Aliteracy

[catherine at cator-manor.demon.co.uk]

I agree with everything you say here.  My parents were both teachers, 
and they did nothing but encourage me. I don't think anything was off 
limits when my reading was concerned.  My father, in particular, made 
it quite magical.  One of my earliest memories is him reading "The 
Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" to me and producing Turkish Delight 
the first time Edmund tries it.  I've tried to follow by their 
example with the stepkids, and will hopefully with my own some day - 
it definitely works.

Catherine

--- In HPFGU-OTChatter at y..., "Starling" <starling823 at y...> wrote:
> Hmmm.
> As a bibliophile my entire life (I grew up across the street from 
the public library.  the children's librarian still refers to herself 
as my second mother, i moved in every summer <g>), I've been very 
interested by the topic.
> 
> IMHO, it comes down to the parents.  I'll cite catherine's example, 
how she got her step-gdaughter reading instead of listening to the 
CDs.  (and props for that!)  My mom let us watch movies, sure, but 
she read to us every night before we went to sleep.  dad got in on 
the game once we got old enough for the laura ingalls wilder books 
(he'd had them read to him in school).  this is one of my favorite 
childhood warm fuzzies -- curled up in bed with mom and dad trying to 
squish themselves in the corners, all of us reading some cheesy 
golden book out loud together.  
> When my sibs and i got older, we'd get sent across the street and 
told we weren't allowed back in the house til we'd picked out a book 
to read.  this started out happening weekly and by the time i was 
seven or so i was devouring a book a day.  (chapter books, mind you, 
not just picture books...i've turned into an incredibly fast reader.)
> my entire family reads.  My brother, who has ADD and thanks to 
athsma medications is usually bouncing off the walls, actually got 
thru jon krakauer's "into thin air" in less than a month -- he nearly 
gave up several times, and every time he tried, one of my parents was 
standing there saying "but you really wanted to read this" -- and 
he'd turn right back around and dive in.  you should have seen his 
face when he finished -- you'd have thought he'd climed everest 
himself <g>
> 
> make a long story short (too late? <g>) it's all about the 
influences that are there.  my parents are the reason i read the way 
i do.  i bet most of us were introduced to reading in much the same 
way.  the only way to combat "aliteracy" is to promote literacy, of 
any sort, using whatever tools are available.  to be honest, i'm sure 
there will be plenty of kids who would be content to just see the 
movie.  but then they're gonna want to know what happens next, so if 
they haven't read books 2-3-4 yet there's a good chance they'll pick 
it up, especially if a friend or a parent is encouraging that...
> so here's the encouragement.  everyone bring your books to the 
movie premier.  nitpick and mention loudly all the cool stuff that 
didn't make the movie.  (i hear groans already, but you know there's 
gonna be *something* left out, there always is.  JKR just has soo 
much stuff squished in there!) if each of us gets one kid in that 
theatre to go back and (re)read the books then we're making headway.
> 
> abbie, who has been studying for finals all day and suspects her 
brain is turning slowly to mush.
> 
> starling823 at y...
> 69% obsessed with HP and loving it
> "Ah, music," Dumbledore said, wiping his eyes.  "A magic beyond all 
we do here!"
>           -HP and the Sorcerer's Stone
> 
> 
>   ----- Original Message ----- 
>   From: Scott 
>   To: HPFGU-OTChatter at y... 
>   Sent: Monday, 14 May, 2001 5:32 PM
>   Subject: [HPFGU-OTChatter] Aliteracy--various rants--why I'm not 
British
> 
> 
>   ME A BRIT?
> 
>   Amy thought I was British! I don't know whether to be amused or 
>   delighted or horrified! ;-) I assure you I'm an American, though 
>   Anglophile wouldn't be stretching it I'm certainly not British. 
(My 
>   friend predicted I was really a stalker of Brits since I seem so 
>   infatuated. UK list members beware! BWHAHAHAHA!!!);-) In fact 
I've 
>   never even lived outside of NC; visited lots of other places, but 
a 
>   tarheel at heart! 
> 
>   The fact is my Yahoo page is set on UK and so it gave me a .uk 
email. 
>   It was sort of a mistake.
> 
>   ALITERACY
> 
>   I love this list! The one thing I cannot imagine living without 
is 
>   books. Take away all modern media even (gasp!) computers, but 
never 
>   books. I took a technology class once (big mistake) and the 
teacher 
>   would go on about the best invention ever being some integrated 
>   specialised super computer chip, and I was like uh, no books are 
the 
>   best thing ever....obviously!
> 
>   Some of my earliest memories  come from my mother reading the 
>   classics to me. If she had just popped in a video tape, well 
thank 
>   goodness she didn't, because I probably wouldn't be here typing 
right 
>   now. (Some of you may be wishing I wasn't, but I for one am 
>   thankful for finding this group and HP!)
> 
>   I'm still really wary of condemning movies though, because they 
can 
>   be quite a stimulating piece of visual art. Like Amy I'm sure 
that 
>   this isn't the purpose of WB's Harry Potter rendition, it's to 
make 
>   money of course, but once in awhile you run across a wonderful 
movie. 
>   Once in awhile. I should also add that I rarely go to the movies, 
>   just once or twice a year, so maybe I'm totally naive, but I 
believe 
>   that movies can be good. 
> 
>   Most of you are also completely anti-Disney, but I did grow up on 
>   their animated movies as my main source of cinematic 
enertainment, 
>   and I don't think I'm worse for the wear. I'm also not your 
typical 
>   example, I mean how many other 11-12 year olds saw the animated 
>   "Hunchback of Notre Dame" (which was horrid) and then went on to 
read 
>   Victor Hugo's classic. (Confession: I didn't read the WHOLE thing 
>   but...)
> 
>   I'd agrue that advertising and media are only as influential as 
we 
>   allow them to be. Most children who grow up to love reading 
weren't 
>   in homes that frowned upon books, some were and this only 
encouraged 
>   them however I don't think that's the norm. It's about 
imagination. I 
>   have an extremely active one, and I'd guess so do the rest of 
you. 
>   What's there to imagine anymore?
> 
>   Imagination is what dreams are made of (old cliche I know but 
it'll 
>   do.) It's colouring in the black and white, making the world come 
>   alive with the beauty that lives only slightly below the suface 
of 
>   the ordinary "muggle" world. It's realising that that world isn't 
>   ordinary at all. 
> 
>   Imagination is magic, and for that matter so is reading.
> 
>   Scott
> 
> 
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