New Year - Changes Being Made

Starting today, this blog will only be related to books. I'll update when I can. I do some freelance writing, so on some days I'm busier than others.

Today, I want to talk about reading. The school recently sent home a newsletter discussing reading. Children who read at least 20 minutes per night prove successful in school. Is there truth to that?

My children see me with a book in hand regularly. My son and daughter both read nightly. So I am an advocate of reading to or pushing your child to read. However, there are points where I disagree! It is a big thing at school that the kids should pick a different genre every month. If they start with sci-fi, they can't read a sci-fi again until they've read an award winner, non-fiction, general fiction, adventure, human interest, etc.

No child should be forced to read a book. I never agreed that our English teachers got to choose what we read. I hated Shakespeare. Few books ever appealed to me if they were forced into my hands. The only two books that I still keep on my bookshelf - TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD and EARTH ABIDES. I love and reread those books constantly. As a note to others, if you loved Stephen King's THE STAND read George Stewart's EARTH ABIDES it is the same premise.

Now that I am no longer forced by teachers to read their choices, I have picked up many classics. TWELVE ANGRY MEN is a great classic - short but entertaining. I'm working my way through the complete collection of Jane Austen novels. Those are taking me a while to get into, but once they hit the key element, I can't put the novel down.

At home, my children can read what they want. I don't limit them. Even though some of their teachers don't like that attitude. To me, my son picking up an Alton Brown cookbook (one of his favorite chefs) counts as reading. He is fascinated by this man and will sit and read the cookbook from cover to cover. He does the same with Giada di Laurentiis cookbooks. In fact, he makes the best Chicken Picatta I've ever had. He loves reading cookbooks and I'm not about to tell him that a cookbook "doesn't count." Some teachers need to get over themselves and change with the times. He's also hooked on Harry Potter and Artemis Fowl books, so it's not like he only reads cookbooks. He has other likes.

My daughter loves Junie B. Jones. She has just about every book out there and reads them over and over. I've had teachers tell me that she needs to broaden her selections. I disagree. She's reading and enjoying it, what more does she need?

I will never understand the education systems push to get children reading a different genre every month. Why? There is plenty of time for them to do that when they enter high school and college. For now, let them be kids!