Tuesday, August 21, 2001
A is for Alphabet Books
Somehow, I got hooked on alphabet books. It all started innocently enough: an accidental encounter in the public library, my hand brushed against an unfamiliar spine… I took the book off the shelf, opened it and watched, entranced, as the letter A sprouted feet, face and features, then vaulted across the page. “A is for acrobat,” I murmured. A few pages later, the letter S grew feathers, stretched an elegant white neck, morphed into a swan and drifted downstream. This was like no alphabet book I grew up with.
What did it mean? What would a child make of a book that showed letters changing into the objects they named? What were other alphabet books like these days?
Upwards of 120 alphabet books later, I have this to report. The austere form - 26 images from A to Zee - seems to bring out the best in many authors and illustrators. Endangered animals stalk dark-eyed through lush tropical forests, children of all races frolic through barnyards and backyards, grinning goblins try on outlandish outfits in the attic, and all in strict alphabetical order.
But amid all this creativity, I noticed a strange absence. While R shows children Riding Rhinos or Roller-blading in Rio, youngsters in contemporary alphabet books are hardly ever Reading. And though B is for Boa Constrictor, Balloon, Baboon and Banana, rarely is B for Book. Ironically, then, alphabet books do not present learning to read as a crucial adventure of childhood.
Why did this bother me? After all, an alphabet book is at least a book and not a video.
A May 2001 Washington Post article described the recent growth in adult aliteracy. Aliterates can read but choose not to, preferring TV and videos to books and magazines as sources of information and entertainment. Children growing up in aliterate households are less likely to see the point of learning to read, lacking adult role models of readers. Hence, aliteracy may breed illiteracy. Already, today, roughly 20% of adults in America are barely literate: they cannot read well enough to fill out an application or read a simple story to a child.
Reflecting on the alphabet books I’d sampled, I wondered whether we adults do enough to show children why reading matters. I consider all the handy tips and useful data I have gleaned from a quick trip to my local public library in River Park. I think of all the dreary waiting rooms I have escaped through the pages of a book. Most of all, I reflect on all the ideas and characters I have encountered through reading. I can’t imagine my life without reading and books as sources of provocation, information and pleasure.
Incentive schemes to encourage children to read do exist, but some are worrisome. For example, in some public schools, first-graders earn tokens for each book they read at home. The child can cash in ten tokens for a personal pizza at Pizza Hut. Thus, for the price of a few six-inch pizzas, Pizza Hut gets advertising into the classroom, gains a name as a supporter of public education, and recruits the child into its sales force, as she bugs her whole family to go out to Pizza Hut to celebrate her reading success. The child learns that the point of reading is a material reward and not the joy of reading itself.
With 44 million illiterate adults in America today, much is at stake. Maybe any scheme that will get our children hooked on reading and books is worth a try? Perhaps, so long as children grasp that A is for something, it doesn’t much matter whether A is for Acrobat or All-dressed pizza? On the contrary: we must do more to ensure that all our children develop into avid readers. L is for literacy, library and life-long learning.
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A random selection from more than 300 Michiana Chronicles -- refresh the browser to see another set:
Joe Chaney -- More essays by Joe
Louise Collins -- A is for Alphabet Books / More essays by Louise
April Lidinsky -- More essays by April
Jonathan Nashel -- More essays by Jonathan
Jeff Nixa -- More essays by Jeff
Ken Smith -- More essays by Ken
Jeanette Saddler Taylor -- More essays by Jeanette
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About the series
Michiana Chronicles is a series of radio essays by Jonathan Nashel, Louise Collins, Joe Chaney, Jeanette Saddler Taylor, Jeff Nixa, April Lidinsky, and Ken Smith.
Michiana is the region of north-central Indiana and southern Michigan roughly centered on South Bend, Indiana.
Michiana Chronicles airs on Fridays at 7:35 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. on WVPE (88.1 FM), the home of public radio in Elkhart / South Bend, Indiana.
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