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Books Books Books!

by , posted on May 24th, 2010 in Ideas and Inspiration



 

My friend Jenny was the first to tell me about the power of books in the home. She’s an avid reader and an educator. So when she tells me something, I listen.

Today, I was reminded of the conversation Jenny and I had when another educator, Lindsay of Coffee In the Classroom, shared this article in the Chronicle. By the way, if you’re not familiar with Lindsay’s blog or follow her twitter stream, you should go check them out.

So what do you think? How important is it to you to have books in the home? And what about new media (e.g. wikipedia, blogs, online news sources) and new technology (e.g. kindle, ipads, etc)? Will it dumb down our kids?


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9 Responses to “Books Books Books!”

  1. Kirsten Says:

    May 25th, 2010 at 1:32 am

    I’m a Luddite. I’ll go ahead & own that. But surely part of the joy of reading – that bone-deep, life changing JOY of reading – comes from the feel of the page between yr fingers, the thrill of discovering secrets within illustrations, and the weight of a book on your lap. Not discounting new media & its usefulness, but I guess I kind of see it like learning any skill: you have to know the basics, the ROOT of the topic, before going on to the fancy new stuff. If you don’t love a book, how will you grow to love the words???

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  2. Jennifer Cooper Says:

    May 25th, 2010 at 2:00 am

    You know what I miss? The set of encyclopedias that resided on the shelves in the dining room of my parent’s home. They had maroon bands with letters embossed in gold on the spine. I’d sometimes just flip through them when I was bored. They were sourced in many school written papers growing up.

    I hope my kids always get that feeling of satisfaction of dog-earring a page and coming back to it as a marker for how far you read in a sitting. Ahhh, I love tactile things.

    Which…and now I’m rambling…makes me wonder if our brains are wired that way – to need that tactile input (especially early on) to form the neural connections we need to learn. How would that occur without actual page and cover books?

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  3. Jennifer Cooper Says:

    May 25th, 2010 at 2:04 am

    Oh and plus, one of the things I do when I go to a new house is to see what books are on the shelves. It’s a good conversation starter and offers a peek into where the person’s interests lie.

    How am I supposed to get my nosy fix on if everything’s stored on a kindle or ipad? Um, excuse me, can I see your kindle?

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  4. Molly Says:

    May 25th, 2010 at 2:15 am

    I loved my parents’ encyclopedias too. Looked through them all the time – I remember, especially, that some topics had fancy illustrations with clear layover pages (like the human anatomy illustrations). And I remember poring over the gems and minerals section.

    We have a lot of books in our house, and of course we encourage our girls to read as much as they can get their hands on, but I have to admit that I battle my practical side all the time when it comes to books. I don’t like to accumulate them anymore because I don’t want to have to move them or find space for them in the house. We’ve pared down what we own and stored away a bunch of books too.

    And no, I don’t think the new technology will dumb down our kids. How much we did read the backs of cereal boxes when we were growing up? Road signs? Reading everything is good – it’s good practice.

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  5. Jennifer Cooper Says:

    May 25th, 2010 at 2:27 am

    Oh yeah! LOVED the overlays. Those were the best. I’m totally geeking out right now. Can you tell?

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  6. lesley Says:

    May 25th, 2010 at 3:22 am

    i love browsing bookshelves at others’ homes. i find so many amazing books that way! and of course, a glimpse into their likes + interests :)
    in our current place, our books are all downstairs in the finished basement office. i miss them! it’s the only good spot for them at the moment as the living area is otherwise occupied. i am dying for my faves to be back upstairs though, i certainly feel a loss not having them close by to flip through at any time.

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  7. Candice Says:

    May 25th, 2010 at 3:54 am

    For me books are the most important thing. I started my love of books at a VERY young age. The best gift I ever get is either a new book, or a gift cert to B&N. I started my kids book collection at a very young age. My kids are over flowing w/books and I’m proud of it. J taught himself how to read at 4 yo and everyone asked us how we did that. When we told them he did it by himself, they were stunned. I am convinced that having so many books in our house encouraged him to want to read. I didn’t care when he started reading, but he loves books so much he just had to learn.

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  8. Lori-Anne Says:

    May 25th, 2010 at 6:42 pm

    I, too, am a bibliophile and can’t imagine my house without books. Books on shelves, books stacked in corners. Books everywhere. The most interesting rooms always, always, always have books (this is especially true of home decorating mags – books, flowers and a cup of coffee or tea are requisite). And I’m totally with you, Jennifer, when you say you love checking out people’s book shelves. Their personality is stacked on those shelves and what you see there is very telling. I love technology and use my phone as a watch, an alarm, internet source, email, calendar, camera, MP3 player and calculator. But one thing it will never be to me is a book. Vive le livre!

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  9. Jennifer Cooper Says:

    May 25th, 2010 at 11:45 pm

    Vive le livre indeed!

    And can I say I’m happy all of you have outted yourselves as checking out other people’s bookshelves too.

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