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Brooke Spann
AP Lit
Tillery
18 November, 2011
Children‟s Books and Reading to Children
As adolescents grow and mature into young adults, they give credit for their learned
knowledge to their teachers, parents, coaches, and other important resources in their lives, but
they often forget to mention what jumpstarted their pursuit of intelligence: childhood reading. It
instills in them scholarship and sagacity and keeps them entertained. Childhood reading leads to
a sophisticated life.
Essentially, children open their minds to worldly understandings when they begin reading
storybooks in their youth, and children‟s literature is viewed as the best way to improve the
development of child outcomes in schools. The U.S. Department of Education, for instance,
mentions in its 2010 literature review focusing on the identification of features of effective
professional development for early childhood educators that it “turns first to efforts to strengthen
professional development in early language and literacy, then in early mathematics, and finally
in children‟s social development” (Zaslow, Tout, Halle, Whittaker, and Lavelle 25). The U.S.
Department of Education recognizes the importance of early childhood literacy above all other
areas of educational improvement. Due to the magnitude of that importance, the U.S.
Department of Education yields no hesitation to make sure that literature is ubiquitous in schools
nationwide. Plus, most children‟s books are designed specifically to communicate a moral lesson

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that is intended to be received by the reader. Explicitly, the story of Cinderella conveys the
message that one should always keep dreaming and should not let anyone stomp on those
dreams. Children who read this become more confident in what they aspire to do because they
believe that if Cinderella‟s dream came true, so will their dreams. With this reasoning in mind,
young readers of Cinderella understand one of life‟s valuable lessons to be learned. This
interaction is also demonstrated in the Harry Potter series; though his childhood is actually a
harsh memory, Harry Potter is more wise, faithful, and fearless than any other kid his age by the
time he finds out that he is a wizard. Margo Hammond says on the theme of Harry Potter, “Kids
are taught lessons of loyalty and courage” (Children‟s Books Get Real). Fans of Harry Potter
admire his actions and charisma; hence, they study and take on these qualities. In contrast, life
can be difficult for children who are never offered the opportunity to be educated. “Being
illiterate, I was lost in this modern world full of literates while I found everything difficult. Life
has been miserable,” says twenty-five-year-old preschool student Siago Sui about his life before
he finally enrolled in preschool (Bolanoho, “Children Build on Reading”). People cannot
function correctly in their adult life if they were never exposed to education. This is why being
read to as a child is important to every individual.
Also, the more often a child reads, the more scholarly it becomes, and living in a book-
surrounded environment is always beneficial. To illustrate this concept, an anonymous author of
the National Education Association claims that, “Students who do more reading at home are
better readers and have higher math scores…and higher reading scores,” and that, “the more
types of reading materials there are in a home, the higher students are in reading proficiency,
according to the Educational Testing Service.3” (Facts about Children‟s Literacy). Practice
makes perfect, and the only way children can become better readers and more knowledgeable is

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to keeping reading and absorbing the true meaning of the material; consequently, they will find
that they understand more about the world. For this reason, a large variety of books should
always be available for kids to read, whether it be in the home, in a public library, or at school.
Additionally, children‟s books are intentionally made to augment the intellect of children. In fact,
a couple of online critics inform us that, “During the preschool years, books contribute to
children‟s language structures and to their vocabulary. Children acquire a sense of language
pattern and rhythm from the literary usage of language that is not found in everyday
conversational speech” (Shelton and Kieffer, “Children‟s Literature”). Those kids that start
reading early will enter kindergarten with knowledge of certain higher-level words and will
typically breeze through the alphabet when they come around to learning it. On the other hand,
those kids who enter into kindergarten illiterate will struggle a bit more simply because it is new
material to them. Without a doubt, children who read more are almost guaranteed a more natural
perception of the materials and the world around them.
Along with knowledge-based attributes, children‟s books also serve to keep kids
entertained and in high spirits. The key to a content, healthy childhood is a good relationship
between child and mentor, and routinely reading aloud to children is a great way for parents,
teachers, and other influential people in the lives of children to strengthen the bond between the
children and themselves. For instance, before soldier Ken Bielwicz was sent to Afghanistan for a
year, he recorded himself reading storybooks to his soon-to-be-born daughter that he would not
see until months after her birth, and she watched them with a longing to squeeze him through the
computer screen with all her might (NPR Staff, “Bedtime Stories, From a Dad in Afghanistan).
Those storybooks were the only connection that they would have with each other until his long
awaited arrival back home, but it was more precious and sentimental to them than anything else

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in the world. In this case, the use of children‟s literature literally bonded the powerful
relationship between father and daughter. These good relationships not only bind two people
together, but they also give the kids the feeling of being loved. According to Serafini and Giorgi,
children cling to “the feelings of comfort” and “the sense of losing ourselves in a good story,”
which creates a “sense of belonging” that allows children to “connect those wonderful stories to
those caring individuals with whom we experienced the literature” (Reading Aloud and Beyond
xi). The feeling of being loved must be present in every child‟s life to keep its esteem high, and
with a little bit of reading aloud every day, the child will stay merry.
Though there are other forms of entertainment for kids, reading seems to be one of the
most popular means through which children escape the chaos that might be happening in their
lives. As an anonymous author points out, some “computer-literate” children of “elementary”
level read J.K. Rowling‟s Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix in just a couple of days as a
method of “escapism” (“The Reading Habit Forms In Childhood”). Children love to read; it is as
simple as that. Fortunately, reading also keeps kids away from the omnipresent, distracting
devices that waste away the kids‟ time. Furthermore, kids are typically more entertained by
reading gender-specific books that fall into their gender category. For example, after collecting
and analyzing a slew of information, a surveyor concludes that, “In contrast to the passivity of
female characters in children‟s novels, the male characters are aggressive, physically strong, full
of a sense of adventure, and able to function in complete independence” (qtd. in “Race, Gender,
and Disability in Today‟s Children‟s Literature”). Young boys are more interested in reading
about strong, adventurous heroes with superpowers, while young girls typically prefer to read
about princesses who wait to be saved by their Prince Charming. Indeed, the books that typically
appeal to both audiences are the ones that are not gender-biased, like The Tortoise and the Hare.

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Additionally, successful entertainment depends on age-appropriate themes. Obviously, young
children who are still in the visual-learning stage and are just beginning to read are more
interested picture books. Actually, an expert on children‟s book illustration and design states
about creative children‟s book illustrations that, „This specialized artistic field is inviting,
rewarding, and some might say, on the “cutting edge”‟ (qtd. in Reading Aloud and Beyond 21).
Children in the beginner‟s stage tend to read by observing and studying the pictures. The
illustrations entice them to learn to read. On the contrary, children who have been reading for a
couple of years and often read in school can relate more to topics about their own lives.
According to Jan Susina, twentieth-century children‟s books “appealed to and explored the lives
of older children” (“Children‟s Literature”). These would include series like the Judy B. Jones
books that express the aspects of a school environment. Older children who are in elementary
and middle school can relate to Judy‟s school-related issues, so they become more interested in
the stories and more attached to the characters in the stories. Plus, children have wild
imaginations and like to explore; therefore, children‟s literature is more easily relatable for
children when it conveys moral and fantasy rather than when it has a didactic style. With
relatable literature, children will never become bored and will find reading to be a luxury.
In final consideration, childhood reading is indeed the cause for people‟s initial and
prolonging erudition and entertainment rather than the authoritative figures in the children‟s
lives. It gives children their youthful inclination in literacy and their understanding of the world
they live in. Without a doubt, childhood reading opens the door to a highly knowing perspective
of life.

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