When members in a reading group I follow
ask for recommendations for children’s books for different age groups, I read
them with a smile. I had done the same thing ten years ago. As mothers we feel
that the child should not miss out on new books. So we always look for books that
inspire and then try introducing them to new authors. I am still not able to
forget the day my present teen told me categorically not to recommend any book
to her. She said she was capable of using Google and finding new books. I was
rather taken aback. Well, that would be an understatement. But I did recover
quickly as she was the one at the “ripe old age of four” had shocked me by
asking me not to read to her at night. She had refused to look at picture books
with two lines of prose. She quickly ventured into chapter books. Soon she
began choosing books of her own. In fact, now she suggests young adult books
that I should read. While I feel sad that I am no longer needed to choose
books, I am also happy and amazed at her transformation into a voracious reader
forming her own opinions.
I don’t remember my parents having read any
book to us when we were growing up. One of them would tell us a bedtime story
or my grandmother would step in to tell a story if they were busy. There was also
a constant supply of children’s magazines like Chandamama, Champak and Gokulam
(the Tamil version), so that we could also read the vernacular. Then there were
the Amar Chitra Kathas that reached us without our having to ask for it.
I truly consider myself richer for these books that shaped us. My daughters
used to read these magazines once in a while but were not keen to subscribe to
them at all.
Apart from the children’s books that we
hungrily devoured, there were Tamil magazines like Ananda Vikatan, Kumudam,
Kalki and Kalaimagal, which would arrive each week. Those days, believe me, they were good when compared to its present day avatar. As I grew up my parents
thought I should not read these Tamil magazines and the ones I could read would
have to be vetted by them. I could never agree with their theory and when they
were not around I would sneak a book and read it cover to cover. While I don't tell my daughter not to read a particular book, I do discreetly make a note of her choices. Kalaimagal was
a great magazine for short stories with literary merit. My dad had quite a ritual to follow once
the novels in the magazines ended. He sat down to tear up all the serials from the magazine
before giving them to the paperwala. The torn pages would be bound, covered and
labelled with the name of the novel and the author.
My father was a professor of literature and
many publishing houses sent him books that he could choose and order for the
college library. Some publishing houses sent complimentary copies and I got to
read them. During this period my dad got ambitious that I read all the
classics. While I am glad that I was able to read several of them ahead of my
peers in school, I was annoyed when my dad forced me to read the unabridged
version of Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens. I think this is the only book
where I skipped several pages in between and said that I completed it. Recently
when I read Nicholas Nickleby, I wished my dad had given an abridged version so
that I wouldn’t have missed this wonderful story.
With the arrival of the children I found
that both were different in their reading habits. The older one read anything
and everything lying around but if I suggested that she read a particular
author she didn’t bother to glance at it. Also she didn’t take much to comics
except for Amar Chitra Katha. While I was happy initially, there came a time
when she totally shunned reading Enid Blyton after a couple of books and Indian
authors. Then Harry Potter happened. I have lost count of the times those books
have been read. In fact it is such a well thumbed and tattered book that a new
book of one of the series was bought recently. With the arrival of fantasy, the
new genre of fan fiction has totally consumed her and she closed her mind to
any other kind of writing whatsoever. However, the younger one is different.
She listens to the suggestions and makes her choices.
Except for the classics I don’t remember
being forced to read a particular genre. Which was also one of the reasons I
was open to my child choosing a book and genre of her choice. I was open to
reading any genre and derived pleasure in choosing my preferred genre as I grew
up. While I am glad my daughter reads a
lot, I am also alarmed at the rate at which fantasy has consumed her and it has
become her only preferred genre. She scoffs at recommendations of any kind.
Indian authors are taboo. When a friend suggested I read Payal Kapadia’s Horrid
High, she reluctantly agreed to read and surprisingly wrote a review of it.
However, that was the last Indian author she read. However, I am glad the
younger one is slightly open to reading other genres too. She enjoys Enid
Blyton and Harry Potter equally. So I hope all is not lost. I rarely recommend
or look for titles for the girls now. I just stand back and let them make their
choices hoping that things will change.
I recently read an essay by Neil Gaiman
where he says that children should be around books so that they would get
hooked to the habit of reading. He also mentions that he once recommended
Stephen King’s book to his daughter. His daughter didn’t like it all. So I take
comfort in the fact that I am not alone.
But is there a magic wand, which can help
them be open minded while choosing authors and genres. I haven’t found an
answer to that.
