Definition of obsess (v)
The same was true when the Harry Potter collection was at its' peak a few years ago. I was in the stores at midnight when the newest books for that series came out and kids were standing in the checkout lines starting to read on the spot because they couldn't wait to dive into them and find out what might happen next in these adventures.
Kids are reading.
I had a grandmother who loved to read. It was magical to go to her home and peruse her bookshelves on a rainy day and see what I might find. My parents were both readers, too. I was well acquainted early on with The Bobbsey Twins and The Little House on the Prairie. Volumes of the Readers Digest Condensed Books were a big part of my summers as a child. This year I have read more than I have in a long time. I have felt a hunger to lap up all of the words that I can because I have some panic within me that they are disappearing and soon all of our magical stories will be invisible downloads. However then will we be able to physically hand over a book we enjoyed and pass it on to another? I always have at least one, often two books that are parked in various spaces in my life - in the car, at my bedside table and in the den for when my own writer's block decides to visit.
I have a Kindle Fire now and I enjoy it immensely even though I didn't want to. However, already, I've experienced the downside. Two of my most enjoyable books of the summer that that I wanted to share with a good friend left me only describing how wonderful they were. When what I really wanted to do was drive right over to her house, thrust one at her and say, "You have to read this!"
And so I am now hoarding books. I have some in every room in our home and when I am able to acquire more I do. I love it that my kids and friends can stand in my living room and stare at my bookshelves, like I used to at my grandmother's, and hopefully find a good tale to envelope them.
I haven't taken an anti-Harry Potter or anti-Hunger Games stand. I know some parents that are uncomfortable with the themes of these stories but I've actually enjoyed both of the series myself and it seems like my own kids and their friends have read them as simply entertaining fantasies.
All I can keep thinking about for the most part is: Isn't it awesome?!
"She's obsessed with those books," A friend said about her daughter a couple of years ago when the Harry Potter adventure was full bore, "She's read them all about three times." And these are not thin, light reads. It takes some substantial reading time to muddle through one.
As a kid I was a die-hard Judy Blume and Beverly Cleary fan, also. They are still among the other books that are on my bookshelves.
And they weren't nearly as big as the books that these kids are devouring. My own kids liked the Harry Potter series so much that they each bought their own set of books to have to keep. Yea! for pages and bindings and books you can feel and touch that will at least continue on for awhile longer.
Someday I hope they fight it out over the rest of my collections and that someone will want to keep them. Because I have been afraid. There are so many things competing with stories for our kids' attention now. They're basically 'hooked up' with the world at their fingertips 24 hours a day with new video games, e-readers and apps that come out every handful of minutes for their enjoyment and entertainment that I had already started to mourn the loss of kids that loved to read.
Maybe I was wrong.
Sofas and lawn swings and hammocks are all inviting places again this summer for this new generation of readers. And there are so many other good books out there to discover.
My heart is singing.
Besides, (sigh!) I, too, had an obsession as a teenager.
ob·sess
[ əb séss ]
1. never stop thinking about something: to occupy somebody's thoughts constantly and exclusively.
-------------
We visited a local retailer the other night for the midnight release of the video for the first Hunger Games.
The turn-out was very impressive and I have to say - it turns out a majority of the kids at the release had seen the movie in the theatre but had also read the books. Most had already finished the entire series. Some said they had re-read them in anticipation of this movie coming out on DVD.
The turn-out was very impressive and I have to say - it turns out a majority of the kids at the release had seen the movie in the theatre but had also read the books. Most had already finished the entire series. Some said they had re-read them in anticipation of this movie coming out on DVD.
Kids are reading.
I had a grandmother who loved to read. It was magical to go to her home and peruse her bookshelves on a rainy day and see what I might find. My parents were both readers, too. I was well acquainted early on with The Bobbsey Twins and The Little House on the Prairie. Volumes of the Readers Digest Condensed Books were a big part of my summers as a child. This year I have read more than I have in a long time. I have felt a hunger to lap up all of the words that I can because I have some panic within me that they are disappearing and soon all of our magical stories will be invisible downloads. However then will we be able to physically hand over a book we enjoyed and pass it on to another? I always have at least one, often two books that are parked in various spaces in my life - in the car, at my bedside table and in the den for when my own writer's block decides to visit.
I have a Kindle Fire now and I enjoy it immensely even though I didn't want to. However, already, I've experienced the downside. Two of my most enjoyable books of the summer that that I wanted to share with a good friend left me only describing how wonderful they were. When what I really wanted to do was drive right over to her house, thrust one at her and say, "You have to read this!"
And so I am now hoarding books. I have some in every room in our home and when I am able to acquire more I do. I love it that my kids and friends can stand in my living room and stare at my bookshelves, like I used to at my grandmother's, and hopefully find a good tale to envelope them.
I haven't taken an anti-Harry Potter or anti-Hunger Games stand. I know some parents that are uncomfortable with the themes of these stories but I've actually enjoyed both of the series myself and it seems like my own kids and their friends have read them as simply entertaining fantasies.
All I can keep thinking about for the most part is: Isn't it awesome?!
"She's obsessed with those books," A friend said about her daughter a couple of years ago when the Harry Potter adventure was full bore, "She's read them all about three times." And these are not thin, light reads. It takes some substantial reading time to muddle through one.
As a kid I was a die-hard Judy Blume and Beverly Cleary fan, also. They are still among the other books that are on my bookshelves.
And they weren't nearly as big as the books that these kids are devouring. My own kids liked the Harry Potter series so much that they each bought their own set of books to have to keep. Yea! for pages and bindings and books you can feel and touch that will at least continue on for awhile longer.
Someday I hope they fight it out over the rest of my collections and that someone will want to keep them. Because I have been afraid. There are so many things competing with stories for our kids' attention now. They're basically 'hooked up' with the world at their fingertips 24 hours a day with new video games, e-readers and apps that come out every handful of minutes for their enjoyment and entertainment that I had already started to mourn the loss of kids that loved to read.
Maybe I was wrong.
Sofas and lawn swings and hammocks are all inviting places again this summer for this new generation of readers. And there are so many other good books out there to discover.
My heart is singing.
Besides, (sigh!) I, too, had an obsession as a teenager.
Who the Frick is that girl on the bottom? Your first born.
ReplyDelete