Everywhere we go, everywhere we look, we are being told that we need to instill a reading habit in our children. There was the Harry Potter craze, and the author (shame on me for not remembering her name, and for being too lazy to look it up!) was credited with getting children and adults all over the world hooked on reading. How ironic that the Harry Potter series was made into movies.

The local library goes so far as to have a reading ’’spider’’. Children get a paper spider that they put on their fridges, and color a leg each time they read a book. When the spider is complete, they win something - it slips my mind what. Is it just me, or is that an insult to books? Is it more apt to say - ’’Go out and catch some huge hairy spiders - and when you’ve collected eight, we’ll let you read a story.’’

The rebel in me protests - what fun are books when grown-ups are trying to get you to read them? But seriously. I’m afraid kids will see it as something to do because it should be done - not something to do just because it’s fun.

Books have just as much an influence over kids as TV. I would even say they have more influence. The printed word is extremely powerful. Children usually don’t have the discerning power to see that opinions in a book are just the author’s opinions. Only when we are adults (and sometimes not even then), can we know that just because something is published does not make it the truth. This makes it very important to pick what you think are the right books for your child - and when they are picking for themselves, to be as vigilant as you would be over their TV schedule.

I think it’s so very important, to not force books on children. To let books be a reward in themselves. To let children know, age appropriately, that not everything in books is necessarily right.

Disclaimer: I have a library of children’s books, and read to my daughter every day.