The Love of Reading, Part 1

Roald Dahl, the immensely popular children’s author (James and the Giant Peach, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The BFG, etc.) was certainly one of my boys’ favorite authors. (Well, O.K., he is one of my favorites, too!) His imagination, wit, and eloquence combined to create marvelous literature.

Most of Dahl’s childhood, however, was very bleak. His education took place in an English boarding school, which Dahl described as “days of horror, of fierce discipline, of no talking in the dormitories, no running in the corridors, no untidiness of any sort, no this or that or the other, just rules, rules and still more rules. And the fear of the dreaded cane hung over us like the fear of death.” He hated school and the feelings were reciprocal. His report cards described him as “incapable” and “of limited ideas.”

But one Saturday morning a woman was hired to look after the boys while the school’s staff had a morning to themselves. Mrs. O’Connor loved literature and spent most of those Saturday’s reading to the boys. “Her enthusiasm and love of books were so contagious and spellbinding that she became the highlight of the school week for Dahl. Within a year he’d become an insatiable reader, and Dahl credits Mrs. O’Connor with turning him into a reader—which made it possible to become a writer.

A lifelong devotion to reading good literature is the cornerstone for all learning. Educator Jim Trelease explains why he believes teachers should read regularly to their students: When you take time to read to your class you are not neglecting the curriculum. Reading is the curriculum. The principal ingredient of all learning and teaching is language. Not only is it the tool with which we communicate the lesson, it is also the product the student hands back to us.

Similarly, Emilie Buchwald has written that “children are made readers on the laps of their parents.” One of my fondest childhood memories is my mother reading books to me--Swiss Family Robinson, The Little House on the Prairie books, The Hardy Boys. With our boys, vacations were a time to indulge in books--reading in the car, at the dinner table, at bedtime. We packed age-appropriate books about the flora and fauna and the history of the places we visited.

Children need time to read. Train them to read quietly in their rooms while you prepare dinner. Give them time in the evenings before bed to read by themselves. ("Do you want to turn your light out now or would you like to read for a while?") But remember--you can’t pass on what you don’t possess. If you aren’t a reader it is unlikely that your children will be readers.