So, onto the book thing…
I think there is a fine line…a balance, if you will, between ability and context…let me explain…
When I taught elementary school, I had groups of identified readers…my goal was not for them to realize which “group” they were in, and therefore I mix-matched them often, but I knew which ones were at a higher ability level than the others. However, at the same time, I was dealing with the hearts and minds of innocent 9 and 10 year olds (in my 4th grade classroom).
Often trying to find a book that was at an ability level to fit my high readers AND have the book contain subject matter that was relevant, and appropriate for their actual age was a difficult task.
Now, for some this may not be a big thing…some reasons being: some kids just aren’t that much into reading, or they want a quick story, so for them it doesn’t matter the “challenge” level, but just the storyline itself. Therefore, they would independently choose books that were more “age” appropriate rather than “ability” appropriate. (am I talking in circles yet?) And some might argue, that that is just fine because glory-be they are reading and isn't that the most important thing! To that I would agree, in part…you do want to develop a love for reading, especially in those that it might not come easily.
Now, for those readers that love to read and you can’t seem to keep their hands full of books, it becomes a challenge…and here is my “deeper thinking” concerning that…
When I read a book, I often “become” part of the book…i.e. Anne of Green Gables…oh my goodness, I became Anne…I thought like her, acted like her…fell in love with Gilbert Blythe and tried to see the world through her eyes. In that story, my imagination went as far as she did…my “relationship” dreams only went so far as Anne’s did in her story… I think Gilbert might have whisked a lock of hair off her face at the end of book 1.
I found that as I got older and started reading “teen” books, the “relationships” in those books were more serious…acting more “grown up” than perhaps they actually were…So, how did that affect me? Well, being who I am, I started to see MY relationships in that way…my daydreams drifted to whatever I had read, and if I could insert “real life” people in my visions, then that made it all the better…do you see where I’m going with this?
Even as a married, adult woman, there are times that I read stories and have to clamp them shut because I don’t want THAT picture in my head…I don’t want my mind to wander to things of that nature and dwell on them. In this way, I have to “be careful little eyes what you see” especially when the “things” that aren’t appropriate are glorified rather than held accountable for in the story.
I think this is true for not just things of a “relationship” matter but in violence and evil as well…as well as a whole slew of other things while we’re at it. When I put a book into the hands of an inexperienced 10 year little girl, I need to be sure that the content that will be playing in front of her eyes is something in which she can handle to the extent that it won’t be what she dwells on…it won’t be what she imagines once the book is closed…or if it is, then those things upon which her gaze falls, should be appropriate and cause feelings that spur her to think of things that are : “Phil. 4:8 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.”
This could be an appropriate relationship, it could be the consequence of a choice made, it could be the victory of good against evil…
I’ll give another example…I loved reading the series Hunger Games…I thought all 3 books were great (well, except for book three’s character development because it totally left you hanging when it came to certain characters and it just cut it off completely with the epilogue) It was reminiscent of the Colosium days and Hitler and power and it almost felt like you were reading Animal Farm all over again. However, if you are me, you fall in love with characters and cling to them…I did so with Katniss and Peeta and Gale. There was some descriptive violence and awfulness to the story…and it was rightly shown as evil and wrong and therefore I could swallow it…however, as I thought of teenagers reading this book as it showed peeta and katniss sleeping together each night (innocently of courseJ ) I couldn’t help but wonder how many teens put themselves in that position and thought, “oh wouldn’t that be cool to do…if I were in that position” etc etc etc…As a married person, I have already “been down that road” so to speak, so that “snapshot” didn’t dwell in me…except as it related to what I envisioned teens or those that shouldn’t have those physical relationships before they get married, thought…
Again, not everyone thinks like me..I get that…and maybe I put too much of a bubble around myself and my girls…at the same time, I know that “Romans 7:18 For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out” Therefore, I do all that I can to hedge my thoughts as such…all the while still searching for great writers and superb literature…this is where my challenge continues to lie!
