by Nancy Farrier
Some of my favorite memories are sitting in the rocking chair with two or three children piled on my lap as we read from a favorite story book. My kids loved looking at the pictures as they heard about llamas looking for their mamas, or what to do if a mouse wants something. We would laugh, or exclaim with wonder as we shared this experience.
All of my daughters grew up with a love of books. They often sleep with books beside their beds or in bed with them. They enjoy the experience of visiting new lands, learning about an historical event, or seeing something through someone else’s eyes. We often delight in the same stories, and can talk for hours about characters and plots.
When I read this week about a school in Massachusetts that decided to expunge their library of all hardcopy books, I couldn’t help but feel sad and angry. They replaced the books with online versions and computer access, along with many amenities that might appeal to a younger generation. Their excuse had to do with offering their students the opportunity to search through many more books than traditional shelves would hold.
While e-books have their place, and I’m not opposed to them, I myself have trouble reading on the computer. I like to curl up in a comfy chair, or relax on the floor as I read. That’s harder to do when your book is an e-book. I like having a book to hold in my hand. My daughters and I enjoy going to the library and perusing the shelves so we can find a new series, or a new author that we want to read, something that is more difficult to do online. I can’t imagine those early years with my children if we only had an e-reader. How would we have snuggled up? I just can’t picture that.
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That’s right, not a fairy tale, a Tale Faery. A genuine hetero, cis Tale Faery. We’re rare.
It started with dragonflies on a magic summer day in Gainesville Florida. One of those 100+ degree, 100+% humidity (seriously, a clear blue sky supersaturated with humidity, a state of dew), my five-year-old daughter and I rode our bikes around a swamp, and I discovered what faeries are.
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by Nancy FarrierSome of my favorite memories are sitting in the rocking chair with two or three children piled on my lap as we read from a favorite story book. My kids loved looking at the pictures as they heard about llamas looking for their mamas, or what to do if a mouse wants something. […]
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by Nancy FarrierSome of my favorite memories are sitting in the rocking chair with two or three children piled on my lap as we read from a favorite story book. My kids loved looking at the pictures as they heard about llamas looking for their mamas, or what to do if a mouse wants something. […]
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by Nancy FarrierSome of my favorite memories are sitting in the rocking chair with two or three children piled on my lap as we read from a favorite story book. My kids loved looking at the pictures as they heard about llamas looking for their mamas, or what to do if a mouse wants something. […]
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by Nancy FarrierSome of my favorite memories are sitting in the rocking chair with two or three children piled on my lap as we read from a favorite story book. My kids loved looking at the pictures as they heard about llamas looking for their mamas, or what to do if a mouse wants something. […]
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I used to listen to them all the time because where I lived had no radio access over the highway stretch. I still do, but not as much.
Holly, thanks for your comments. Because of carsickness, we often listen to books instead of reading in the car. We all love audiobooks too.
I think if a teacher can have access to hundreds of books instead of one, it is good. The spark of loving to read and hold that book can be developed, once the reading starts. Children are computer focused these days.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/30/books/30reading.html?_r=2&em
this article has been the subject of much debate, as well.
Once they leave the classroom and the online book, perhaps a visit to a bookstore instead of Best Buy or the video spewing machines outside of grocery stores. Do not get me wrong I am a movie nut, but I learned to love a story first.
Alfred Hitchcock lit my world on fire. Marguerite Henry awakened my love of animals. Betty Smith-there must be hope. I hope the future finds Edgar Allan Poe, Shakespeare…the list goes on and on. I found my way into the library, because we had to go. Will we even have libraries? We are a scattered nation. It is good to hear you read to your children, with your children. Everytime I see a child sitting in the back seat of a SUV watching a movie, I remember reading on the way home. Schools need to use whatever resource they can to save money. We need to foster, as you did, the love and feel of something as grand as the story.
Holly