Words by Allison Rushby // photo by little family photo co
As a child, I loved Saturday mornings.
Each week, we would trot off to the local bakery where we would be allowed to pick out a treat and, after that, we would walk the few steps to the local library where I would be let loose in the children’s section. There, I would be allowed to browse and select exactly what I wanted to read. Other than how many books I was technically allowed to borrow, there were no limits placed upon me. I could borrow books I’d read before. I could borrow books that were ‘too easy’ for me. I could borrow books that were beyond my comprehension level.
I distinctly remember borrowing Robin Klein’s Hating Alison Ashley numerous times because I had worn out my own copy reading it on an inflatable in the family pool. The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett I also borrowed a ridiculous number of times simply because I liked the library’s hardback version better than the one I had at home. And then there was the copy of The World of the Unknown: Ghosts by Christopher Maynard. This now cult classic (recently re-released) is a fabulous non-fiction, highly illustrated text that covers some seriously scary spooky topics that gave me nightmares. Naturally, I borrowed it week after week after week. So many times, in fact, that one of the librarians kindly suggested I might like to give something else a go.
As if!
I just kept right on borrowing that book that gave me nightmares and now those fantastic, energy-filled illustrations are burned into my brain.
It’s probably why I write what I do today – spooky tales for young and old.
I’m convinced those Saturday morning excursions are what turned me into a reader. And, later, a novelist. Of course it was also important that we had a house full of books. That reading was seen as important and worthwhile. All these things helped. But it was because I was taken to the library and let loose that I was truly given the gift of reading for joy.
And I think we’re starting to forget what a gift this is.
As one of three founders of closing in on 40,000 member strong Facebook group Your Kid’s Next Read, I’m lucky enough to be at the absolute coalface of what parents, guardians and teachers are thinking when it comes to the small readers in their lives. And what they’re worried about. The group fields many questions about how to accelerate reading. About what to read in order to write a better narrative text. About how to move a child on to text-only books. About how to stop a child from reading the same book over and over again. In a world full of screens, it’s heartening to see people invested in small people reading. But I have to admit it gives me pause when we focus so much on reading levels and reading up and reading for ‘betterment’. As if there is some sort of… end game to reading. A final level.
Achievement unlocked.
When Your Kid’s Next Read was first approached by Affirm Press to collaborate on a series for young readers in Australia, we jumped at the opportunity to create a fresh, new series that was, first and foremost, about reading for joy. Of equal importance to us was that Your Next Read be a quality offering. Carefully written by Australia’s best and brightest creators.
As we release these funny, charming, heart-warming, zany books – all of them so very different in order to entice all sorts of different readers – it’s reminded me to embrace joy in my own reading. I paused a while back to create a little shelf in my study, full of my very favourite books. It’s such a strange mix of texts – from picture books to adult non-fiction, but each one is a book that speaks straight to my heart and will always be there in its own special way. It’s a reminder – one I now see on a daily basis – that reading is wonderful. Transcendent. A miraculous thing that takes us to whole other worlds. It’s been a fantastic reminder as I sit down to work each day that this is what I’m meant to be doing – transporting people. Readers. That this is my whole job.
And, so, I’d like to remind you too. Don’t forget to read not just to better yourself, or because it’s what everyone else is reading, or because you think you should. Read what gives you peace. Re-read to reacquaint yourself with your old friends. Read where your heart takes you.
Read for the joy of it.
