Monday 15 September 2014

I am not a fan of literacy self-loathing or kid literacy ignorance



I have a confession to make.
 I am an adult and I read a lot of children's and young adult books. 

Obviously, I should be ashamed. I should be reading literary fiction; so says some like Ruth Graham, who wrote this article for The Slate  this article for The Slate 

Ruth and those kid literature loathers pick on adults like me who were happy to wave around their kids' edition jackets of Harry Potter on the daily commute and were happy for everyone to see #fandom #potterfan. 
Needless to say I'm not a fan of  kid literary loathing or ignorance in children's literature. In fact children's books are what help you move forward, what allow you to grow, because that is exactly what they did initially. Go and read a Roald Dahl book, or Alice in Wonderland, or even Peppa Pig, and tell me if there is not something you have picked up from it that can help you learn and more importantly help you learn your children.
Do they not say that it is children and children's books that teach you just as much if not more than we teach them.
There also needs to be spice in books, and by spice, like the spice of  life where you have unlimited choice and can choose at your free will what book is ready to be read at any particular moment in time. What one person seeks from a book another seeks something different, and what ones reads in one book, another person reads something different from that same book. 
And if there were no difference at all, there would be no way of preferring one over the other.

And I definitely have a preference.
literature is not a means to an end. It brings something to those who partake, something beyond the experience of reading.
So do not just read to progress your intellect,  think more along the lines of  I read because my soul sings when I'm lost in a good narrative or caught up with characters I wish were real. I read because I love reading,  It takes me into a diffeent world, i escape. I am me.  Reading children's books is to be celebrated, not shamed.




And that takes me to how busy and very excited we are to tell you about what we are doing at the moment in Kid Literature. 
It is only 7 days away from launching the kid Literature Website!
We have opened up an extension of the Literacy group to allow you to promote your own books and pages.
Here is the link. Authors Books / For you to be a part of
Then we have the new website launching on Monday the 22nd September.
Come and read a little every day, and lead a better life.
Kid Literature community resources

Written by Karen Emma Hall


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