Little Free Libraries offer an exciting array of unexpected finds. Sometimes they are a cause for concern, but sometimes the books found in book borrowing bins posted in public parks and on street corners are gems. Old books with sturdy binding are placed for the taking, to borrow or to exchange with other books. To a book lover, it’s too much to believe!
And yet, it’s likely that most people don’t want these old dusty volumes, and neat freaks are all too happy to get rid of them. Such was the finding of “Children Everywhere,” a volume in “Through Golden Windows,” a series to introduce a panoply of literature to young readers.
In the introduction, we find yet another book from the 1950s lamenting “today’s curiously complicated world.” Bernice Leary fears that in the crowded and noisy mania of 1950s America, children will lose the benefit of good books. “Through Golden Windows” was her and her collaborators’ attempt to bring together books worth reading for a new generation.
Musing about what is to be gained in reading, Leary writes, “Facts and information, of course, about almost everything; understanding of himself and others; confidence and security; fun and laughter, friends and friendships; escape from reality at times, and again the courage to face reality.” What a range of benefits she enumerates! Far from solely utilitarian, hers is a perspective on what is useful but also what makes life worth living.
In pondering the difficulties of curating worthwhile reading material for children, Leary asks, “Must the child’s values in reading be left to chance, while he struggles with his everyday problems, or grows up without feeling the full rapture of a good book?” “The full rapture of a good book.” That’s an evocative way of trying to convey the experience of good reading.
Three-quarters of a century later, we have teachers, librarians, and researchers once again wringing their hands. The middle-grade publishing industry is in freefall, apparently. An article at Slate explains that “kids in third and fourth grade are beginning to stop reading for fun.” They’ve even given it a cute name: “Decline by 9,”. The article explains, “According to research by the children’s publishers Scholastic, at age 8, 57 percent of kids say they read books for fun most days; at age 9, only 35 percent do.”
There’s much speculation about what causes and contributes to the slump. It’s not, the “experts” insist, about “screens,” because allegedly most tweens still do not have a cellphone at age nine. And yet, a quick look around the population in question will uncover the use of phones, whether personally possessed or not, well before the age of nine, not to mention “tablets” and all their sundry, glowing cousins.
There is, however, another question to ask in addition to whether or not kids are reading for pleasure. Why do we want kids to read? The publishing industry cares about selling new books, but, frankly, having read some of the most recent offerings, they are not worth the price of the paper they are printed on. The purveyors of contemporary lit want to make a profit; that is their concern with the middle-grade demographic.
What about “the full rapture of a good book”? Are we, the adults, experiencing books that take us out of time and transport us to realms of discovery and contemplation? Do we revel in good writing? Do our children see us do this?
While children at nine may not own phones, their parents almost certainly do. Could it be that the possession of this oppressive device would impede their inclination to read aloud? The obvious answer is yes. There is no way our children will master the varied and confusing practice of English spelling and usage without having books read to them. The material that a competent adult, or even fledging narrator, can read to a young or middle-grade reader will be of far greater interest than the average child will be able to read to himself.
Time will tell how the studies and industry reports shake out on the death of reading for pleasure. Yet, it’s rather silly to worry about the question when so many obvious and actionable reasons are staring us in the face. If we want our children to read for the sheer enjoyment—“the full rapture of a good book”—we have to cultivate a culture of stories, time-tested, dependable, rich, and varied. You don’t even need to spend money for good stories; they’re giving them away!
