Kids beat all.
I say that after spending a half-day at the Rogers Activity Center's Summer Day Camp. My Altrusa club members hosted our annual Pages & Pictures Literacy Fair in which kids get at least two free books -- a new one and a gently loved one. They also get to participate in activities designed to encourage reading and a love of art.
My job was at the gently-loved book tables, provided by the great folks at Friendly Bookstore. That's kind of a traffic cop job: "Just one book so everyone can have one"; "No, I don't think we have any shark books"; "Mark Twain? No, that one's gone. You should have to taken it when you saw it."
This wasn't my first literary fair at the day camp, but still I was surprised by a couple of things.
First was the number of kids wanting copies of the "Twilight" series. For the uninitiated, that's a series of books about a human girl falling in love with a vampire. There's a werewolf in there, too.
I read the first one, and thought, meh.
Still, I tolerated my niece's obsession with the series, even if I thought obsessive love is not something a young teenager needs to get, well, obsessed about.
One of the kids wanting the book was a little guy, maybe a second-grader, who started to pick up a copy when I stopped him.
"But, why?" he whined.
"Because, you are too young," I replied.
"I saw the movie," he said, somewhat defensively, before heading back to the other table where books for his age group were.
What I didn't say in reply: "I can't help that your parents apparently lack in parenting skills and let you see a movie filled with violence and sex, or at least implied sex."
I'm not a parent, but, if I did have one, I darn sure wouldn't let my 7-year-old see those movies -- or read the books.
There were many, many age appropriate books, but the first thing he went to was "Twilight." I think there was a second reason he gravitated to those books: They were new, or close to.
Here's why I say these kids think if it isn't new, it isn't good.
One of the older boys, who was looking for mysteries said, "Don't you have anything new?"
I was trying to interest him in a book upon which an Alfred Hitchcock movie was based. Sorry, can't remember which one, but it would have been a good read for him.
"You like horses? Here's 'Black Beauty,' a great story. Nope? Well, I don't think we have any other horse books."
"Pirates? Here's 'Robinson Crusoe.' It's about a dude who is shipwrecked."
And so it went.
I came to realize, too many of these kids don't appreciate classics. I think I even had one of the "Little House" series left. How can that be with that many girls?
They were interested in mysteries, too, but when I pointed out one of my childhood favorites,"Trixie Belden -- The Mystery of the Velvet Gown," their eyes glazed over.
At least, they didn't roll their eyes at me.
And none of the younger kids took the copy of the classic Hans Christian Anderson story, "Thumbelina." It was a discarded school library copy so it was certainly wasn't all bright and shiny, but between the hardback covers were beautiful illustrations by Adrienne Adams. I took it home with me just to look at the pictures.
If I could offer one piece of advice to parents it would be: Teach your kids to love books -- classics, best sellers, mysteries, biographies, even vampire books. It's one of the best things you can do for them.
The folks at the activity center believe that: All the kids in summer camp are required to read 30 minutes a day. Score one for Marleen Heyns and her staff.
Overall, the kids were excited to get books -- well, except for one boy who whined, "Do we have to pick out a book?"
No, he didn't have to, and he didn't.
That's the sad story of the day.
The happy story is most of the others asked: "How many books can we have?"
Commentary on 07/24/2014