Choosing books for children by Leanne Willetts

(me enjoying a book with a friend)

In this article, I explore my experiences with children's literature both in my youth and as an Early Childhood Educator. I discuss folk tales and some of my favourite picture books.

Literature is a powerful tool that must be used wisely. We must always be conscious of the messages it is sending to children.

The world is not a bed of roses and, if we wish to dramatize this fact through the use of literature, that is our choice. During one placement block, I volunteered at a preschool day care in the core area. These children were socio-economic special needs. Possibly due to their environment, some children had aggressive tendencies. The Director's files recorded histories of physical, emotional, and sexual abuse. Cinderella's struggle to find love was a favorite tale for these children.

I, as a child, was entertained by a variety of literature. One book I remember with fear is Sleeping Beauty. Many have described this story as being wonderful, romantic and so on. Seldom is the tale described as a horror story, but to me it truly was. The vision of the innocent babe falling prey to the villainous fairy haunted my dreams. I firmly believed that, as long as I was with my parents, nothing could harm me. Sleeping Beauty told another tale. The innocent babe was attacked and there was nothing that her parents could do.

Graduating from the University of Winnipeg

(Professor's comment:  I'd be interested in seeing you think some more about why you might have reacted as you did to Sleeping Beauty.) 

These two accounts state some of the advantages as well as disadvantages of Grimm (or that genre) fairy tales. Some children are ready for this form of literature. We are told that it helps them work-out problems they may have which are unreachable in reality. Fairy tales, then, give the child a chance to work through the problem with the security that, when he shuts the book, the fictional problem will be resolved.

Some children, however, are not ready for this form of literature. Instead of helping them to deal with realities' horrors, it creates horrors which their mind cannot escape. 

What then is the solution? Clearly it is not to favor one group to the detriment of the other. We, as day care professionals, must remain sympathetic to both groups. 

How?

We must ensure that our libraries contain a wide range of books. Once again, expanding your library takes careful thought. The idea is to attempt to appeal to the widest range of literary taste. 

(Professor's comment:  Should there be no attempt to guide and develop taste?)

It is important to expose children to a variety of literary forms. Books which I would include on this list are as follows:

-Books from the Sesame Street series such as The Monster at the End of this Book. This book creates a fun, joyous reading environment. It's humour is warm and at a level which children can understand.

(Professor's comment:  Both of these statements need some evidence to support them.)

Books written by Robert Munsch such as Love You Forever. This is the story of the special relationship between parents and children. It is a warm loving story. A story which I believe is important to share with all children. Robert Munsch has great skill in storytelling.

(Professor's comment:  This particular Munsch story has always seemed to me to celebrate a particularly manipulative style of parenting.)

Our duty is to collect special stories, then display them in an appealing manner that invites children to look. The final judge should and must be the child.

(Professor's comment:  only?)

Remember, be sensitive to the uniqueness of each child.

I wrote this article on September 13, 1987 for the University of Winnipeg's Children's Literature. The professor's comments are highlighted in red.

More...

Sharing Stories with Children
(an article about my 2015 experience of reading stories to a group of children)

Next week:  I've kept this blog for five years--since October, 2010. I've post an article (or short story) on time, every time--with very few exceptions. With a record like that you might think I could be a journalist. Hmm. Yeah, you might think that. And, in fact, several years ago, I considered a career in journalism. I showed up at the college for the entrance exam--and everything. But... Well, I'll explain what happened after that in a short story that I'll share next Sunday night Monday. Please stay tuned.

Sharing my author journey...

As I've shared in my last post, I'm currently reading this book...

Buy this book

And it has already earned its weight in gold.

In my latest reading, the key word was 

Sharing Stories with Children by Leanne Dyck

During a writing group meeting, I shared a picture book manuscript. I was delighted to receive most of the feedback. But... But... One comment stopped me in my tracks. 

"Have you shared this story with children?" They asked me.

"Hmm, no," I said.

"Well, you should."

"How? It's a picture book. It needs pictures. And I don't draw," I told them.

They had an answer for that too. "You could clip pictures out of magazines."

Or I could gather pictures from the Internet, I told myself.

I knew collecting pictures for my book wasn't the problem. Interacting with a group of children was. It had been too many years since I'd done that. I'd burnt out of my career as an Early Childhood Educator several years ago--right after my mom died.

I have many happy memories of reading books to children. It has always been one of my favourite activities. I miss it. But fear has kept me away.

What if I no longer know how to interact with children? What if I trip and fall over words because of my dyslexia? What if...
I dwelled on these 'What ifs...' until one (early) morning. That morning I took myself in hand. "Will you continue to be blocked by your fear or will you trust yourself and take a leap?" I asked myself.

I gulped and answered, "I'm going to take a leap."

And so I contacted my local library. "Are you still looking for people to read to the children?" I asked them.

"Ah, no, not really," they told me, "In fact, we just printed the poster."

I read the long list of names. I was disappointed but proud that I'd tried to take a leap. It wasn't me who'd failed to overcome my fear. I'd tried. They just had enough readers. I was about to walk away with my head held high, but they stopped me. "But, we should have a few extra people in case something comes up." They took my contact information.

"But they won't contact me," I told myself. Once again I was caught in a net of disappointment (that I won't be able to read to a group of children) and hope (that I won't have to read to a group of children).

Well, they did contact me. A blend of apprehension and excitement carried me from my home to the library. I waited for the children to arrive. And they did arrive. 

The first thing I did was share that story I'd written. We enjoyed adding sound effects and acting out parts of the story.  Then the children plucked books from the shelves and handed them to me.  The last book they gave me was Up, Up, Up, Down by Robert Munsch (click this link to Robert Munsch's web site) 

In true Munsch style, he wrote the book so the children could quickly become engaged with the reading. We all loved repeating "Up, up, up, up, down." And we enjoyed the illustrator's (Michael Martchenko) silly sense of humour.

In the end, I was so thankful I'd taken that leap. I was delighted to see a group of children so entertained by books. And all those wonderful old feelings I got from reading to children came rushing back. I road those feelings for a few days--such joy.

Over many years of reading books to children, here some of my favourite books (in no particular order--meaning:  if I could list them all first, I would)...

The Monster At the End of This Book by Jon Stone 

This book really brings out my inner actor. 

It Looked Like Split Milk by Charles Green Shaw 

I really like telling (as oppose to reading) It Looked Like Split Milk. My favourite way of telling it is to cut out a variety of shapes, put them in a box and have each child choose one. They reach in without looking at the shapes. Then we all guess at what the shape is.

Anything by Robert Munsch 
Okay, too vague
Here are some; I'm sure there are more

The Paper Bag Princess
Murmel, Murmel, Murmel
Mortimer
Mud Puddle
Love You Forever 

More...
'For the Love of Books' part one and part two
(an article I wrote in the 1990s on how to read to children)

'Why I Write for Children' by Darlene Foster

I have more to say about reading to children and on Monday, October 5th I look forward to sharing an article I wrote on this subject. 

Contest...

The deadline for Room's poetry and fiction contest has been extended to midnight of August 1st. Here's the link for more information.

Next Monday:  How to Live A Dream

Sharing my author journey...

If things are too good to be true then they just might be.

Recently, I was connected through LinkedIn by a literary agent. I