Greenwich Free Library
October Newsletter
What Makes a Reader?
One of the big controversies generated among book people by The Great American Read has been the inclusion of books like 50 Shades of Gray and Twilight in the list of candidates for America's favorite read. This was all pure snobbery on their part. Shouldn't the list be limited to those works that everyone agrees are good? But the thing about books is, you never know which one will come along like a thunderbolt and forever turn you into a reader. When it comes to books, beauty is most definitely in the eye of the beholder.
For many of us, the journey starts on a parent or grandparent's lap and the precise moment the hook was set is lost in the mists of time. As I have often said, I became a reader on the faux Danish modern couch in the living room of my childhood home. My mother and I would sit snuggled together and share the adventures of Laura Ingalls and Miss Bianca. Almost half a century later, I am almost overcome with emotion as I remember those pre-bedtime hours enveloped in love and filled with excitement. How could I not continue to cherish those memories and treasure the act of reading that was at their heart?
But for many others, reading comes along later when they discover the "just right" book that speaks to them in a way that nothing else ever has. Oddly enough, many of the books that have been that book for thousands and tens of thousands of children and teenagers have also been challenged and banned by adults. This happens often enough that the American Library Association has created Banned Books Week. During this week every year, libraries and book stores do our best to remind people that their right to read and to become readers can be threatened. Here are just a few examples:
The Harry Potter series was an absolute game-changer. An international sensation, it made reading cool and compelling in a way nothing else had done before. Most educators and parents welcomed it wholeheartedly, but not all. The manic goofiness of Captain Underpants made it literary candy for the younger set but, here again, was not such a hit with those adults with less appreciation for mild potty humor that thumbs its nose at foolish authority. Even some of the most beloved and, one would think, unassailable Children's classics - some of your favorites are likely among them - have been deemed unacceptable by people who seem determined to willfully misunderstand both the books and children as a whole. And don't let's get started on Young Adult literature. Apparently nobody wants to deal with all the stuff that comes with adolescence. And they don't want the adolescents to either.
This week and every week, I encourage you to read, think about what you have read and talk about it with others. You can post your musings on websites, like WMHT's and in Facebook Groups, like the Great American Read Book Club, at public book clubs like ours or private book clubs with your friends and even on line at the grocery store. Exercise your right to read and love the books that make you happy and to share that love all over the place. Who knows, you might just create a new reader.
And don't forget to come hang out with your fellow readers as we celebrate the finale of the PBS series and the unveiling of America's Favorite Book in a live simulcast with WMHT on October 23rd right here in our own community room.
Ongoing Events at the Library
Greenwich Free Library
Email: amiller@sals.edu
Website: www.greenwichfreelibrary.org
Location: 148 Main Street, Greenwich, NY, USA
Phone: 518-692-7157
Facebook: facebook.com/GreenwichFreeLibrary
Twitter: @GwichFreeLib