From: Robin Smith <smithr>
Date: Wed, 27 Feb 2008 14:18:12 -0600

I have been sitting on my hands during this fascinating discussion of retro books and reading aloud and children's play. (or lack thereof)

My husband and I talk about this constantly. We both teach school and we are both very worried about the lives of children. Sometimes we wonder if we are just old fogeys (and no, we are neither old nor particularly fogeyish), but we always end up amazed at how the lives of children have changed since we were children less than forty years ago. We did not live idyllic childhoods-ours were very normal indeed. I grew up on military bases here and overseas and he grew up in suburbia. We went to school, we played outside, came in for dinner, did our homework and went to bed when the sun came down. No sports until high school, but lots of kickball and the like.

We did not have books in the house, but we went to the library. I still remember (and have written about) the profound experience of hearing A Wrinkle in Time read aloud during summer story hour at an army base library in Heidelberg, Germany when I was in the second grade. I spent my palty allowance on comic books and candy.

My first memory of play was playing marbles and fighting with my sisters about who got to be whom in Barbies or the neverending games of "Olden Days" that we played.

We were not rich, indeed, I remember getting free lunch vouchers in high school, but we were independent and knew how to solve our own problems.

When I look at these books like Dangerous Book, etc, and I see how excited my students are to pore over them, I know there is Something Missing in their lives. When I teach my students to knit and bring in my sewing machine, I see their fascination and enthusiasm for working with their hands. The are intensely interested in how sandpaper works (most of my second graders have NEVER SEEN OR TOUCHED sandpaper until I have them make their own knitting needles) or how seeds grow. I remember that feeling of accomplishment from my childhood. It usually came from learning to do something difficult.

We would make forts and collect moss for the floors and pile up old wood for the walls. This would keep up busy for whole summers. I can't remember showing the finished fort to our parents. I can't even remember if the fort was ever finished. But I do remember the planning and the building and the collecting.

So, though I don't really like sexist feel and look of these retro books, there is a chord they are tapping into. I agree that they are marketed for adults, but children DO like to read them and figure out how to do Cat's Cradle or make a knot or cast on knitting or sew a seam or build a fort or make a fan or play a game of cards.

And, they love to be read aloud to. Every day in my class. At least twice. Right now they are hearing Where the Steps Were, the fantastic novel in five voices and verse by Andrea Cheng. I think it comes out in April. They love it. Last week, we finished The Wizard of Oz.

Thanks for sharing, Megan and Susan and everyone.
Received on Wed 27 Feb 2008 02:18:12 PM CST