Dying Children's Books Culture

Reading children's books is rapidly declining in popularity of favorite things to do amongst a critical group -- children.  With computers and interactive games as well as television continuing to capture more time and attention of youth, something as inanimate as children's books seemingly can just about disappear.    I'm convinced, as are many others, that the importance of children's books upon our culture today is at a critical stage.  We need to get our children reading again.  We need to read to our children, too.  And this does not need to be something that is relegated to their school or teachers.

Why Children's Books

IMAGINATION!  I think this is probably one of the top reasons for parents and families to promote and read children's books to their kids.  When the visual is not all laid out for you so you can see what someone else shows you in pictures, then your brain goes to work.  It creates vivid images of the story being heard.  Developing the imaginations of our youth is important in that it allows them to dream and create.  Without creativity our culture will surely move in a backwards direction.  Some believe it already is.

Instead of children going into passive mode, children's books promote a certain level of active involvement.  You have to read the words, look at pictures.  You have to think when you read.  Your brain is engaged.  You have to follow sequential thoughts, characters, and happenings.  Some would argue that the same things occur viewing television or computer games.  But it's a different form of stimulation.  I've heard it described more of jumping through hoops as opposed to creatively maneuvering a thing.

Please don't get me wrong.  I'm not anti-computer games or television at all.  I'm just not in favor of these media supplanting children's books.  Hopefully, with eBooks and various readers becoming affordable for the masses, more children will start reading using that medium.

Some Favorite Children's Books

For our children, some of the best times they recall of their youth is being on vacation and their father reading them a book.  I became a tradition of our family to select and take one of the Newbery Medal winner children's books with us on vacation.  Each night after dining out upon return to our hotel room, the kids would get ready for bed.  Everyone would then prop up in the living area of our room and my husband would read a chapter or two from this book provided the kids remained awake.

Some of their Newbery favorites are The Gray Wolf, The Twenty-One Balloons, and A Wrinkle in Time.  They also loved C. S. Lewis' series The Chronicles of Narnia.

I hope you're encouraged with how important a role you can play in getting those younger ones you love so dearly to read children's books.

Bill Martin reads Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?

For more information on the Newbery Medal, click on Wikipedia's article that I've linked here at CHILDREN'S BOOKS.