As an English major, conservative Baptist, and avid blog reader, I've come across several individuals who skipped the typical adolescent literature phase and went right on to classic novels. Whenever I come across these individuals, I feel like I somehow am inferior because I didn't start reading classic novels on my own until my junior year of high school. Even then I was forcing myself to because I knew I needed to get caught up if I was to succeed as an English teacher. I had a friend in college who started reading Dickens when she was 7 and Shakespeare when she was 12. I didn't read Dickens until my senior year of high school and still haven't finished A Tale of Two Cities (Dickens is just so wordy!). I read my first Shakespeare play my freshman year of high school when we read Romeo and Juliet for class. I HATED Shakespeare until my junior year of college when I took a Shakespeare class and learned to appreciate his work.
Instead of reading classics as a child, I was busy devouring Nancy Drew, Boxcar Children, American Girl, Goosebumps, and Babysitter's Club. (Although the last two were either read at school or stashed under my pillow so my mom wouldn't know. I later confessed.) When my mom deemed I was old enough, she let me read the Christian romance novels that she finished. I soon became obsessed with Christian romance novels and wouldn't read any books that didn't have romance in them. A friend of mine encouraged me to eventually stop reading Christian romance novels, and I've only read 1 or 2 since my sophomore year of college. In college, I started reading only classics to make up for lost time. This was fun for about two years when I tired of trying to interpret my recreational literature. Then I took a class called Adolescent Literature. This class reminded me that I could still enjoy middle school level books because many of them are so well-written. I always used the excuse that I was previewing them for my future students. One of my former students still recommends adolescent novels to me and brings me copies of books he enjoyed reading. Since getting married, I've tried reading contemporary adult fiction. Most of the books I've come across in this genre are absolute trash. I've taken many of these books back to the library without finishing them. I've also finished some of them and felt extremely guilty afterwards. Now I read a mixture of adolescent, classic, and modern fiction. I also try to balance my fiction reading with good Christian non-fiction.
I'm slowly starting to realize that I don't need to evaluate my worth against the aforementioned child prodigies. I enjoyed my childhood to the fullest. I read books that interested me. I learned to love reading by reading books geared for my age group. I still love to read and still take time to read classics. I think my approach to reading helps me inspire my 6th graders to love reading as well. I can recommend books for them at their interest level. I can share my unbridled passion for reading with them in a way that they can understand and appreciate.
So what will I encourage my own children to read someday? Whatever they want to read (as long as the book is appropriate). I will challenge them to try new genres and authors, but I'm not going to stand in the way of them finding their passion for reading. I'm thankful my parents let me choose my own books. I'll do the same for my own kids.
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