{"id":10225,"date":"2013-02-28T19:00:24","date_gmt":"2013-03-01T00:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/?p=10225"},"modified":"2013-05-27T13:19:08","modified_gmt":"2013-05-27T17:19:08","slug":"spread-the-love","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/?p=10225","title":{"rendered":"Spread the Love"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Shelley Macon, Head Editor, INALJ Florida<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Spread the Love<\/b><\/span><\/h3>\n

\"image\"<\/a> In honor of February and Valentine’s Day this month, I have been thinking a lot about love.\u00a0 One of\u00a0 the most important duties of a librarian is to spread love.\u00a0 The kind of love that makes your heart beat fast and your palms sweat.\u00a0 The kind of love that makes you walk around smiling like a crazy person.\u00a0 The kind of love that only comes from reading a good book.\u00a0 Everyone should have the opportunity to experience this kind of love.\u00a0 Unfortunately, there is one group that libraries are the most at risk of losing…boys.<\/p>\n

As the mother of a son, I did all the things we are told to do to raise a reader- I read to him, encouraged him to read, and modeled positive reading behaviors among other things.\u00a0 And as my son grew, I could envision time spent reading side-by-side and discussing our deep and profound thoughts. Surely, my son would be the exception, right?\u00a0 Wrong.\u00a0\u00a0 It was a beautiful dream.\u00a0 Unfortunately, it was only a dream.<\/p>\n

In reality, I witnessed the insidious effects of video games, girls, and sports on my son’s love of reading.\u00a0 In library school we all spent time learning about \u201cliterature.”\u00a0 We turned our noses up at all those popular book series made of fluff and fantasy.\u00a0\u00a0 But I tell you now, there was a time when all I could get my son to read was Diary of a Wimpy Kid<\/i> by Jeff Kinney and Captain Underpants <\/i>by Dav Pilkey.\u00a0 Yes, even with my librarian super powers I could not convince my 1O year old to read a book without pictures.\u00a0 I felt like such a failure, both personally and professionally.<\/p>\n

Even though I couldn’t convince him, short of threats of imminent death, to read anything else, I persisted.\u00a0 He refused.\u00a0 I insisted.\u00a0 He refused.\u00a0 Stalemate.\u00a0 We finally made a bargain.\u00a0 I could try to interest him in books, but he could choose what he read, and he had to read 30 minutes everyday.\u00a0 I let go control and in return, he discovered the joy that could be found in the pages of a book.<\/p>\n

Now, my teenage son loves to read.\u00a0 For the last few weeks we have been discussing his deep and profound thoughts about Robert Heinlein’s Starship Troopers<\/i>.\u00a0 He cannot wait to go to the library and pick up his next book.\u00a0 My beautiful fantasy turned reality.<\/p>\n

My son taught me that the most important duty of a librarian is to inspire a love of reading, not necessarily a love of literature. By all means, introduce children to new authors and genres.\u00a0 Expand there focus and horizons.\u00a0 Show them the doorway to wonderful new stories and characters.\u00a0 And if you have a child that can and will read classics like Tom Sawyer<\/i> by Mark Twain or Treasure Island <\/i>by Robert Louis Stevenson or award winners like The Graveyard Book<\/em> by Neil Gaiman or The One and Only Ivan <\/i>by Katherine Applegate <\/i>(choir of angels singing) go for it.\u00a0 Just don’t be disappointed at the ones that only window shop.\u00a0\u00a0 And don’t forget the power that comic books and video game manuals and fluff have in their own right.\u00a0 Eventually,\u00a0 with patience and persistence, they will walk through the doorway and then<\/b> you can hook them.\u00a0 And as we all know, a love of reading is the bridge to lifelong learning. So, spread the love.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Shelley Macon, Head Editor, INALJ Florida Spread the Love In honor of February and Valentine’s Day this month, I have been thinking a lot about love.\u00a0 One of\u00a0 the most important duties of a librarian is to spread love.\u00a0 The kind of love that makes your heart beat fast and your palms sweat.\u00a0 The…<\/p>\n

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