Free books encourage children to read
I don’t think it should be a surprise that I think it is very important, for the sake of literature, to get children hooked on reading at an early age. After all, they will eventually grow up, and if they still read for pleasure, will be the future consumers of the wide selection of literary works out there today.
Thus I was pleased when I read this short news blurb on the Guardian Unlimited website about a new program that will give all 11-year olds a free book. It appears, that around that age is when many kids give up reading for pleasure.
The scheme is designed to help children with the difficult transition from primary to secondary school, when many stop reading for pleasure. By Christmas, every child at year seven will be offered a choice of titles from a list that features novels, short stories, a poetry collection, and non-fiction in the form of Evil Inventions – Horrible Science.
While the plan is a great start to getting kids to read, I don’t think it goes far enough. One free book simply won’t be a deciding factor if a kid continues to be an avid reader or not. The program should be expanded to include more than the list of 12 books children currently have to chose from, and the number of books given away should be increased greatly.
Also, according to the article, the problem is not that children can’t read, they are reading at a far more difficult level than kids were even a decade ago, it’s that they don’t get the same pleasure out of reading that kids used to.
According to Booktrust, the charity that runs the scheme, "secondary school children are less likely to find reading difficult than they did 10 years ago but their enjoyment of reading has declined rapidly – one in four children now say they find it boring."
One in four children find reading boring. That’s bad news for the literary world. Poor numbers like that will trickle down over the years, and in another decade or two less adults will be reading! And it’s ironic that every year more and more books are flooding the marketplace, yet readership appears to be dwindling.
Certainly one doesn’t have to be a genius to see where part of the problem lies. With things like the internet, video games, movies and television competing for ever-shorter attention spans, it’s no wonder that many kids simply have no desire to sit down with a book and read it cover to cover. Another part of the problem is the parents, who are letting their children spend their time online and watching television. Rather, they should be encouraging reading as a mainstream form of entertainment, not just an alternate for when the power goes out.
This program is a definite step in the right direction. But, by itself it’s not going to change the reading habits of a nation’s youth. I’d like to see a similar program here in the United States. That would be quite an undertaking given the sheer numbers of children spread out over such a large area. Then, perhaps instead of working on it at a national level, it could be implemented at the local level: by city, community, or even neighborhood.
If anyone out there is looking to start a charity that would greatly benefit the future of children and the world of literature, this is a fabulous idea!
Read the entire Guardian Unlimited article here:
Free book plan to keep children reading
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