The "Power of Words"

Eileen Bach, Guest Columnist
Creating the habit of Reading Themselves
The Power of Words, Ithaca Journal
July 6, 2002

Eileen Bach is an English teacher at Ithaca High School. She lives in Enfield.

As I went in to say goodnight to my son and daughter the other evening, I realized I was taking for granted the fact that each would give me only the most perfunctory of good-nights, for each was immersed in a book. They were revisiting old favorites of theirs, and I wondered what new insight each might gain from the same text, and how much pleasure would stem from simply enjoying what was familiar. And I reflected momentarily on a question posed the previous year by a friend with younger children she was determinedly home-schooling. “How did you get your children to sustain that love of books?” she asked.

There is no single answer to Gail’s question, and most credit for the love of reading is given to the usual sources: limits on television, parents who are avid readers themselves. Living beyond the reach of cable has advantages. Yet Gail’s question forced me to consider what strategies would be of use to her as she does her best to nurture a love of literature in her children.

One ploy arose in juggling bedtime routines for three youngsters: As a means of preempting the “lights out” struggle at bedtime, I told my eldest that she could stay up half an hour past the 8 p.m. lights out after we had our reading time together if she could read a chapter in a simple chapter book to herself. First, of course, she had to read a chapter to me, and the Berenstain Bear series of chapter books is mercifully short, so that is where we began. Bedtime stretched out to eight-thirty ONLY if she were reading, though of course reading a single chapter did not take an entire half hour. So one chapter became two or three... and her younger sister soon followed suit. My son was incensed that he could not leave his lights on as late as his older sisters did. But once he realized that the key to a later “lights out” was independent reading, he pushed himself until he, too, could read a simple chapter book to himself.

Another happy means of making books primary in our home was another bending of the rules. Neither my husband nor I agreed with the tradition of opening gifts on Christmas Eve. But one year we gave in to the badgering with the stipulation that children could each open ONE gift, but initially, that single gift had to be one I chose. And taking a cue from family friends whose tradition is to open a book each Christmas Eve, I chose a book which kept each child occupied the remainder of the evening. Though we now allow our teens to chose one gift to give to each other and it is not always a book, we still read our favorite books as a family on Christmas Eve, most notably the Scandinavian tale of “The Troll on the Doverfell”, with beautiful illustrations by Tommie di Paola.

The car television has transformed long car trips to grandparents or on vacations, but I’m glad we passed on that option; once the children were old enough to read to themselves, a trip to grandparents meant a new book to read, and books on tape borrowed from the public library allowed us to enjoy one book together. The only drawback came when all three children wanted to read The Swiss Family Robinson again and the argument was over who had read the sole, shabby copy most recently, for each had read the book at least twice at that point.

There is nothing like a series to maintain a love of reading. My children began with the Berenstain Bears series, progressed to the Box Car Children, then to the American Girls series, Roald Dahl’s assortment of books, Terry Deary’s Horrible History series, Brian Jacques’s Redwall fantasies, and Harry Potter books. If only J. K. Rowling could ensure a sequel in time for each summer vacation... Tastes changed and interests diverged as the children became teenagers. The eldest prefers non-fiction and has an extensive collection of literature related to the Holocaust. My younger daughter raced through Dick Francis mysteries faster than a thoroughbred. My son discovered Euell Gibbons’ books at the Friends of the Library sale, meaning that I have now tasted a decent chamomile tea of my son’s making, and a chickory-based coffee that only a war could make me consume again...

Unfortunately there is a down-side to my means of encouraging reading, for chores may be postponed until “just this chapter” is finished... Now, when I want the lawn mowed, my son is relaxing on the couch, book in hand, knowing he gets to finish one more chapter while the grass waits...