I have read some blog and Facebook posts/comments recently by parents who dislike Scholastic, specifically Scholastic book fairs in schools and the quality of the books (or the lack of quality of the books). These comments got me thinking about why I like Scholastic and do not mind the book fairs, catalogs, and book quality.
Mind you, if there is one thing I will always purchase for my kids, it is books. Toys are not necessary and clothing is optional, but one can never have too many books.
Sure, there are some books out there that I don't like. I was never big into the Strawberry Shortcake books because 1. they are loooooong and 2. Strawberry Shortcake and her fruity friends always say things like, "This is berry cool!" When N was big into these books I did buy them and I did check them out from our local library, but I always read them as "This is very cool." The point was that she liked them, and I wanted (and want) her to like books and enjoy the pleasure of reading.
I recognize that the Scooby-Doo books and the Marvel Superhero books and the Barbie books are not great literature, but I think kids should be allowed to have their choice in reading. They will be far more willing to read things I suggest to them (better quality literature) if they know they are able to pick some of their favorites.
When I was a preteen/teen one of the books I read over and over and over was Jimmy Reardon by William Reichert. Not high quality literature, to be sure, but it got me reading, and I read it every time I sat at the kitchen table to have a snack.
Unless my kids want to read pornography before they are legally of age to purchase it, I do not ever see myself censoring their reading. I might postpone their reading, say if N wanted to read Forever by Judy Blume when she is 10. She can read it when she is the same age as the protagonist. (But I reserve the right to change my mind about this at any time.)
I don't mind the kids visiting the Scholastic book fair while at school and making a wish list. I have a much bigger problem with the kids being allowed to purchase chips and cookies in the lunch line. A book, even a crappy book, is far better for a kid than junk food.
Now, I never just give N money to purchase her own stuff from the book fair because she might be tempted to buy erasers or other little trinkets that are also sold. She makes her wish list of books, I go the book fair, I decide which of her choices I want to buy her that costs $5 or less, and she gets one book.
What does stick in my craw a bit are the Tag systems and other electronic "readers" that are advertised as being a great way to get kids to read. My kids like to read mostly because we have books all over our house, we have read to our kids at least once a day since they were six months old, I have taken them to the library on a regular basis their entire lives, and they see me and D reading almost constantly---magazines, newspaper, books. It is my belief that most kids will enjoy reading and read well if similar things are done in their homes from the time they are wee babies. Unless one of the kids has specific reading problems and I am encouraged by a reading professional to get them one of these systems, I will not purchase one. (But I also refuse to allows televisions in bedrooms, including mine and D's, so I am kinda in a small circle of Luddites.)
I'm going out on a limb here but do some parents buy these things for their kids just so they don't have to read to 'em?
If there is one book series that I have heard people rave about but that I don't get the hype, it is the Skippyjon Jones books. They are cute--yes--but I find them very confusing. And if I get confused, it makes me wonder if my kids aren't a little confused. Plus, I'm not big on the use of just adding "o" to the end of an English word to make it sound Spanish. I'd be curious to know how these books are received among Latinos.
Two titles I found in the Scholastic brochures that the kids and I have read and enjoyed are Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes and Pete the Cat: Rockin in My School Shoes, both by Eric Litwin and illustrated by James Dean. Perhaps the best thing about the books is that if one visits this site, one can download audio recordings. If you were driving around my city sometimes, you might see us rockin' out to these in the minivan. Pete is one funky cat.
Mind you, if there is one thing I will always purchase for my kids, it is books. Toys are not necessary and clothing is optional, but one can never have too many books.
Sure, there are some books out there that I don't like. I was never big into the Strawberry Shortcake books because 1. they are loooooong and 2. Strawberry Shortcake and her fruity friends always say things like, "This is berry cool!" When N was big into these books I did buy them and I did check them out from our local library, but I always read them as "This is very cool." The point was that she liked them, and I wanted (and want) her to like books and enjoy the pleasure of reading.
I recognize that the Scooby-Doo books and the Marvel Superhero books and the Barbie books are not great literature, but I think kids should be allowed to have their choice in reading. They will be far more willing to read things I suggest to them (better quality literature) if they know they are able to pick some of their favorites.
When I was a preteen/teen one of the books I read over and over and over was Jimmy Reardon by William Reichert. Not high quality literature, to be sure, but it got me reading, and I read it every time I sat at the kitchen table to have a snack.
Unless my kids want to read pornography before they are legally of age to purchase it, I do not ever see myself censoring their reading. I might postpone their reading, say if N wanted to read Forever by Judy Blume when she is 10. She can read it when she is the same age as the protagonist. (But I reserve the right to change my mind about this at any time.)
I don't mind the kids visiting the Scholastic book fair while at school and making a wish list. I have a much bigger problem with the kids being allowed to purchase chips and cookies in the lunch line. A book, even a crappy book, is far better for a kid than junk food.
Now, I never just give N money to purchase her own stuff from the book fair because she might be tempted to buy erasers or other little trinkets that are also sold. She makes her wish list of books, I go the book fair, I decide which of her choices I want to buy her that costs $5 or less, and she gets one book.
What does stick in my craw a bit are the Tag systems and other electronic "readers" that are advertised as being a great way to get kids to read. My kids like to read mostly because we have books all over our house, we have read to our kids at least once a day since they were six months old, I have taken them to the library on a regular basis their entire lives, and they see me and D reading almost constantly---magazines, newspaper, books. It is my belief that most kids will enjoy reading and read well if similar things are done in their homes from the time they are wee babies. Unless one of the kids has specific reading problems and I am encouraged by a reading professional to get them one of these systems, I will not purchase one. (But I also refuse to allows televisions in bedrooms, including mine and D's, so I am kinda in a small circle of Luddites.)
I'm going out on a limb here but do some parents buy these things for their kids just so they don't have to read to 'em?
If there is one book series that I have heard people rave about but that I don't get the hype, it is the Skippyjon Jones books. They are cute--yes--but I find them very confusing. And if I get confused, it makes me wonder if my kids aren't a little confused. Plus, I'm not big on the use of just adding "o" to the end of an English word to make it sound Spanish. I'd be curious to know how these books are received among Latinos.
Two titles I found in the Scholastic brochures that the kids and I have read and enjoyed are Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes and Pete the Cat: Rockin in My School Shoes, both by Eric Litwin and illustrated by James Dean. Perhaps the best thing about the books is that if one visits this site, one can download audio recordings. If you were driving around my city sometimes, you might see us rockin' out to these in the minivan. Pete is one funky cat.
4 comments:
I totally agree with you in regards to scholastic books/book fairs. People are really up in arms about these? Geesh! Like you said, I am more concerned about the junk food available to kids....certainly not books! Any (age appropriate) book is awesome!
We are huge readers in our house! We are bursting with books here! My kids love to read and be read to. We have books on every level of our home and I wouldn't have it any other way.
I agree that those reading systems are bogus! It seems to me that they were simply developed so today's parents could pawn off some other parenting task to a machine. What's wrong with taking ten minutes to sit down and read the book to your kid?
We also don't have televisions in any of the bedrooms. In fact, we only have two televisions in the entire house. There is one in the upstairs family room and one in the basement family room. We don't have cable, so our kids have to make do with what is on Netflix, PBS or Qubo. We have screen time limits and we enforce them. If we hear "I'm bored" then that person is told to find a chore or a book.
As for Skippyjon Jones...we love the little guy. Carlos (from Colombia) gets a kick out of him as well. Of course, our kids hear genuine Spanish spoken at home as well so reading books where an "o" is added to the end of the words isn't going to convince them that the Spanish language is spoken that way. :)
Amen, sister on no tv in the bedrooms!
Susan
nbtronic reading systems either.
5) No TVs in bedroom either, unless perhaps I am on bedrest or something really similar.
6) I dislike skippyjon too. We have one book and my husband hid it from our son. I am guilty of just saying Holy Guacamole or yippito on every page just to get through it. That's all my son liked when he was age 1.
7) How do you get one on one reading time with second/third kids? Daniel is ALMOST reading (really!!!!! 30 months!!!!) and its because he had so much lap time. Suggestions for one on one other children time are welcome.
I'm right there with you on the Tag reading systems and no TV in the kids' bedrooms (although I enjoy one in my own).
And I'm curious whether people are objecting to the Scholastic stuff because of physical quality - which, admittedly, isn't great - or content quality. As for content, they seem to have both high quality stuff and utter dribble, so I don't see how somebody can completely write off the whole company.
As for censoring kids' reading, just last night I started writing a post (yes, another one) about why I don't let my kids read just anything they feel like reading. Like I've said before, I view reading as food for the mind and heart, and just as I don't let my kids gorge themselves on junk food all day long (ruining their health AND their appetites for nutritious fare), I make sure that their junk reading is equally limited. I'm not going to completely ban even the most moronic reading reading material (unless it's also morally objectionable), but I plan to always manage the ratio of nourishing books to pure mind candy - until, hopefully, they're old enough and mature enough to manage it themselves.
And I admit that I might feel slightly differently if I had a reluctant or struggling reader in my family. If that was the case, I would be more likely to say, "Any book is better than no book at all," just as if I had one of those kids who never eats, I might be more likely to say, "Any
food is better than no food." Thankfully, at this point, that doesn't seem to be the case, and so I can afford to be more judicious in the reading that I allow.
I have no idea when I'll finish and publish that post, but I'm sure you'll be waiting with bated breath. ;-)
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