Why we share literature with children

This summer I'll also be posting reflections to my textbook assignments.  Enjoy!

One of the most fundamental reason we read and share, reading is fun!  It seems so obvious and fundamental to my own personality I never thought about it as actual reason to share.  That’s what got me into reading, and my children into reading, it’s a great way to pass the time!  Once you hook onto a good book, you start looking for other books like it.  And this helps to develop lifelong readers.

Another reason to share literature is learning. Reading can help learn about many topics, increase vocabulary, as well as learning about other cultures.  Increasing imagination is also a boon.  Fostering that imagination will someday help those kids to continue to want to learn.  Once the question “Why?” is asked, it needs to be answered.

Reading also develops empathy.  I see this in my 2 year old as we read through books together.  Even though she doesn’t yet clearly talk, at the right parts of the story she say “oh no” when bad things seem to be happening to the main character.  That connection you feel to a character can really have an emotional effect on your own senses.

 Books can also be aesthetically pleasing. Sometimes you come across a sentence or part of a book that just sounds so pretty to you, that you have to share it.   I know I’ve done that on many occasions.  I’ll often put them into the daily journal my students have to write.

Some books offer experiences similar to one’s own.  It can be helpful knowing someone else is in the same situation, and seeing how they act within it.  Books can challenge the mind, introducing new views on topics and helping one to really formulate their own ideas.  Books also offer windows into experiences one hasn’t had, couldn’t have, or maybe wouldn’t even want to have.   Those experiences can be amazing and even learned from.  I know for me they’re more like doors.  Once I step though I might as well be in that other world.

Two of these reason to share literature really ring true with me, “Reading is fun!” and “windows to new experiences.”  II tried to instill a love of reading in my students this past school year. Unfortunately I didn’t start with them until the school year was almost over, but this next school year we will be reading from the start.  I teach teenagers, so I’m hoping to gain a bit more insight into their minds when reading my assigned books this summer.  By the end of this semester I’ll have experienced 25 new books and will be better able to suggest books for my students.  I was lucky enough that my school library had all of the books I needed, so I can guarantee access to these books for my students.  No excuses. 

When I asked my seven year old what she thought was great about reading she answered “It helps you learn, you lean new words, and it’s really exciting!”  Yup, I think that sums it up quite nicely.