Literature vs. Textbooks

I'm a big fan of the learning-by-doing method of education, and reading is no exception. The best way to learn to read is to read; the best way to improve reading skills is to read. Yes, you need guidance, but you'll never read well if you don't practice.

Furthermore, reading opens doors that would otherwise be unavailable. I would love to visit Ireland, but it's just not feasible at the moment, so I read about it instead. I read the literature and the mythology, I read about the history and the cultures and the geography and the architecture. In short, since I can't do (i.e. go there), I read.

A few years ago, before my husband and I divorced, his children came to spend the summer with us. My stepdaughter, Amanda, was a good reader; she loved to read, and would read anything you put in front of her. My stepson, Michael, on the other hand, hated to read. It was a difficult chore for him, something he'd never learned to do well, nor had he been encouraged in it.

I had already been reading to my son every night (he was about four years old then), but because of Michael's difficulties, I instituted a mandatory 15-minute minimum bedtime reading period for all the kids. We visited the library every week, sometimes every day; the kids were all allowed to pick their own books out. Michael was particularly interested in NASCAR, a love fostered by his stepfather, who took the kids dirt track racing, so I was pleased to find a fictional series written for children but set in the NASCAR world.

It wasn't great literature, but who cares? It worked wonders. Over one six-week period, Michael went from reading on a first grade level to reading on a fifth grade level. He usually ended up reading well past the fifteen-minute mark, and often fell asleep with a book draped across his chest. He listened in as I read stories to my son, as Amanda read stories to us, and he even read stories to Amanda and Caleb a time or two. He went from hating to read, to asking if it was time to read yet. In short, he became a reader, and he did it virtually on his own. Yes, I encouraged him, but he was the one who picked out the books and read, and he did it without complaint because he finally found something worth reading.

This cannot be repeated enough: foster a love of reading in your children. Read to them. Discuss what's being read. And encourage them to explore on their own. There are few greater gifts you can give your children than a love of books.

Proponents of the integrated curriculum use literature and non-fiction to teach a variety of disciplines in an interrelated fashion rather than as separate subjects. Students learn about Mesopotamian cultures by reading The Epic of Gilgamesh. They view slavery through the eyes of Frederick Douglass by reading his autobiography, and intuit from it some of the issues and events that led to the start of this country's most devestating war. They live on the Mississippi with Tom Sawyer, unlock the mysteries of the planet in Journey to the Center of the Earth, and discover the meaning of family in Little Women.

A book is a window into the world of the author as much as it is a story to be read, and as such can be used as a starting point to gain an understanding of much deeper or wide-ranging issues. Such understanding cannot occur, however, if a book is simply read and then put aside. Discuss books with your children. Ask questions and encourage them to think critically about the story's components and to apply a story's underlying theme to other situations. Make connections, explore, discuss, and then do it all over again.

In the introduction, I listed a few criteria for reasons I believe a book could be considered a classic: classics have meaning and value, they contribute something to our knowledge base, they expand our minds, and they're good reads. Mostly, though, I believe that such value is placed subjectively. It's true that there are works everyone should read because they're part of our cultural heritage, books whose characters, plot points, locations, or text we draw from continuously in modern culture. But there are others literary critics decry as having little or no cultural value, the Harry Potter books being the most notorious amongst more modern works.

Our culture is constantly morphing, with old ideas being discarded and new ones incorporated, and as it does, so to should we modify our list of supposed classics. Like it or not, the world of Harry Potter has crept into our cultural lexicon. The phenomenon may not last long, but chances are that twenty years from now when the first Harry Potter readers have children, that series will be amongst those books dragged down from the attic to share as something important from their childhood.

Perhaps I stand alone in this view, but it is my opinion that people should read what they like, especially those who are just learning to read. Foster a love of reading, and then encourage children to explore through literature, or do both at the same time by finding treasured classics written for youngsters. The same goes for adults. You must enjoy what you read, not slog doggedly through it. Literature should have some relevance, some connectivity, to the reader, otherwise it's worthless. After all, you only live once, and who wants to waste time reading a book that has no personal meaning?

I was in the library at Franklin, North Carolina a few days ago searching diligently for non-fiction titles to supplement my son's schoolwork, when I ran across a set of McGuffey's Readers. I picked one up and was amazed at the authors mentioned: Louisa May Alcott, Longfellow, Dickens...this is how they were listed in the table of contents. How many modern students know these authors well enough to recognize them solely by their surname? Not my son, that's for certain.

Many of you probably believe that I'm a strong advocate of teaching classic literature over modern literature, but that isn't so. I simply believe that there is a set body of knowledge all students (regardless of their age) should learn in order to function well within society, and that "the classics" are a good place to start when setting out to fill that knowledge base.

By the way, I checked, and the McGuffey Readers are available through Google Books.

Below are links to lenses covering each genre of literature. I've included books that are generally regarded as classics as well as books I believe are worth reading, or that I consider to be well-written novels. You may not see books you consider amongst the greatest on these lists; it could be that I haven't considered those titles yet, or it could be that I ran out of room. Or possibly I simply dislike some of those books. Jane Austen falls in the latter category; I simply cannot read her books. I included them (under historical literature) because so many other people enjoy them.

Some of the placements of books within genres might seem arbitrary, but I have tried to classify each according to the genre in which I believe it fits best. C. S. Lewis's The Chronicles of Narnia, while having a Christian theme, were not considered Christian literature at the time they were written (in fact, that genre is a relatively new one). I have classified it with Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror because, in spite of the underlying allegories, I consider it a work of fantasy. This is how I remember it from my childhood, when allusions to Christ as the great lion went right over my head.

The following lists aren't only lists of books, but lists of authors, some of whom contributed more than one work to the broadly defined class of literature known as the classics. Please have patience as I fill out these lenses; I will continue to add to them as I run across books I think are worth reading, for whatever reason. And don't forget to send suggestions!

Books for Kids from Birth to Age 8

Adventure

All-around Good Books

Fairy Tales and Folklore

Fun Reads

Historical

Mystery, Suspense and Detective Fiction

Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror