In 1934, Cecília Meireles organized Brazil’s first public children’s library, located in the Pavilhão Mourisco in Botafogo. The goal was to emphasize the importance of libraries in fostering a love of reading, above all to nurture the joy of reading. She also made pertinent observations on the importance of carefully selecting books based on children’s preferences, according to gender and age; she suggested to parents and teachers the need to organize children’s libraries “since there are no longer any nannies or grandparents who take an interest in the delightful craft of storytelling.”

All of this is written in an essay he authored, published in 1979. Four decades have passed, and wet nurses, grandmothers, and mothers have been replaced by electronic baby monitors, exhausted caregivers, overworked daycare attendants and assistants, and unprepared educators—in other words, difficulties children face in relating to the symbolic, the imaginary, and language.

It’s easy to write an essay or give a speech about the lack of readers and the lack of a love of reading among the younger generations. What’s difficult is stepping outside conventional wisdom to consider other possibilities regarding this sad reality, and allowing ourselves to explore other avenues and paths into the world of children’s literature.

How can we talk about, think about, or plan ways to nurture readers without books? Just as we need a kitchen to prepare food, we need a library for literature. There, we can store all the ingredients needed to cook up delicious dishes. Young readers need this kitchen, whose pantry must be well-stocked. If libraries have disappeared and are disappearing more and more every day, how will we nurture new readers? If the solution is to buy books online, there’s a misconception here: since buying food online hasn’t improved people’s diets, why would buying books online improve the development of young readers?

The Impact of Books on the Intellectual, Cognitive, and Personality Development of Infants and Children

Very young children need literature that instills values. This can be achieved by reading fables, for example. Fables are moralizing: good always triumphs over evil, the good prevails over the bad, and so on. In other words, children initially need their thinking to be shaped toward what is good, beautiful, and collective, and books contribute immensely to this.

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Where has children's literature gone, and where is it headed?

This is the most serious issue right now: children’s literature has fallen behind the times. Today’s books do not reflect today’s children. Today’s books still deal with themes from the literature of the early 20th century. Today’s children are in need of books that speak to them, and this dialogue can only happen through themes relevant to our time. Today’s children want to be protagonists; they want to be the actors in their own stories; they want to see themselves and recognize themselves in the characters—and children’s books do not offer this possibility. We still produce children’s books featuring animals, birds, and other elements that would be perfectly fine if they were just one of many themes, but most of the time, these books focus exclusively on these themes.

What is symbolic about today's children?

Virtual reality, the three-dimensional world, augmented reality, virtuality, the world behind superpowers and heroes. The child of today is magical, mystical, multifaceted. And that, whether we like it or not, is the child of today.

When a movie like this premieres in theaters, the auditoriums are packed, and what’s most interesting is that the “children” range in age from 3 to 90. There are children of all ages who are fascinated by magical worlds, three-dimensional creatures, uninhabited places, and completely unknown universes. But books insist on static settings, characters with no purpose, and dull stories.

Why are books having a hard time reaching children?

We’ve always blamed this on a lack of money, but with the internet, that excuse no longer holds water. There are many children with internet access who don’t read books—in other words, they have the resources but don’t want to, don’t like it, or aren’t in the habit of doing so. On the other hand, books have also arrived—in small quantities, but they have reached the schools. It’s rare to find a school today without children’s books, but even though they exist, the habit of reading hasn’t yet been established, and this is because reading is a solitary pleasure that is learned, for example, through observation and practice, but children often don’t see their father reading, don’t see their mother reading, and don’t see their teachers reading—in other words, they’ll have to do something that no one else does. How can they convince themselves that this is good if no one else does it?

E-books and Print Books

E-books also face the challenge of a lack of habit. There’s no difference—only the medium is different. Physical books are on paper. E-books are on a screen. But access to and enthusiasm for both come from the same thing: habit.

We, as a society, are not listening to, seeing, or understanding the children of today.The children of today have no voice; they have no representation in the institutions that make decisions on their behalf. In other words, those who make decisions for children are not listening to them. That is why there is this disconnect.

How can teachers encourage children's interest in literary works?

Reading. If Brazilian teachers read—read everything, read with the children, read in front of the children, and read to the children—that’s already a good start. Fathers and mothers should do the same. Read to the child, read with the child, and talk to the child about what they’ve read. That’s what builds the habit.

The competencies and skills that teachers need to develop in order for their students to become literary readers

Start by reading picture books, then move on to books with short texts and few characters, and finally begin reading more elaborate texts with more settings, more characters, and more plotlines. This gradual progression is respectful of the developing reader, since they need sufficient cognitive ability and memory to follow the book’s narrative thread; when they can’t, they give up on reading.

The Role of Schools in Promoting Children's Literature

The school should provide an open collection—one where children can walk in and browse until they choose what they want. When the collection is closed—the typical setup where a librarian at the door asks which book you want or immediately places the book she has chosen on the table—children face too many restrictions to develop a passion for books. A book needs to capture a child’s interest. It needs to awaken a sense of wonder in the child and the desire to touch it.

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*This text does not necessarily reflect the opinion of Bett Brasil.

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