Can A Children’s Book Change The World?, Linda Sue Park’s TED Talk

I am slowly making my way through a podcast series which started 4 or 5 years ago. It’s called the Read Aloud Revival and it’s hosted by Sarah MacKenzie, author of The Read-Aloud Family, which I have already blogged about. I recently listened to her episode where she spoke with Linda Sue Park and one line got me thinking – no that’s not right – stewing. Linda said that: reading gives our children practice in facing life’s challenges.

Isn’t that just the right royal truth? I don’t even know where to start to unpack this statement.

Through reading many good books with well-written stories and characters, children are able to gain experience and warning of circumstances that probably will befall them in life.

Many of us will face financial setbacks, job loss, grief, disappointment, broken friendships, failed endeavours, rejection, stress, and peer pressure, but through books, we can see others successfully or unsuccessfully navigate these troubled waters and learn how we can approach such a situation.

Many of us will be the cause of our own unhappiness through unkindness, pride, jealousy, impulsiveness, laziness, or poor judgment but through books, we can begin to learn how to heal ourselves and those we hurt.

Reading stories also introduces us to problems, ideas, personalities, places, occupations, family units, attitudes, and circumstances, that would otherwise be out of our sphere of contact.

We don’t all know a refugee, or an amputee, or a soldier, or a cancer sufferer, but through books, we can come to understand their daily struggles.

We don’t all travel to distant or remote places like the Himalayas, the Sahara, or Antacrtica, but through books, we can come to see their beauty and danger.

We don’t all face poverty, bullying, mental health illnesses, abandonment, or trauma, but through books, we can begin to understand and empathise.

We don’t all know examples of people who develop bravery, resilience, forgiveness, kindness, or hope but through books, we can see these traits and begin to learn them ourselves.

After many of these proxy experiences gained through reading good books, children (who grow into adults) begin to change and become people of more understanding and substance. They begin to see the unfairness in life and they begin to think they can successfully address it because they have ‘seen’ someone else do it before.

After listening to the RAR podcast episode I put Linda Sue Park’s TED talk, Can A Children’s Book Change The World?, onto my to-do-list. And I don’t know if I listened to it on a particularly tiring, stressful and emotional day, but I had to hold back the tears. It is really inspirational. See for yourself: