Thanksgiving at my in-laws was a fairly typical affair—the now young teen nephew and nieces eating in a frenzy, then shuffling off to their corners to check emails, voicemails, and fan forums. Somewhere after about 1990, I lost track of what turns on kids. Hanna Montana? What’s that? High School Musical? Shudder.
There are a few universals, however, and I pulled them out just before my MIL was about to start fuming over the lack of familial bonding. Books. My husband’s niece is sixteen going on thirty, loves the paranormal and scifi, and of course, has developed a dozen hardcore crushes on stars. Aha! A prime candidate for a paranormal romance. I hopped into my car, drove the 10 minute round trip to my home, and returned with the booty.
My husband’s nephew is a tough nut to crack. Brilliant, a little shy, a trife arrogant. I drew him out with talk of Lovecraft and Robert Jordan. He hadn’t read Piers Anthony? I drew him into a long conversation about the great names in scifi and fantasy. Dazzled him with Asimov. Mesmerized him with a summary of Thomas Covenant’s story.
The little girl likes suspense, but hasn’t read Nancy Drew! Throw away that American Girl stuff, I ordered.
I’m not a parent, and I admire those who have to day in and day out find ways to talk to reach their children’s inner lives, their imaginations.
You know so many wonderful books, don’t you? I watched Black Friday shoppers wrangling over items that plug in, and tune out the outside world. I skipped those items, and went to the book section. Books are (relatively) cheap, and are treasures far beyond the cover price. What else gives you a return for under $20 that lasts a lifetime? Long after the barking iPod holder breaks, I’ll be able to talk to the kids about their first tastes of some very magical books. Books ARE magic. They’re better when you share them, and get better with age. The only other thing I can think of like that is cheese, and no teenager wants a good round of bleu for the holidays.
Happy Bonding!
Ciar Cullen
I love bonding with people over books. My in-laws have a wall of books in their kitchen, and nothing makes a meal there as great as combining talk of books over a few bottles of wine and some great food.
Hope you had a great Thanksgiving!
Ciar,
We had the same thing happen this Thanksgiving. Everyone seemed to eat fast and leave the dining room to get on laptops or watch football. Usually we don’t eat in a hurry and enjoy dinner together before playing board games. But the turkey took longer than planned so that didn’t help, and the adult children had other families to go to.
You did a great job of communicating with your husband’s niece and nephew about reading. And I agree about giving books for gifts. I’ve always given books for birthdays and Christmas. Fortunately, we have a lot of book lovers in the family.
Ember and Diane, I wonder if we’re all in the same boat—with an attention span of 20 minutes and getting shorter, we’re all spinning our wheels during the holiday. I’m in a savoring mood, and it sounds like you both are, too.
Just back from the Christmas shopping trip for my nephews. I decided to get one 3 Roald Dahl, another 3 Eoin Colfer, and the other got 3 Anthony Horowitz.
I know they’ll be getting flashy video game thingies as main presents, but I couldn’t resist getting books. Accidentally threw in a couple of books for myself too. Love the 8-12 year old book section in Borders, lol
And I can’t wait for my two to start reading. I have a tonne of books waiting for them.
Glad you could open their young eyes to some great books! I always buy books for young nieces and nephews – we’re fortunate to be a family of readers. My girls have always been amazed at the number of kids at school who only do required reading, and have never read a book for pleasure.
Have a great weekend!
Good books never go out of style. On Christmas day as long as I have my family and a good book I’m a happy camper.
Ciar,
Your post brought back one of my favorite memories of Christmas. Every year I got a “tower” of new paperbacks — probably 10 or more. I would sit by the tree and pour over those books like they were gold. I analyzed the titles, the cover art, the acknowledgments and the every other feature so that I could rank them in order of how I would read them. I’d spend hours ranking and re-ranking, and by the end of the school break, I’d have them all read. Now I’m a mom and I still look forward to giving my children the “tower”.
Kerri