Whatever it takes?

This week, one of our library books was this:



There was also some reading done from our own home library:


As any preschool parent is surely already aware, there is an entire genre of children's literature based on popular television or movie characters.  I cringe when I see them, lurking in $2.99 book bins and at school book fairs: paperbacks starring Dora, Diego, or any of the disney princesses.  I find them at their best, forgettable, and at their worst cloying, full of irritating pop-morality and carelessly produced.

And yet. My kids LOVE them.  My pre-K crew is able to detect one from 20 yards away and zooms directly towards them.  We have to set limits on the number we check out from the library, because if my children had their way, this might be all they ever read.  The few that have made their way into our home collection have been read and reread and carried around lovingly until they're tattered.  

The publishers and advocates for these books make an increasingly common argument:

We will do whatever it takes to get kids reading.

If it takes mimicking TV or appealing to popular branding, that's fine.  If later on, it takes feeding kids books filled with zombies and vampires and sex, that's great.  At least they're reading, right?

They admittedly have a point.  My older kids happily read from these gems as their own independent reading skills developed, even while they resisted my choices.  And I'm sure the sheer repetition contributes to my preschooler's budding literacy.

Yes, junk literature may get our kids excited about reading.  It may provide a jumping off place for their literacy skills.  But ultimately, if kids are not also guided to high quality literature, it gets them excited about reading junk.

Even the very youngest children can and should be able to tell the difference between well-written and creative works and unimaginative drivel.  Our children's librarian invites kids to rate each book she shares during story time with thumbs up-thumbs down signals.  We should encourage this kind of criticism, and lead our young readers to choose the very best they can find.

Good writers can elevate even the seemingly pedestrian job of writing "early readers" into an art form.  Mo Willems, Dr. Suess, and Cynthia Rylant have all written authentic characters and memorable plots--even with the simplified format and limited vocabulary required by early readers.  But books with a brand instead of an author?  I'm pretty sure my 7 year old has written stories that show my creativity.

 I want to raise readers, yes--but I want to raise discerning readers who will devour Shakespeare and Jules Verne and Jane Austen.  Not only Danielle Steele or Stephenie Meyer.  Because even mediocre books will entertain my kids.  I want my little readers to learn love books that will change them.