PSU Magazine Winter 1988

And yet , a restrictive approach to language can lead to lifeless books, feels Sharp. "Kids love language, they love in– vented words. All you have to do is go out on a playground and hear the chanting." She cites a favorite poem by one-time Portlander David McCord about " 'The pickety fence/The pickety fence/Give it a lick it's/A clickety fence.. .' You can just hear the stick going down the picket fence," she said, clearly enchanted herself. I t was, in part, the gradual "watering down" of language in classroom readers that led to a new California program that encourages the use of literature to teach reading, a concept Sharp is enthusiastic about. Since California buys 10 percent of the books in the nation , ac– cording to Sharp, publishers are respond– ing to the California Reading Initiative by coming out with books that teachers can use across the curriculum. " Kids can understand and are motivated by language way above what they can read ," said Sharp. That's one good reason for parents and teachers to read aloud to children, she believes. Sharp, who trains teachers in ways to motivate young readers, goes to great lengths in her workshops to make books come alive, in– cluding donning costumes and using props to act out books. Lest parents feel inade– quate, Sharp is quick to point out that the best way to promote reading at home is simply to schedule blocks of time for reading and to set a good example by be– ing seen reading. " It's easier to turn on the TV and not · have to think ," Sharp admits. "But I don't think it's hopeless. A lot of kids are reading and finding it's a worthwhile leisure activity." Kimmel thinks it is a mistake to assume that if children weren't watching TV, they would be reading. " If you turn the TV off, the kid will find something else to do - throw a ball around or loaf in the backyard. Children read for reasons other than that there's nothing else to do. They read because they find something in books that they can plug into. TV is not so much a competitor as something that parents need to bring under control." PSU 8 Control is an issue with books, too. Neither Kimmel nor Sharp suggests that parents be too aggressive about screening what their children bring home to read. "I never tell a child 'You can't read that book," ' said Sharp, " but I would certainly recommend others. Withholding a book makes it all the more interesting." Kimmel goes a step farther to say that deciding what the children will read is "something you work out in your family," but feels it is unfortunate when "children's books and libraries become a battleground" for parents with particular axes to grind. ... if it is a book you are going to have to read over and over again to the child, you'd better like it too. The usual conservative censors who go after anything that contradicts the Bible or uses off-color language have been joined by more liberal ones who object to classics with dated views of minorities or women. "Huckleberry Finn is always drawing fire over the word 'nigger,' " said Kimmel. "Yeah, the word is there. It's a word that hurts. But this is the way people talked and thought along the Mississippi River before the civil War. The important thing is Huck learning that 'Nigger Jim' is not a chattel; he is a human being." "Children's literature is an accurate reflection of the time in which it was writ– ten ," said Sharp, "and it has to be evaluated in those terms. We're never go– ing to make changes unless we know how things used to be." Sharp acknowledged that children may need help from parents and teachers to interpret the classics from other literary and social eras. While Kimmel notes that the emotional issue of censorship underscores the power inherent in books, Sharp cautions adults not to endow books with too much power. "Part of the love affair with books is mak– ing them precious and putting them on a pedestal they don't deserve. "A book is only a book and it's prob- ably not going to change a child's entire life." This is a sobering statement from a woman who, as a librarian and children's literature advocate, has centered her life around books. In fact , when coaxed to offer advice to parents who find themselves frozen with indecision in front of bulging shelves of children's books, both professors take an easy- going, " let's not make too big a deal out of this" approach. Here is a distillation of the suggestions offered by Kimmel and Sharp to parents looking for good books for their children: 1. Take the child to the library, pull armloads of books off the shelves and look at them together. What kinds of stories and illustrations do you and your child respond to? Kimmel suggests being guided by the child's taste, but notes that if it is a book you are going to have to read over and over again to the child , you'd better like it too. 2. In the case of picture books, make sure the illustrations work well with the text and beware of beautifully illustrated books with weak stories. Sharp reminds that picture books are not necessarily for the very young; they often employ sophisticated language and storylines more appealing to older children. 3. If you are buying for someone else's child, try to learn something about the child's likes and dislikes and at least be aware of his or her reading stage. Small children like to read or hear about day– to-day things that are familiar to them. By the second or third grade they are begin– ning to get a sense of space, history and time and may be more interested in fairy tales or exotic adventures to faraway places. Fourth to sixth graders who have a greater knowledge of the physical and (Continued on page 22)