Thursday Thoughts...

“Books shouldn’t be daunting, they should be funny, exciting, and wonderful; and learning to be a reader gives us a terrific advantage.”

Roald Dahl

My first thought was "well, yes, of course Roald Dahl would say that!"

Given the books he wrote and the stories he told and the way he engaged young readers - this is exactly how he saw the purpose of books.

His use of the word daunting interested me as I thought about this quote. For children I agree whole-heartedly. To develop a love of reading, and even the skill, books need to be accessible and engaging. If possible children shouldn't experience books as challenges to overcome, battles to be had, enemies to tackle. 

However, I can't fully agree with books not being daunting, if their purpose to educate and challenge. We can't always spend our life doing the nice things we love doing and not having our thoughts, perceptions or beliefs challenged. It does us good to se the world from a different angle and sometimes this can be daunting.

Daunting is also a nice word because it has a feel of the 'possible to overcomeness' of it. It isn't impenetrable, it isn't impossible it's just a bit daunting. Once we overcome our fear or hesitation we'll be right!

I agree in full with him as he finishes with how learning to be a reader gives us a terrific advantage, and is something I would wish for all of us. 

Celebration of Books Maleny, 2015. Setting up our Book Swap tree where folk could bring a book, then take a book....