Listening to Jackie French speak, as I did three times over the writers festival, it is easy to get caught up in her enthusiasm for books, reading and literacy. Jackie as a speaker is generous, animated, and inspiring.
It all began for Jackie from a young life rich in stories - oral story telling from family, then the magic of discovering Socrates and The Magic Pudding at age seven. This is when she discovered that you didn't need to be "trapped in a box of here and now" and that you can live a thousand lives through books and stories. Now that is a statement that must resonate with any person who has a love for reading. Who among us with this love for reading hasn't had an experience of a book 'hangover' from reading something that truly grabs us?
Jackie's theory on what books we should 'allow' our children to read is an interesting one, and one I think could be explored further. Allow them to read what ever they want - don't limit them to 'childrens books', allow them to extend their reading beyond their 'limitations'. Why? Because this is another way we learn, and Jackie's point is most important, this is how we learn about adulthood.
"Stories are where you can tell the truth to youth" Jackie said.
Telling youth the truth in print, and in a format they can digest, for they will often only take out what they can understand. An enjoyable preparation for the years to come I should think.
"Every child deserves to read," said Jackie "and every child has a magic book".
Just what is that, a magic book? It is the book that opens the world of reading up, even to a person who thought they would never enjoy reading. Of course finding that magic book is the challenge, and one way to do that is through libraries.
"Libraries are places of power".
A powerful place full of worlds yet to be explored, stories to discover, and rediscover, and we all should have access to them, and make sure that we do.
I must admit Jackie's talks resonated with me on a personal level as I had had discussions with a number of my son's teachers who didn't like that I allowed him to read books meant for older readers. When I asked "Why not?" I was told it was because he should read at only his level, that he wasn't 'ready' for those other books. I disagreed with that on many levels - he loved to read but not his school reader because they were 'boring' and not challenging for him; I felt that his reading and comprehension improved from reading more challenging books and I knew this because we discuss his reading; and most importantly he consumes books, he loves them, and I was sure as anything not going to take that away from him! To hear that my own personal feelings and observations were backed up by an author of Jackie's calibre and children's laureate, well let's just say that is satisfying.
Jackie sums it up the best - "there is nothing more powerful than a book".
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