Reading your way
World Book Day 23 April 2024
The power of reading to take us to new places and experiences is beautifully captured in Reading your way, the theme of this year’s world book day.
A good story, unravelling sentence by sentence, page by page,
can hold us in its grip and transport us to other worlds, to new ways
of thinking, feeling, and using language.
It’s an adventure in which we can participate vicariously, experiencing a rollercoaster ride while curled up in bed! We connect personally, perhaps identifying with the characters, and we follow them with anticipation, fascination and delight, cheering them on as they traverse magical unexplored paths, and suffering anguish as they navigate dangerous terrain.
I often find it difficult to put a book down because I need to know how the story will end: at the same time, there is a part of me that doesn’t want the experience to end. This is my present predicament as I’m nearing the end of Prophet Song, a brilliant dystopian novel by Paul Lynch. The story is set in a future Ireland, and yet, for me, it’s triggered memories about police surveillance and brutality in South Africa’s past, as well as anger about the current global approach to the refugee crisis.
It has also prompted reflection on how we deal with prejudice and increasingly authoritarian regimes in our present day. I know there’s no neat resolution to the themes in this powerful, complicated novel – I’d be disappointed if there were one – but that hasn’t stopped me from wishing for peace and harmony. This is what good stories do: they tinker with our emotions and invite us into their world to make connections, but they also challenge us to reassess and to imagine alternatives.
To imagine is to think – an active process in which we stretch our minds, play with words, create, innovate and contemplate how things could be different and better. As Einstein once said, “imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination circles the world”.
Books have the power to unleash our imagination, to take us away
from comfortable ways of thinking and believing and towards
new ideas and concepts.
Reading is therefore an activity: a process of thinking, learning and potentially creating. In recent years, many literacy organisations, educators, and librarians have changed the narrative around books, by moving away from narrow teaching approaches that prioritise the technical aspects of reading over reading for meaning.
They have recognized the power of shared reading activity that doesn’t prescribe what children ought to read and which, fosters a desire to read because it’s fun. Book clubs and libraries are helping children to experience a range of books in multiple languages and are developing imaginative book-focussed activities that encourage young people to discuss and interpret their book experiences, inhabit the characters, and create their own stories and productions. In partnership with literacy groups, teachers are also starting to involve parents and care-givers in the process of reading with their children. In some contexts, these adults are learning to read and to share the pleasures associated with reading alongside their children for mutual benefit.
While these interventions are relatively small scale, and not a replacement for our struggle for better classroom practice and well-stocked libraries, they represent an important model for building a culture of reading.
Another exciting, recent development in Cape Town is that the number of second-hand bookshops has increased.
Second-hand bookshops are affordable and deserve our support
and patronage. They often support a charity, and they aid our
efforts to recycle, share and network around books.
As individuals, we can build on these developments. In order to find their way in books, children need a plethora of books to cater for their individual needs, interests and desires. As is the case with most other activities, they need adults to help by turning reading into an active, exciting and joyful journey.
ROCHELLE KAPP
ROCHELLE KAPP is an Emeritus Associate Professor (UCT, Education). She is a member of the Board of Oasis Association and part of the management team of the Newly-Qualified Teachers’ Project.
Celebrate World book Day by popping in to one of our Oasis Charity Book Shops.
📍 Oasis Claremont
Our charming Claremont village of shops.
Corner of Lee and Imam Haron Road, Claremont.
⏰ Opening Hours:
Monday to Friday: 8:30am – 3:30pm
Saturday: 9:00am – 1:00 pm
✖️ Closed on Sundays and Public Holidays.
📍 Oasis Fish Hoek
Find us at Shop No. 4, Somerset House, 6 Recreation Road, Fish Hoek.
⏰ Opening Hours:
Monday to Friday: 8:30am- 3:30pm
Saturday: 8:30am – 1:00pm
✖️ Closed on Sundays and Public Holidays.
