Can You Have Too Many Books?

I'm part of a local mommy's group on Facebook.  I'm not super active there, but there's a question that pops up fairly regularly that I always like to put on my librarian hat to answer:



Q:  What is a thoughtful, fairly inexpensive gift that I can get for X Child who is X Years Old?  S/he already has everything, so I'm looking for a really interesting/unique idea.

My answer is always something along these lines:

A:  When in doubt, I love to give books!  You truly cannot have too many of them, you have lots of options to choose from (but you also really can't choose wrong), plus they promote learning / early literacy / parent-child bonding.  Board books and paperback  books are also fairly inexpensive, most costing under $10.  You really can't go wrong!



Occasionally someone will respond to my comment with the following counter-arguments.  While these are fair concerns, I think that it's really important for me to provide a few counter-counter-arguments.
 
I usually present this first answer in much shorter form with a more focused information depending on the situation, but here on this blog it makes sense to elaborate a bit more deeply:



CA:  But they already have SO MANY BOOKS!  I don't wan to give them more and add to the clutter.

CCA:  Oh, honey.  That's sweet of you to care about the trouble of having books strewn all over the living room floor.  And I get it.  I also have a very young child who owns a fairly obscene number of books.  And yes, I do occasionally mutter to myself about the clutter.  But really and truly:  You can't have too many books!  

I have observed, both from my own experience and the experiences of friends/colleagues as well as documented research (links below), that the more books a child has in their house, the more they read and the greater their future successes will likely be.  The books will not sit stagnant on the shelf.  They will be read if they are in the house and easily accessible.  It might seem like they have "enough" or "too many" books on the outside, but I can assure you that if you're seeing the books well enough to make this observation, you can be confident that they're being read.  A few more will only help this child love reading more, and that to me is more than worth a little bit of clutter.

Is the child very young and still being read to?  If so, I can all but guarantee that Mom and Dad are bored to death with most of the books already in their house, no matter how many they have and how wonderful they are.  A personal anecdote to illustrate this:  My 1.5-year-old daughter has about 75 board books.  It's a pretty ridiculous number; more than most people have.  But it only takes about two minutes to get through each one and because we have lots of books that are easily accessible, my daughter loves reading them and we go through a big stack every day.  It doesn't take very long for us to start repeating books, even with this large number to start with, and when we start repeating too often Mom and Dad get bored. Something new and clean and fresh will always be a welcome addition to the routine.

Is the child older?  Are they voracious readers?  If so, the same rule applies; The more, the better.  The books that you give will get read.  Are they more reluctant readers?  Then it's all the more important to give books, perhaps in a different genre or style than they are used to, in the hopes that you might help this child discover something new and exciting.  Most reluctant readers are reluctant simply because they haven't found That Book that sparks something with them.  They need a little nudge to find That Book.  They will only find That Book if people give them books.

Finally, the one or two books that you give are also not going to really going to add that much more clutter if they already have tons of books.  Mom and Dad find a way to make room on the shelf or in the storage basket.  They will continue to do so until the bookshelf collapses, at which point they will either do some housekeeping or buy an extra bookshelf.  Either way, it's not your job to worry about the clutter.  It's your job as the gift-giver to give a really nice gift, and books are great gifts.

A few links to interesting articles on the subject of having books in the home, both of which relate to the same study:
Pacific Standard
Education World



CA:  I just gave this child books at his/her last birthday / Christmas / Easter / other occasion.  Wasn't that enough?  I'd hate to be repetitive.

CCA:  Again, don't stress out about this.  As long as you give a different book, it won't be the exact same thing because each book provides a different reading experience.

Did you give them a book about dinosaurs at the last gift giving occasion?  Then give a book about colors or farm animals or outer space this time.  Variety is always good.

If you think an older child would be up to it, try giving books from a different genre than their usual to mix things up a bit, for example, giving something historical or a mystery to an avid reader of fantasy.  Alternatively, introduce them to a new, up-and-coming author in their favorite genre, or an older, classic series that they may not be aware of.

Don't forget about nonfiction too!  Has the child recently expressed an interest in anything at all - maybe sports, current events, opossums, the latest video game, or science?  I can all but guarantee that there's a book about that.  Find one to give as your gift to help the child further explore their new passion.

Most kids, especially those who love reading, will be happy to have more to read and explore.  More reluctant readers will hopefully be drawn to new subject matter.  The more books, the better!

You Just Won't Have Time

A fourth grade girl was at the library with her family.  She selected a pretty big stack of picture books to take home.  I overheard mom's reaction when she saw the books:

"Don't take those books.  They're too quick to read, and you just won't have time to read them all."

The logic is lost to me.

All the Books

A mother comes in to the library with her son, four or five years old, and a list of 12 recommended books.  I'm not sure exactly where the list came from, but I'm guessing it came from her child's school or daycare.  She asked if I would please help her find all of the books on the list.

I asked, in the interest of clarification, "Do you need to get all of these books, or just some of them?"

Her response:  "All of them please."

So I take her book hunting.  We're actually doing really well, tracking down such lovely titles as The Story of Ferdinand by Munro Leaf, Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People's Ears by Verna Aardema, and Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs by Judi Barrett.  Eventually we have a stack of seven or eight books.  As I hand her a lovely Robert Munsch book her eyes grow big.  She looks at the stack, then looks at me and says, "I think this is enough books for now."

The moral of the story:  Twelve books looks pretty manageable on paper, but this number is surprisingly heavy to carry.

The second moral:  It's okay to pace yourself.  No need to READ ALL THE BOOKS!**

Image not mine.  Parody of a lovely image from Hyperbole and a Half.
Origin of the parody unknown.  It seems to be all over the interwebs.

**You can read as many books as you want, or as few as you want, as fast or as slow as you want.  No pressure.  It's supposed to be fun.

Mother and the Last-Minute Request: A Fable

Today I took a phone call from an irate mother who was desperately looking for a book (Titanic: Coices from the Disaster by Deborah Hopkinson).  Why exactly was this mother so angry?  It was hard to tell through the copious yelling, but it sounded like her son had waited until the last minute to tell her that he needed a book for school.

That was an interesting phone call.  As I'm looking in the catalog to be sure that the book is currently on the shelf and not checked out to a child who prepared for his assignment in advance, all I can hear are phrases like "This is so inconsiderate of you," and "You need to tell me about these things ahead of time, not when I'm trying to get ready for work."  There is very little in the world sadder than listening to a parent berate their child like this in public.  While the kid probably did deserve a good talking too, I truly wish that his mother had waited until after she was finished with the phone call.

Thank goodness we had the book in stock.  I hate to think of what would have happened if we hadn't been able to provide them with the book they needed.  I can only imagine the yelling that news would have spawned.

The moral of this story:  Do not scold your child harshly where strangers can year you.  It makes you look like the villain, not you child.

The second moral:  When on the phone with someone, please move the phone away from your mouth when attempting to have a side conversation with a third party.  Better yet, wait until the phone call is completed to speak to anyone else.  Failure to do so only leads to awkwardness.

Not a Biography

A woman came in today and asked if we had any books about Justin Bieber for her daughter.  Apparently she needed such a thing for a book report.  Unfortunately for her, the few books we have about the pop singer were checked out.  I asked:

"Can I help you find something else?  Does your daughter need a biography for her report?"
"No, she doesn't need a biography.  She needs a book about a famous person."

...

Oh boy.

Perfection

Said by a father, who was apparently impressed that I knew exactly where to find the book his daughter was seeking (So Totally Emily Ebers by Lisa Yang) without even needing to look it up in the catalog:

"You're perfect!"

I don't know that I can really call myself perfect, but I'll certainly take the compliment!

To Be a Good Reader

Not too long ago a dad came in to the library looking for ideas on how to help his teenage daughter with her reading. He wanted books with ideas for parents and teachers to help him with the instruction he was planning on giving her; books that would tell him what kinds of flashcards to make and with worksheets for her to complete. And while I was able to help him find what he was looking for, I felt compelled to remind this well-intentioned father of what I think is the most important part of becoming a good reader:

Reading. Plain and simple. In order to be a good reader, you have to actually read.

It might not be enough to just do the reading assigned in school. To be a strong reader, kids need to read on their own too, just for fun. They need to find books that they enjoy so they learn that reading isn't a chore.

The more you read, the easier reading becomes. Make sure that there are books in your house available for your kids to enjoy at all times. If you don't want to buy books (and even if you do!) make sure that your children have library cards so that they have free access too all of the books on the library's shelves. And then be sure that you actually take your kids to the library, and let the librarian help them find great books to read.

The father in question here actually seemed surprised when I told him all of this. I told him to bring his daughter to the library soon, and that I would be happy to help her find something to read. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we see the two of them again soon.



*I just want to throw in a small disclaimer here. Reading exercises and formal instruction can also be a great help to struggling readers, and it's a whole different ball game when a learning disability is involved. I just think that you can't at all discount the importance of books and reading for fun as a part of a child's development as a reader.

"Real" Books

Today while I was working, I observed a parent tell her children to go and pick "real books" to check out. The kids had already selected a reasonable stack of books, largely selections of paperback series, but mom told them in no uncertain terms that their choices were, "junk...like cartoons." The word I would use to describe Mom's tone of voice as she expressed this view is "condescending."

This sort of attitude is disturbing to me for several reasons:

• There is absolutely nothing wrong with paperback series. Kids of this age (these two were ages 8-10 or so) often find comfort in the formula often found in these series, and enjoy being able to follow the adventures of familiar characters. Reading a paperback "Secrets of Droon" or even a "Rainbow Magic" or "Pokemon" book isn't going to kill a kid's brain. At lest they're reading - any exposure to the written word is always better than no exposure.
• If you want your kids to be readers, you first need to teach them to love reading. If reading becomes a chore, or if kids don't enjoy what they read, they won't want to keep doing it. And if they don't want to read, even if they're forced to they won't get nearly as much out of it. Telling your kids that they made poor choices in their reading, especially in a critical, condescending tone, and forcing them to read books they aren't interested in are both sure-fire way to turn kids off to reading.

Yes, there are plenty of amazing stand-alone novels that I really hope that kids will read and enjoy them. And I'll agree with this mother that many of these novels have higher-quality writing than paperback series. And I don't even think that there necessarily anything wrong with encouraging your kids to expand their horizons and explore these great novels. But there's no reason to have this sort of derogatory attitude toward paperbacks. Just because they're somewhat formulaic doesn't mean that they're not "real" books - don't rule them out just yet.