There is an interesting article up at Mothering Magazine by Josh Golin, Putting the book back in Book Fair. Josh Golin is the program manager at Campaign for Commercial Free Childhood and puts a strong point across in his column: book fair should be about books, not another avenue for corporations to catch kids and parents to spend more money on crap. I think this is a pretty important subject because consumerism and children is pretty out of control.
Golin points out how many TV shows now target children with fun, attractive books. This is so hard for many parents because reading is often seen as an alternative to watching television when kids are young. My parents had a strict ‘no TV after school’ rule and because of that I began an avid reader. For them, reading was a way for to learn and have fun without worrying about all the advertising crap I would be absorbing if I was in front of the TV. But now many children’s books are just melted down version of the most popular kids shows. Of course, the counter argument is that reading is something that is often hard to get children interested in and giving them books that are related to their favorite shows makes reading more accesible and less tedious for them.
Overall though, Golin is spot on about book fairs needing to remain about books. It’s a pretty simple concept.
Mothering Magazine, book fair, Josh Golin, Campaign for Commercial Free Childhood, children’s books, reading, learning to read
