By Cassandra O'Leary
One of the things I enjoy about blogging for Romancing The Genres is being part of a kind of virtual club of book lovers. If you're anything like me, you have a toppling To Be Read pile, a chock-a-block full Kindle or other ebook reading app, library books on hold and a wall full of books in your home. And you're probably well on your way to completing your Goodreads challenge for 2019--I'm at about 70 books read so far! I've been thinking lately about the future of reading, whether that's physical books, ebooks or audio books.
I'm a mother to two boys now aged 10 and 8 (What? Where did my babies go?) and they both happen to be avid readers. Well, maybe it didn't just happen. Maybe my own love of reading has been passed down to these little guys. I'm so proud!
Over the last few years, I've regularly read aloud to my boys, anything and everything from the Mr Men books, to Dr Seuss, books about dinosaurs, kids' versions of Marvel superhero comics, and all the Harry Potter books. Yes, I read them the entire series, and yes, I do all the voices (my Hagrid impersonation is the best). Now they are confidently reading those books to themselves.
What this has hopefully achieved is two important things:
1. books are equated with fun and enjoyment, and
2. they have massively built their vocabulary and capability to learn.
The great Australian children's author, Mem Fox, has a wonderful checklist or list of benefits of reading to kids and an entire book on the subject (Reading Magic). Check out the Ten Commandments of Reading Aloud.
Here's a fab quote from Reading Magic by Mem Fox: “The fire of literacy is created by the emotional sparks between a child, a book, and the person reading. It isn't achieved by the book alone, nor by the child alone, nor by the adult who's reading aloud—it's the relationship winding between all three, bringing them together in easy harmony.”
One of the other overlooked benefits of fiction reading in particular is its capacity to build empathy. Fiction readers put themselves in other people's shoes, and thoughts and lives, immersing themselves in other worlds and points of view. Not convinced? Check out this article, Bookworms make better, more empathetic friends which I recently shared on Facebook.
I personally believe it's important to have books, magazines and other reading material freely available, and to let children pick and choose whatever they prefer. No banned books or throwing out comic books in this house!
My liitle man, Mr 8, seems to have inherited my love of funny books. He's always asking me what silly words mean in his Dogman comix (spelling error intended, LOL), asking to look up new words in the dictionary and adding fun words to his school spelling list--like 'inconceivable' after we watched the movie, The Princess Bride. Yes, the kids tease me about writing kissing books too.
*GIF of actor Wallace Shawn in The Princess Bride. Inconceivable!
Oh, a word about audio books. I don't personally love them but prefer ebooks, but my kids are audiophiles. I suspect audio is going to become huge for younger readers in the next few years, especially the cohort in school right now learning with the aid of read-to-me apps on iPads with headphones. Mr 10 recommends the Tom Gates books by Liz Pichon, with hilarious audio narration and sound effects. It could be a new era of radio-style plays with excellent actors!
*GIF of Thor, Mum's favourite superhero, just for fun!
Reading is my superpower. It's got me through some tough times, given me hours of fun and relaxation and opened my mind. I'm hoping that my superpower is passed on to my kids, so they become better, smarter, kinder humans. Maybe one day they'll read to their own kids. And so on, and so on... Now that's an epic story.
About Cassandra O'Leary
Cassandra O'Leary is a romance and romcom author, communications specialist, rampant Aussie, mum of two mini ninjas and an admirer of pretty, shiny things! Her debut novel, Girl on a Plane, was the winner of the global We Heart New Talent contest and published by HarperCollins UK.
Heart Note: A Christmas romcom novella by Cassandra O'Leary--is out now! Yes, it's a couple of years old but Cassandra has been busy reading to her kids (among other things). Buy links - books2read.com/HeartNote
Read more at cassandraolearyauthor.com
(Note: I use Amazon Associates links on my website and social media and I may make a few extra cents if you buy my book!)
5 comments:
Cassandra, I remember sitting cross-legged or stretched out on the floor in front of our radio (yes, in the days before television, etc.) listening to favorite programs "The Lone Ranger," "The Shadow Knows," etc.. and being enthralled. What an "Aha" moment for me reading your post when you compared audiobooks to the radio. Of course!
The other piece I've known because of the challenges dyslexia presents in my family is that listening to audiobooks makes learning and loving the story easy. It's the story that's important whether it's fiction or nonfiction there is always a story embedded in the words and pages of any kind of book.
Hi Judith, I've been thinking about reading a lot lately, both as a parent and personally. I really think it's a skill and a gift that keeps on giving. My boys really have opened my eyes to the power of audio books. It's so cute to hear them giggle while listening and doing something like Lego at the same time.
Super post, Cassandra!!! My mother read to us kids every night. My father was a pilot who brought home a really beautifully illustrated set of books of classic children's stories he bought in England. Our mother read them all to us. Four-to-seven-year-old me was mesmerized, although some of the stories were over my head. Volumes of Fairytales, including lesser-known stories, Alice in Wonderland, Arabian Nights, and more captivated us. Later she introduced us to Greek and Roman mythology.
We are all still avid readers. I read to my own children when they were small. My 11-yr-old would sometimes sit in when I read to his 6-year-old brother, especially when the story was one of his old favorites.
I wish more parents read to their children.
I loved your post and totally agree with everything you said
Thanks for the comments, everyone. Reading is such an essential skill but sometimes I think it gets glossed over by a focus on learning digital skills. Anyway right now my little guy is happily reading a new book sitting next to me, repeating funny lines as he goes. 😀
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