A majority of us are often nostalgic about
our childhood and the books we read then and the stories we heard. However, children’s
texts are not necessarily what adults deem ‘literary’. Children read story
books, comic books, joke books, picture books, children’s magazines and Pokemon
cards, watch television, movies and animated shows, play video games, -- and
attempt to relate each of these to their lives.
Should we allow children to ‘waste’ their
time reading all the above, or should they only read ‘good’ books?
I like to think of children’s books as the foundational texts of a society.
Every culture has its foundational texts.
These are the texts that have helped shape a worldview, a system of ethics,
helped mediate the relationship between the individual and society, or the
individual and God. Epics like the Iliad, the Ramayana, scriptural texts like
the Bible, the Quran, the Gita, legal texts like the constitution of India, the
UN Declaration of Human Rights all these belong to a certain culture, and arise
from the wisdom of the people, just as they contribute to people’s wisdom.
Similarly, there is a group of individuals
here in our society who have their own foundational texts, who draw from these
texts to make meaning of the world they live in, who return to these texts time
and again, even when they travel from their world into other worlds, who
remember their foundational texts with pleasure and longing as long as they
live.
I am of course, speaking of children and the
books they read. Most of us tend to remember the stories, we read, the songs we
heard, the tales we were told, as children. The words, emotions, characters, we
encounter in these stories songs and songs become a part of our everyday
vocabulary and the way we look at the world. They awaken our imagination and
help us live other lives, travel to other worlds, explore the universe. They
help us in our meaning-making. I read somewhere that geniuses like Steve
Wozniak, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Larry Page and others all loved reading
science fiction as children. The act of reading helped them open their eyes to
different worlds and different ways of doing things, and they could draw upon
the vast reservoirs of their imagination to create the unique products they are
famous for. So you see, it would be awesome if more children read, and read
more, even though some parents and teachers may dismiss children’s books as silly
and insignificant.
Don’t ever forget, children's books can
actually contribute to the conceptualization of a better society!
The culture of mother reading bedtime stories and we getting excited by the pictures in the books has still kept us nostalgic towards reading such books.......hopefully the culture is still alive.....
ReplyDeleteDear Shabanam,
DeleteYou are right in saying that the mother's voice and the pictures in the books - both contribute to the charm of bedtime stories. I think that culture is still alive in many homes, thank God!