I love to read, and always have. As a child, I pored over almost any piece of print I could get my hands on. Around age 9, I finished my mom’s copy of Erma Bombeck’s Motherhood: The Second Oldest Profession in a weekend. What did I know about childbirth and laundry? Nothing. But I had read and re-read all of my own books and needed to crack open something. (On a side note, that book still holds up today. My favorite passage: Erma describes lying in bed on Mother’s Day morning and overhearing, from the kitchen, “don’t you dare bleed on mom’s breakfast.”)
Last evening, when I discovered my oldest son, heretofore interested primarily in Ninja-heavy comics, tearing into his fifth Harry Potter book, my heart swelled. Yes, it suggested I share a common interest with my 8-year-old son beyond black raspberry ice cream. But I’m also hoping that recent research is on the mark: that reading may build not just literacy, but kids’ character, too.
In the fall, a psychologist from York University revealed the results of a study that showed that children who were most exposed to narrative fiction at home scored high on measures of empathy. Earlier studies demonstrated that reading children books that celebrate honest behavior (like George Washington and the Cherry Tree) led kids to act more honestly themselves, and that an interest in Harry Potter books, specifically, was associated with a greater sympathy for stigmatized groups.
Unfortunately, as our kids are more scheduled than ever with homework and extracurriculars, and devoting precious free time to their digital companions, pleasure reading is on the wane. In just the past four years, the number of kids who say they love reading books just for fun has dropped nearly 10 percent. Twelve percent of kids said they didn’t like reading at all.
I’m hoping that the tide turns back to make good stories more appealing to more kids soon. That might require teachers to be confident enough to schedule more free reading periods into the school day, and parents (myself included) to protect blocks of weekend time for the sole purpose of reading for fun, as a family. Need some fresh titles? Here are some picks from the American Library Association’s just-released list of the best children’s books of 2015.
Preschooler
Beekle (a crowned white gumdrop of lovable cuteness) lives on a fantastic island with other creatures “waiting to be imagined by a real child.” After seeing his companions leave, one by one, Beekle loses faith that he will ever “be picked and given a special name,” and so he does “the unimaginable” and ventures forth to find his friend. —Kirkus Reviews
Fuzzy, bearlike creatures of different sizes relate to one another in an amusing story that explores the relative nature of size…While the story itself seems simple, the concepts are pertinent to several important social issues such as bullying and racism, as well as understanding point of view. Charming characters, a clever plot and a quiet message tucked inside a humorous tale. —Kirkus Reviews
An accomplished author and poet, Alexander eloquently mashes up concrete poetry, hip-hop, a love of jazz, and a thriving family bond. The effect is poetry in motion. It is a rare verse novel that is fundamentally poetic rather than using this writing trend as a device. There is also a quirky vocabulary element that adds a fun intellectual note to the narrative. This may be just the right book for those hard-to-match youth who live for sports or music or both. —Booklist
Woodson cherishes her memories and shares them with a graceful lyricism; her lovingly wrought vignettes of country and city streets will linger long after the page is turned. For every dreaming girl (and boy) with a pencil in hand (or keyboard) and a story to share. —Kirkus Reviews
Fraternal twins and burgeoning artists Jude and Noah are inseparable until puberty hits and they find themselves competing for a spot at an exclusive art school, and their parents’ affections. Told in alternating perspectives and time lines, with Noah’s chapters taking place when they are 13 and Jude’s when they are 16, this novel explores how it’s the people closest to us who have the power to both rend us utterly and knit us together. —School Library Journal
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