Khatai

I was once a librarian. That was one year I can never forget. Some time in 1968, when I was a graduate student in the U.S., I had the opportunity to work as a librarian in a special school, the Rackham School at Eastern Michigan University. It was a small library with about 300 children’s books and a file box. But what struck me most was that it was an empty library. The children did not come to read. Understandably so, because there was no one to care for this library. This was a challenge to my creativity How could I make this a meaningful place for young children? I thought that first, I must go out and meet the children. I brought along some interesting storybooks and went to their classrooms and read to them. Now they knew that someone did care for their books and that started the flow of varied personalities into the little library.
The library flourished and pretty soon the children got so hooked on the books that fights would break out among them over the reading materials. It was a memorable year for me, not only because I had succeeded in drawing the youngsters to the place, but also because they eventually learned to enjoy reading.
As a parent, you may ask yourself, “how can I encourage my children to read?” The answer to this question is to excite their curiosity. When you make a child aware of his surroundings, he becomes an inquirer; he becomes curious, and wants to learn more. I think this is the first step to reading. When you go outdoors, elicit observations from the children and share some of your own. When thus challenged, their minds start to think. I think TV becomes a hindrance because it doesn’t allow a child to ask questions or become sensitive to their environment. Television, in many ways, does the thinking for children. And we must be aware that TV competes with reading time. Once curiosity is aroused, children will want to know more. And a good way to find out more, is to read a book. Many times, we may not find the answer we are seeking, but books always have a way of introducing you to other experiences. It is like the yellow pages — you don’t have to go far when “you walk the yellow pages”. Reading not only teaches you how to gather facts, but also helps you experience other ways of thinking. But before one can cultivate a zest for reading in the child, we must first make a quick check on the child’s health — if there are any physical or psychological obstacles to reading.
To check his eyesight, ask the child to name the pictures on the wall. To check for hearing, call out his name and see if he responds. Does he look straight at you when you talk to him or does he incline his ear towards your voice? Is the child emotionally well? Many times, children with psychological problems cannot concentrate on a story. Listening or reading becomes difficult for them. When all these factors are fine, work on attitude building. This is most important with young children. It is not memorizing a story that matters, rather it is learning to appreciate literature. When we read a good poem or story a day to a child, this will certainly encourage him to want to learn to read on his own. Reading builds writers. To further encourage reading as well as writing, let children draw or illustrate their own life stories. Do not as much as possible, correct errors. Criticism at this early stage may discourage him from expressing his innermost thoughts and feelings as well as from experimenting with his new found skill. We have not reached that stage where we can be truly called a “nation of readers”. As the more responsible members of society — we can start by being ourselves curious about what lies between a book’s covers. We will surely be convinced about the good value of books when we observe our young children enjoying storytelling and wanting to read and read and read. At that point, it would be safe to say they will be ready for the world.

Leo Lion is 74 years old, quite elderly for a well-known author very good children’s books. He says he does not know much about children, and yet, his children’s books appeal to both young and old.
The author of Little Blue, Yellow Blue, Inch l,j Inch, and several other books puts it this way, “the fact is that I really don’t make books children at all. I make them for that part of us, of myself, and of friends, which has never changed, that part which is still a child” (Lionni, 1964). Doing something silly, being adventurous, trying something new — bring out the child in us. Moments like these are captured in many popular children’s books. These books are just waiting to be read. Unfortunately, it seems that there are few takers among our young Filipino readers.
In the recently concluded Seminar Workshop for Librarian initiated by the Philippine Board on Books for Young People, a fact surfaced that books are just too expensive these days. A more disturbing fact was that the reading habit is not as consciously developed among our Filipino children as it should be. Comic books seem to attract the youngsters more than storybooks. Two factors observed to have contributed to the low interest in reading were television viewing and rote learning in schools. More and more, find children watching television at home for at least 3 to 4 hours a day. As a result, less time is spent for family interaction as well as for leisure reading. One consequence is that our children’s vocabulary has become limited to simple common everyday language. Television shows in general, do not allow the child to figure out several solutions to a problem. More often than not, the story line is already set. Reading, on the other hand, develops language skills and the use of symbols and details.
Another passive form is rote learning. This takes place in many schools in the country. Children have to memorize instead of being given a chance to seek knowledge in various ways. Tests and re-tests on facts do not give the child a chance to think through complex ideas or concepts.
To resolve this, one need not pull out the TV set from the living room, rather, set time each day to encourage reading at home. It need not be books alone, because magazines and newspapers contain interesting stories too. If these reading materials are placed strategically in areas most frequented by the children, chances are, these will be read.
Young children have shown greater success in achievement tests when they have had opportunities to explore and become critical thinkers (Glickman, 1979). A wise teacher will often pause during storytelling and ask the child what he thinks of the plot or, leading questions such as, “What do you think will happen next?” There is never a wrong answer — as the child ventures to create and re-create his own version of the story.
An infant of 6 months can be read to. As he starts to focus on objects and becomes familiar with members of his family, the infant can be exposed to colorful picture books. As he gets older and can sit upright, big picture books become just right for mama or papa to prop before the child — as the two read and look at the picture. Glossy pictures may seem more attractive but they can be glaring to the eyes. Matte-finished books are preferable in this case.
Books should be “baby-handled”. Turning pages is always fun for the toddler. Reading with a theatrical flair is quite important too. Freddie Santos, a seasoned stage actor, advises adults to give each character
“voice” role; perhaps, a gruff, deep voice for a giant and a lilting, soft one for a little girl.
Use of the hands and exaggerated facial expressions makes the story come alive for the young ones. Preschoolers enjoy mimicking their par.. ents or teachers, particularly in the way a story was read to them. There is a lot of role modeling when it comes to working with children.
Books can be expensive these days, but there are alternatives to this. Some city have a beginning collection of children’s books and there are a few good public libraries that carry books for youngsters as well. Visual aids as puppets, movies, and films, are often shown in some of the libraries.
Children can recreate the stories by making art work based on the story line. At the U.P. Integrated High School, the children make their own storybooks and these are displayed and read in the library. Stories made by children seem to be the best children’s stories, so far.

Children who are exposed to a variety of subjects enjoy vicarious experiences. This is most especially advantageous for handicapped children. The physically disabled get to read about how it feels to climb mountains. The socially handicapped child understands why mothers and fathers sometimes fight, why raising a happy family is important, or how a young boy recycles objects and makes something useful out of it.
The love of reading doesn’t just happen. It takes a lot of planning and work on the part of adults to encourage children to love reading. A deep and lasting appreciation for books comes from time set aside for reading, the availability of books, and encouragement from community libraries.