Getting children to read classic books, even hilarious ones like Pinocchio, is not always easy but the stakes couldn’t be higher. They’re our best bet for ever achieving our dreams for self-realization, rebirth, peace, redemption and goodwill to all mankind. A good boy was what Geppetto was trying to carve out of his outrageously impossible, willful puppet. What classic books come to tell us is that the paradise-on-earth we dream of is never easy but can always happen. With more than ever readers, available books, gift-giving grandparents, creative teachers, informed parents and technological tools, we should be able to progress: – the Gutenberg Project offers free e-book versions of all books in print – you can download excerpts from movies of classics on devices; e.g. a mother I know used Frozen (from a Hans Christen Andersen story) to organize a birthday party – a variety of audiovisual resources can be used in classrooms to stimulate interest 
Championing the cause is the beautiful, brave Fiza Pathan, a perceptive, passionate, young teacher and author who says she was “born to read”. She has just written How We Can Encourage Children to Read the Classics as a sequel to her bestseller, Why We Should Encourage Children to Read the Classics. An appendix and index tie her second book to her first for easy reference.She also portrays the poverty of her native Mumbia, India in a powerful novella about Nirmala the Mud Blossom, a tragic slum girl whose parents punish and beat her for reading After reading Pathan’s first book, I accepted her challenge of reading a classic a week. Luckily, I uploaded the original unabridged, illustrated version of my childhood favorite, Pinocchio. I was stunned to find out it’s about much more than your nose growing long if you lie. It is a nightmarish, heartrending, fantastical tale that veers in and out of life and death via sea monsters, evil deceivers, whippings, starvation, cold, burning, hanging and metamorphosis into a donkey’s body before the hero stops being other people’s puppet, realizes how much he loves his father (plus his conscience and good fairy) and how right they were. Chicago would have no gang and delinquency problems if all adults read this book to their children when young, and the child reread it in the unabridged version when older. Pathan’s two 100-page handbooks, based on her own experiences, should be bought by anyone who has anything to do with kids. The sequel contains tips, approaches, methods, book lists, quizzes, puzzles and insight to help you and yours get over the barriers that stand in the way of making reading the classics a habit you will love. Pathan spent hours in a school library in early childhood instead of with a babysitter. The librarian helped her select which books she wanted and they became her best friends. Today she is familiar with a huge number of books, continues to be an avid reader of contemporary as well as classic books and has acquired a sizable collection which she loans out to children. Some of the 10 pointers are for teachers and some for parents. Others apply in the classroom, library, group, one-to-one, home or other settings.
How to Use Pathan’s Handbooks to Encourage the Success of Children You Know
1. Find quotes to motivate yourself, remind yourself of the names and authors of time-honored books, refresh yourself on the difference between classics and other books and keep your mind clear about why this is important. 2. Have fun, educate and inform yourself by doing the puzzles and quizzes. 3. Be alert to small strategies, such as placing stacks of modern books and classics on different tables or corners of the room. 4. Develop the traits, patience, skills, persistence and loving approach you will need to successfully introduce a child to one, first classic you sense will suit them. 5. Use your imagination and resourcefulness to adapt and expand on Pathan’s advice with your own ideas. 6. Assess her observations that by reading classics a student gains descriptive powers, logical thinking, scientific skills, knowledge of history, philosophy, morals, better all-round performance, creative skills, compassion and empathy. 7. (Teachers) Try out her basic, direct classroom methods of showing a movie first, reading snippets in class, doing quizzes and having the students read a classic as a study-room or exam-writing break. Different children learn in different ways. 8. (Teachers) Also use her indirect classroom techniques such as PowerPoints, having the children make charts and do research, giving them roles to act out the books as plays. Teacher or parent can prepare and give a talk on the importance of reading the classics. 9.(Parents) She describes how she works with parents in her private tutoring classes and book club for children and wants to do more. Reading stories (abridged classics) out loud to young children is basic. Reading books conspicuously in front of older children sets an example and arouses curiosity. 10. Support school initiatives such as rapid reading, holiday reading, using excerpts from classics in comprehension classes, creating school libraries and classroom bookshelves. If your school has ‘value education’ or ‘moral science education’ classes, as in India, material from the classics could be part of the resources. Fiza Pathan has taken on a huge task. To help her campaign snowball or to buy her books, contact her at www.insaneowl.com, or www.amazon.com/author/fizapathan. If you have comments or ideas to share, I’d be delighted to get them and pass them on. Thank you for dropping by. This blog for all lovers of life and language aims to be useful and entertain. Topics vary from how to build a canoe to how my mom moved from “prince to preacher and fog to bog” as a war bride after world war one. We pass on writing advice by word and example. Find out more about A Book of Kells: Growing Up in an Ego Void, Kathleen’s Cariole Ride and Eating at Church by clicking here.
Happy Reading from Cozy Book Basics!
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