Dr. Seuss would have been 95 years old on March 2. The National Education Association (NEA) is urging everyone to mark the day by reading to a child. Last year, as part of a campaign called Read Across America, a million teachers, parents and community leaders shared favorite stories with 10 million children.
Some of my friends don't need a special day. They volunteer to read to kids once a week or month at their local school. Some have a special student or two, others read to a whole group. That's something I plan to do when I retire. For the moment, I spend any extra time with my two year old grandson, Tate. Reading together has been one of our favorite activities since he was 2 months old.
Before he was born I didn't buy clothes or games, I bought books. Of course, after he arrived I discovered that many of the books I had bought were far too old for him. I had also purchased as many books as I could find where girls were the main characters. I think it is important for boys to read books where girls are the heroes or get to do the exciting stuff.
Finding good books about girls who are physically active is a challenge. Although the number of female characters has increased in picture books for children since the 1950's, they are still under-represented. In a Melpomene Institute study, which looked at how sports books portray girls, only 20 percent of the books showed girls or women as the major character. Those that did show females, however, often portrayed girls achieving and succeeding, being competent, physically active and working hard. That's why I especially love Nancy Carlson's "Loudmouth George and the Big Race." George is sure he will win, but Harriet, through her persistence and hard work, crosses the finish line first.
I also look for books that show diversity. When I was growing up, Dick and Jane were the models for children's books. By the time my kids were young there was some improvement. One of their favorite picture books was "Babies," by Gyo Fujikawa, which shows babies of all races and shapes. "Peter and the Snowy Day" by Ezra Jack Keats was one of the few that portrayed a black child.
"Peter and the Snowy Day" is one of Tate's favorites too, but now many of his picture books show kids of all races. I see fewer examples of kids who need to use a wheelchair. Tate has worn glasses since he was 4 months old, so it's fun to find pictures of someone wearing glasses. He's liked the Arthur books for a long time.
In recent years I've searched for books that show positive images of older women who look like me. Think back to your early books. Old women usually had crooked backs, stringy hair and were often witches! Tate and I just started to read "Grandmother's Alphabet" by Eve Shaw. The illustrations are strong, and the occupations varied; some of the grandmothers even have white hair like me. Tomie dePaola's book, "Nana Upstairs, Nana Downstairs," published in 1973, is still easy to find and another of my favorites.
How do you know what books are good? In the Twin Cities we are lucky to have a store like the Red Balloon, which not only stocks an amazing number of children's books, but also has a knowledgeable staff. Tate and I went there so I could gather research for this article. Of course, it was also a great excuse to do something we both love. When my kids were little, we went to our local library every two weeks and checked out at least 25 books; each one was read many times before they had to be returned. Usually my kids picked their own and soon had favorites, but I tried to encourage them to choose some that might broaden their horizons as well.
Several years ago Melpomene created "Choosing Good Books About Girls in Sports," a brochure to help adults locate good books for girls. A much more thorough resource is Kathleen Odean's "Great Books for Girls: More Than 600 Books to Inspire Today's Girls and Tomorrow's Women." Odean writes, "I was inspired to seek out these books by my work as a school librarian. Every day I read to groups of children ages 3 to 11, help them find books to check out, and advise teachers and parents about books for children. I make it a priority to promote books that feature strong girls, but even for someone knowledgeable about children's literature, it's a challenge to find a wide range. Far too many present boys as leaders and girls as followers. Boys go exploring; girls stick close to home."
By choosing wisely what we read to kids, we can broaden the horizon for both boys and girls. I encourage you to find someone to read to on March 2 or anytime during the year. I guarantee it's great fun. [../../footer.htm]