"Don't Choose My Books"

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.