CLASSICS: Why and how we can encourage children to read them

A Short Note from the Author

I

t’s been three years since I wrote the first book in the Classic Series and seven years since I started propagating the reading of the classics among the pupils I tutor. I’ve come a long way since then, and it has been an enriching journey. Not only have I managed to instil¹ the love of classic literature among my students, but also I have built upon my own repertoire of classics that I have had the pleasure to discover and read.

I have received numerous awards and recognitions for my Classics series, but I still have a long way to go to reach my goals in the reading of erudite literature. What is important to me are the simple things of life which are done in an extraordinary manner. To recline on my revolving chair at ease with the world and what it stands for, with a good classic to read, maybe Dombey and Son, one of Charles Dickens’s masterpieces resting upon my large rotund belly, and read about Florence’s tears which over the years have become my own.

However, before I can commence the continuation of the reading of my chosen classic, my shirt sleeve is tugged at. I look down and gaze lovingly at my student, age eleven years and in the sixth-grade. She is Sameera. She smiles and in her hand is Frank L. Baum’s, The Wizard of Oz. She is in the middle of Chapter 9, and it’s very exciting, and most importantly, it is a classic.

I leave her to explore the wonderful Emerald City sitting on a stool next to me, and with a warm feeling of contentment flooding my heart, I return to my Dickens.

For it is in doing the ordinary things for our wards that we contribute in an extraordinary and positive way to the preservation and enrichment of humanity in them and us.

I wish to combine my two books in the Classic series for the benefit of educators, and all those who are involved in the betterment of our children, our future. However, it would be unjust, nay, ridiculous of me to not include in this combined edition the importance and impact that the reading of classics has had on my own  life. If I come across to you as a happy and blessed human being, I assure you that books have had and still play an important part in this instance, especially the reading and rereading of classics.

If you trust a book lover’s word, then read on about how classics have influenced and educated me from my school days to being the writer, teacher, and publisher I am today. As I always tell my pupils and well-wishers in the literary world–the classics were there when my father, wasn’t there. My father abandoned me when I was an infant, only a few months into the world... because I wasn’t a boy. I was fortunate to have had a strong and independent mother, who brought me up on her own in my maternal home after my father asked her to take me and leave his parents’ abode of superstition and decadent thoughts.

Who then became my father? Who became the masculine support that I craved for every time I used to see in my school, little children like me being pampered and loved by their fathers? Maybe Bram Stoker? Maybe Charles Dickens? Maybe Wilkie Collins? Maybe Jules Verne? Maybe H.G. Wells? Maybe Oscar Wilde? Maybe Edgar Allan Poe? Or maybe it wasn’t the authors, but the evergreen and immortal cast of characters in their books who became part of the paternal aspect of my upbringing. Nevertheless, major characters provided what I most needed growing up; characters such as Van Helsing for his wisdom, Sherlock Holmes for his rationalism, David Copperfield for encouraging me to overcome despair, Doctor Dolittle for his love of the animal kingdom, Peter Pan for his innocence, Don Quixote for pursuing his dreams. I recently told my sixth-graders that I have a rich parentage.

When my father was not there, these books filled up the gaping emptiness in my heart and in my consciousness. I became them, and I think sometimes, they became me.

So please read the classics, and encourage your friends and children to read them. Live life to the fullest and serve humanity. Keep on reading and do not despair. For as much as we love our children, the classics love us even more. If they could be a father to me, then surely, they can at least be your friend!

Trust them, you and your progeny, won’t regret it.

F. Pathan

26/07/2016

CLASSICS

Why We Should Encourage Children to Read Them

chapter one

Why We Should Read the Classics

W

hen I was in middle school, we as students were given an option during the library period, either to read a regular fiction book (Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, Harry Potter, Princess Diaries, Horrid Henry) from the selection on the table next to the giant chart of South America, or we could enter the inner part of the library where we could choose a classic to read (all abridged).

Being a person of an unusual temperament, I used to go for the fiction collection. After we were banned from using the library because we were in the Librarian’s words, ‘Evil under the Sun,’ I started to ask my maternal uncle to buy me books. He presented me with classics. At first, I made a wry face and bellowed like a bull. Then I turned a page that got me rolling. From that point forward, I realized that I was suddenly becoming really smart and that I could ace my English papers with ease. Why?  Because I was reading classics!

My life now began to revolve around the lives of various fictional characters I’d met in books. I had no time to feel bored… there were so many great books to read, so little time. Teachers began to wonder how my essays started to get better each day. When they realized that I was into reading classics, they were pleased; but I guess they never tried to promote the idea to other students that classics make a lot of difference to a person’s overall personality.

Thus, by the end of middle school, I had only a few friends who also shared my love for classics. However, by the end of High School, in my circle of friends, I was the only one reading classics and writing the best essays. The others preferred reading medical fiction thrillers.

Today I am a teacher and an author. I try to excel in everything I do and I also try to put in my hundred percent where my students are concerned. Most importantly, daily, I try to build up the reading habit in my students. I especially encourage them to read many classics, because I have seen the difference classics have made to my life, and my profession. Right now, as a twenty-three-year-old, I’m feeling so self-actualized, so totally cool! Reading classics did that for me.

With the aid of this small book, I want to propagate the importance of classics to everyone, every student, parent, and teacher.

Through this book, I shall introduce you to the various classics that have influenced me, the different skills one can develop by reading good literature, and how sometimes good fiction makes reality a lot more tolerable.

chapter two

Favourite Classics

T

he list given below is the choice of my students who have voted for their favourite² classics:

Favourite Classics for Boys:

The Adventures of Robin Hood by Roger Lancelyn Green

King Arthur and His Knights of the Round Table by Roger Lancelyn Green

Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift

The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas

Moby Dickby Herman Melville

David Copperfield by Charles Dickens

The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas

Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe

Frankensteinby Mary Shelley

The Time Machine by H. G. Wells

The War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells

The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame

Tales of Mystery and Imagination by Edgar Allan Poe

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson

Favourite Classics for Girls:

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

Heidiby Johanna Spyri

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett

Daddy-Long-Legs by Jean Webster

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank

Black Beauty by Anna Sewell

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

Five Childrenand It by E. Nesbit

The RailwayChildren by E. Nesbit

Alice’s Adventuresin Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery

Emily of New Moon by Lucy Maud Montgomery

The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens

chapter three

Improves Language Skills and Vocabulary

O

ne of my seventh-grade students wrote an essay on the problems of a teenager. The essay was good enough to be given a fifteen out of twenty, but this student was a top ranker, he should have done better. I immediately  gave him a full reading list including H. G. Wells and Jules Verne to take care of his scientific interests and his literature.

Being a TV maniac, he was not too keen on following my suggestions, but thank heavens for strong-willed mothers; he started off with Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne on his iPad.

After two weeks, he was  finished with:

Around the World in 80 Days

The Time Machine

The Invisible Man

I encouraged him to first read the abridged versions of all these works so he would gain confidence in reading a ‘grown-up book’ and most importantly, completing it and understanding the story.

The next time he wrote an essay for his term paper titled, The Modern World versus Tradition, he aced his essay scoring eighteen-and-a-half out of twenty with a star from the English teacher. When I studied the essay he wrote, I saw that the boy had used many new words that he had not used previously. Also, with the aid of his sentence construction, he made a boring composition sound interesting.

The following are some sentences and words he used in the essay that took my breath away:

The modern world leans more towards³ a form of indifference to tradition and customs.

The traditions of our ancestors now seem to many modern people an opposition towards rational thinking.

We now live in the realm of rational thinking.

The most shocking part about this essay was that it was by a twelve-and-a-half-year old. The prescription proved to bear fruit. The child is now roaming about with his mind engrossed on the mysterious island of Doctor Moreau.

Sceptics? There were aplenty against my theory. Some suggested that the student was perhaps picking up enriching words from me or from the television.

I cast this view aside with my next student from the eighth grade. Not only was she a regular TV watcher, but she was tutored by me for all subjects and she used to spend maximum time with me. In the terminal examination, she scored a fifteen out of twenty in her English essay.

Although it was the highest in the class, I was not impressed. I immediately suggested a heavy dose of Lucy Maud Montgomery and Rudyard Kipling, in keeping with her interests. Before she finished the third classic, her vocabulary had been enhanced and her dialogue writing was witty and meaningful.

Undoubtedly, the reading of the masters of English had brought about miraculous changes in my students’ language writing. To my amazement, the reading of classics, abridged or unabridged, even enhanced my students’ literature answer skills. I had to get used to seeing stars in all my students’ books.

The use of a dictionary and a thesaurus became symbols of ‘coolness.’

However, I began to wonder, would their speaking skills also improve dramatically? I was proved right there too. The students back home were speaking in fluent English which dazzled their parents. I realized that as my students’ reading experience was enhanced by their reading sessions, book reviews and documentaries, their English-speaking skills improved so much that the conversation between a fifth grader and a ninth grader could not be used to tell them apart… they were that good.

Reading classics influenced their language skills. I’ve noted that authors like Charles Dickens have a tremendous and immediate effect on a person’s language skills. Also, the books are so interesting that students can’t get enough of them.

Whether boys or girls, it’s beneficial to start their reading habit with a popular Charles Dickens novel.

A few of Charles Dickens’ books are listed below:

Oliver Twist

David Copperfield

The Old Curiosity Shop

Great Expectations

Nicholas Nickleby

A Christmas Carol

Little Dorrit

The Pickwick Papers

A Tale of Two Cities

chapter four

Develops Imagination

T

o write a good story, or an interesting essay, one cannot solely depend on flowery language. One has to have or develop a good imagination.

In my teaching experience, I have realized that everyone has an imagination; whether the student is an honest first ranker or a sports freak… one has to make a student aware of his or her capabilities. With a rich imagination, a person can do wonders with one’s life.

It’s an incorrect notion that only ‘arts’ students need to develop their imagination. A science oriented student or a commerce student is equally needed to develop his imaginative skills to create new stuff and to look beyond what others can see. An enriched imagination is the soil for effective personality development, and the tools to enrich one’s imagination are books, especially classics.

Many argue that the television and the computer are quicker audiovisual media to develop a child’s imagination. In my experience, however, I have often observed the television and computer stagnating a student’s imagination and creative thinking. Why? Obviously because everything is done for the viewer. All the viewer has to do is watch the presentation that, other than providing a few pieces of information, does not exercise a person’s thinking process. One starts to think that there is a limitation to one’s imagination where the reverse holds true.

I have a student in the seventh-grade who spends most of his waking hours in front of the television. He does not watch soap operas but education channels, especially those shows that expound theories about parallel universes and black holes. His store of general knowledge and facts is provided for… but that is as far as it goes. He can’t see anything beyond known scientific facts and principles. Everything he says or does is based on facts. He also tends to look down on other subjects that he feels are not science related, subjects like English, history, and geography.

His grades are not up to the mark and his essays are such a repetition of colourless⁴ facts that they sound a lot like a textbook, which is a big no-no where essays are concerned.

Another student on the other hand, surfs the net daily, but try as he might, he can’t put his thoughts into words spoken or written. The world, we must remember, is not a humdrum affair of facts, but an adventure without limitations. The sky is the limit.

Furthermore, the television and the Internet are uncensored where information presentation is concerned. Have we any guarantee whether the information and shows we watch are decent enough for our children? More than so called ‘educating’ children, the TV shows of today are developing children’s imagination in lewd proportions; they are exposing our children to information they need to know only when they are older.

Classics, on the other hand, are a guarantee to:

Providing decent information

Expanding the child’s imagination

Developing language skills

Developing creative thinking skills

Enriching growth of a child’s personality

Classics, unlike modern fiction, were also written with the intention of reaching a universal audience. Therefore, all classics are clean, decent fiction, written primarily to tell a story rather than to make money. While reading a classic, a student uses words to build up an image in his mind and thus create a full-motion picture in his brain. This requires more indirect brain stimulation and therefore, instead of stagnating the imagination, new thoughts and ideas from good literature enhance and revitalize thinking skills so the child can