business to excite kids about books and reading!
July 22nd, 2007 at 4:49 pm
Grape juice is yummy, wine is spoiled.
July 22nd, 2007 at 6:36 pm
Hey, I’m done! And I LOVED it! That is all… for now!
July 22nd, 2007 at 7:35 pm
Um, okay, Patrick . . .
Christen, thank you for your report, and especially thank you for maintaining the Cone of Silence on any details!
July 23rd, 2007 at 11:29 pm
Sorry I’m late to the blog.
I’ll blame Harry Potter and jet lag.
Yes, got the book at midnight. Loved it!
I agree that people should read what they enjoy. Just because a book has won an award does not mean it is good for everyone. In fact, as an elementary librarian I am really frustrated with the recent Newbery Award winners (just the last 3 years). They just aren’t books that I can recommend to most kids. I think they are books that adults appreciate more than children. At my library, Walter the Farting Dog, Captain Underpants, and Goosebumps are very popular. I don’t personally like Goosebumps, but if the kids are reading that is what counts.
I feel the same with my own kids. While I was traveling I bought them books I knew they would enjoy: “Aliens Love Underpants,” “Fart Club,” and “Ter-Moo-Nators.” Not great literature by any means, but very appealing to boys. Anything to get them reading!