The Gator Wrestler

When I was a kid, I devoured books. I read anything and everything I could get my hands on. Lewis’ The Chronicles of Narnia passed through my hands nearly a dozen times (favorite book in the series: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader; favorite character: Puddlegum; biggest disappointment: the movies). I travelled with Bilbo to the Lonely Mountain over and over and over again. Encyclopedia Brown’s deductive ability blew my mind. The Hardy Boys’ bravery inspired me. I actually wouldn’t have minded a plane wreck in the Canadian wilderness after reading Gary Paulsen’s Hatchet.

I still love books. My wife and I get up at 5 AM so we can have 2 hours of uninterrupted reading time. I’m at heaven in Frugal Muse or Half Price Books in Madison. Amazon may be my most-visited website. We’re unashamed book nerds (okay, mostly it’s me).

I want my children to have this same love. So we’ve read countless books to them. I can quote The Little Engine that Could. It’s thrilling to see them now embark on journeys of their own into the pages of great books. Our 7-year old reads through chapter books as fast as they’re put in his hands. Our 5-year old spends an hours every day thumbing through books on reptiles and Star Wars or reading the adventures of Nate the Great. Our 4-year old daughter can “read” all the Fancy Nancy books to her 1-year old sister. I don’t write this to boast in my kids … too much. I write this because their passion for reading presents a unique problem. I want them to read good stuff and not junk. (Don’t get me wrong. Junk food’s okay once-in-a-while, but a steady diet leaves you sick and obese.)

In an effort to steer my kids toward good books, I’m embarking on a voyage back into the world of children’s literature. I’m not an elementary school teacher or a librarian, but I want to put good stuff in my kids’ hands. I also want to be able to discuss the stuff they’re reading with a deeper conversation than “How was the book?” followed by the obligatory “Fine.” Plus, I want an excuse to read stuff from the children’s section without shame.

So I’ll be reading books slightly ahead of my kids’ reading level in an effort to locate and pass on great material to my kids and catch up on some of what I’ve missed. Artemis Fowl, The Dark Is Rising Sequence, Percy Jackson and the Olympians, The 39 Clues, How to Train Your Dragon, The Ranger’s Apprentice, Inkheart, and Fablehaven have all made it onto my to-read list along with classics like Huckleberry Finn and Old Yeller. I’ll also be reading to and alongside my kids more often. The plan is to be putting up a few reviews here. I’m not a book reviewer, but here’s a couple of my initial goals.

1. I want my children to be inspired to bravery and sacrificial heroism, but realize that they don’t have to be the ultimate hero. Jesus fills that role. Children’s books are almost always about a young boy or girl discovering “who they really are.” Quite often, we’re left with a message of “You have to be the hero.” The Bible leads us to the conclusion that you can’t be the hero, but Jesus is. Does the literature we point our children to in turn point them to a greater hero like the Christ figures of Aslan and Gandalf? Or do we say to our children, “You can do anything you want because you’re perfect (and misunderstood).” At the same time, I want to inspire them with tales of bravery, nobility, and chivalry. Conversation with your children over what they’re reading and watching is critical in parenting.

2. There are a ton of good stories. Throw a dragon and a cool map together and you’ll come up with something. But does the work contain good writing and wordplay? Lewis was a master of this. How else can you come up with lines like “There once was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and he almost deserved it.” or “…a Unicorn and a fat, full-grown donkey indoors always make a room feel rather crowded.” Brilliant. I want to introduce my children to that kind of writing. And to be honest, I could use a few good mentors in the wordplay and sentence structure department. Reading Lewis and A. A. Milne’s Winnie-the-Pooh have reintroduced me to literary genius.

Since I have a hard time reading one book at a time, my first selections will be Rick Riordan’s The Lightning Thief and N. D. Wilson’s 100 Cupboards. I’ll come back here periodically and review the books and the conversations they inspire with my kids.

I’ve still got some work to do in defining what “good literature” is. Hopefully, immersing myself in it will aid in that discovery. I’m also not one of those pastors who thinks that the only quality reading material is what you can pull off your local Christian bookstore. Most of the fiction you’ll find there (children’s books in particular) is trash. But in the quest to parent wisely, I have a fun task ahead.

If you have books you think I should tackle, let me know. If you want to read along, go find 100 Cupboards or The Lightning Thief and let’s begin!