From: Megan Schliesman <schliesman>
Date: Thu, 28 Feb 2008 09:10:35 -0600

I'm intrigued and moved by Robin's observation of how her students respond to books like "The Dangerous Book for Girls"--essentially, that it's giving them something they are missing, the opportunity to DO things with their hands-and perhaps hearts and minds too, all together.

I was also thinking more about the seemingly random organization of this and similar books that I commented on earlier, and decided that this perhaps adds to a sense of wonder and discovery that every turn of the page can bring--such possibility!

And I'm struck by how our discussion of nostalgia in books has turned to one in which so many of us are thinking fondly of being read to and of reading to children. I find there is something essentially nostalgic in the idea of gathering around to listen together to a story, but all of us who read aloud also know that it's an act that transcends nostalgia, which so often places a divide between child and adult.* Instead, reading aloud brings together individuals who might be otherwise divided by age or experience or background. When my husband, daughter and I gather together for a shared story (we are currently on book 3 of Suzanne Collins' "Gregor the Overlander" series) I am aware--as several have already mentioned--that we are not only experiencing a terrific story, we are also making shared memories. Perhaps this, too, is missing from too many children's lives.

(*As an aside, one of the things Lynne Rae Perkins' explores so humorously--and tenderly--in the picture book "Pictures from Our Vacation" is the tension between a child's experience and perspective and adult nostalgia, although reading aloud is not part of the story.)

Megan

Megan Schliesman, Librarian Cooperative Children's Book Center School of Education, University of Wisconsin-Madison

608/262-9503 schliesman at education.wisc.edu

www.education.wisc.edu/ccbc/



Robin Smith wrote:
> 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.
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Received on Thu 28 Feb 2008 09:10:35 AM CST