Booking children's entertainment

That children live at home before they start going to school means that their attitude towards reading is influenced, though not fully formed, by how parents feel about books and whether they get down to reading to their children, because children will not bother to pick up a book, unless they are encouraged to do so. Therefore, parents are mainly responsible to get their children hooked on stories in their early years. Besides, the magic of pop-out and marvelously illustrated books is so readily available that parents really have no plausible excuse to shirk.

It's easy to scoff at escapism that reading offers especially if we're talking fiction. Yet reading for the joy of it is precisely what takes the chore out of reading. Which brings me to the uphill struggle teachers face at the swarm of depressingly unmotivated and non-reading students.

Why it's a struggle brings out a wagging finger at the totally dismal perception of "reading equals studying". Other culprits include prattling TV sets, the lure of chat rooms or the vapid (even dangerous) fix of game consoles. Yes, it's so convenient to denounce our image-ridden, gizmo-savvy age; but what about the culpability of an awful choice on a school syllabus or badly stocked libraries especially in schools?

Harping on "reading is fun" is an aborted battle when children have to go through the torture of reading books they loathe. Yes, tastes are subjective and sure enough you won't win over each and ever student. But that's no excuse for myopic choices. Just thinking of what the Matsec English A-Level has been offering for countless moons makes you wonder if the people on the selection board are addicted to gore, death and depression.

Sometimes, the rot sets in earlier. How can you win over a class of today's non-reading tweens and teens with plots set centuries back and unfolding in a long-winded style? There's no point in ramming down novels which haven't aged well, more so when their convoluted sentence structure puts off and hinders readers who are not so fluent.

Such novels are probably selected with good intentions. But these are not enough. Getting wired to children's likes and dislikes means tapping their language - a mode of expression which stamps the bulk of contemporary children's literature. These are the narratives that score ace points on excitement while unraveling stories and emotions young ones can readily relate to because they talk their talk. If youngsters find novels totally repulsive, there are truckloads of non-fiction (in print and on the internet) they will enjoy as long it's a topic they're interested in.

No doubt schools' booklists are sealed and delivered before summer's scorching temperatures set in. Free from Sec and Matsec syllabi, conscientious teachers of younger students read through a stack of books and mull over what is suitable or not (no easy task) for their respective classes before actually deciding on their final choice. Meaning they don't factor in age and gender merely by flitting through the blurb, or insist on sticking to the same novel year in year out because they don't have to prepare any notes.

It's also important to keep in mind that each child within a group huddles a unique emotional baggage. And although the knots of deceit, cynicism, corruption, savagery and neglect keep on multiplying in our world, life is not totally bleak and brutish. So why not encourage books that make us laugh? Tears are not the only way to get young minds thinking.

As for school libraries, there's no quibbling about the fundamental need to pump in money into continuously updating and replenishing the bookshelves. You won't entice a child with yellowed, dog-eared, possibly moth-eaten and silver-fished reading-books.

Forget about the exciting plots they may contain. A child cannot be convinced because s/he is likely to judge a book by its cover and condition, more so when today's children are so finely tuned in to visual appeal that it makes perfect sense to go their way. After all, the sass of today's book covers is symptomatic of our image-conscious age. Moreover, children's literature is now a booming industry; a far cry from the meagre choice of decades back, again axing any excuse not to stock up. Well-stocked libraries are also a must because books aren't cheap, plus they are saddled with a totally unjustifiable VAT. We need to be more vociferous about this if we want to see any mark-down. High prices put off parents, whether they are book lovers or not. Think of a child who is a fast-reader, the type who easily reads a book in a day or two. Think too of a child whose parents look upon buying books as money down the drain. In such cases a good library - not mum or dad - is the answer.

Talking alluring libraries is also talking up-to-date librarians who liaise with teachers to realise fun, interactive projects. Top-notch librarians do much more than take care of and keep track of books. They go out of their way to get to know the students they meet to help them discover the delight of reading and whet their appetite for more. Unfortunately, not all schools are so lucky.

Where does all this leave beloved classics? Certainly up for grabs. No, I'm not contradicting myself. Youngsters who chew the beat of contemporary books will discover them in their own good time. It's a kind of progression. If not, they will undoubtedly be more open to them especially when encountered on an examination syllabus. This should be a mix of canonical and post-2000 literature projecting both the funny and dark side of life.

Although teenagers may not instantly warm up to long dead authors, the cream of the crop knew how to tell a story. Indeed, their gripping tales explains why so many have remained in print and turned into movie hits. Yet again the spectre of exams spoils the show. It doesn't take much imagination to figure out that authors past, present and future sweat over their scripts for fame and fortune in an elusive quest for immortality. No examination fodder feeds their ego.

But it takes vim and vigour as well as an open mind (open even to failure of winning over young readers) to sell a dated idiom. Classic or contemporary, think of getting students to act out (faithfully or unfaithfully) or rewrite dramatic episodes as front-page news. No arguing about harnessing a movie adaptation, if it exists. Some people may wage a war between them, but literati and glitterati have hobnobbed since scroll times.

Film dominates today's art world, raiding novels for subjects, exploiting their authors and seemingly lifting the crown for story-telling magic. After all, they have all the ammo going for them: The combo of motion - visuals - music - sound effects - camera wizardry - and critics ready to gush. So why not fire up a discussion about what a move-maker does out of adapting a novel?

Fair enough, some students will not bother to read the novel once they've watched the story on screen. But that's their decision. Youngsters who get to know both will realise that an uncanny cinematic technique runs through a good number of novels that predate the invention of cinema.

You won't get a kick out of a text versus film contest. The kick comes from the alchemy of words. What words want to say, what they actually say, what they can't ever say. As far as literature goes, the intoxication smoulders from the seeming blandness of a printed page blasting the imagination. That's the thrill of a page-turner.