My Soapbox

I love reading books to escape real life and fall into a fictional one. For me escaping means leaving the stress and problems of real life behind, if only for a while, and enjoying the successes, laughs, victories, and joys of the characters in a book. If characters deal with the same issues as me, then I'm not really escaping.

There is benefit from seeing one's self in books, and you'll get no argument from me on this point. Children's literature is the perfect place for kids to find characters who are dealing with life situations similar to their own. This is great! Kids can see how someone else - who cares if she's fictional? - handles a problem and succeeds in the end.

But that's not what this site is about. I'm looking for books with high escapability. Books that children fall into and forget life's issues for a little while. I'm looking for books that make kids laugh out loud or victoriously fight the world's evils or score the winning touchdown as time expires and then run up to the nearest person, child or adult, screaming breathlessly, "You gotta hear about what I just read!"

There are all kinds of children's books. Some are heavy. Some aren't. I'm not looking for clean-cut, mass produced, formula books where minimal conflicts are resolved in the literary equivalent of a 23-minute sitcom. I'm searching for and recommending quality books into which children can happily get lost for a while.  These tend, in my opinion, to be books that are humorous, adventurous, high-action, and/or exciting. 

Books don't have to be analyzed or taught to be valuable. Books don't always need an ultimate lesson.

Here’s a lesson kids should be learning: “I LOVE TO READ!” There are many books that will do just that, and Help Readers Love Reading is my way to recommend them.

Thanks for reading.