Religious Literacy

A Nation of Religious Illiterates. That is what Stephen Prothero calls America.  I read an interview about him in the Austin American Statesman, our local paper, and was quite intrigued by the premise of his book, Religious Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know--And Doesn't.  He claims that in order for us to have productive civic engagement, we must be knowledgeable about religions, religious terms, and stories that influence everyone's world view.  His book is divided into four sections.  In part 1, he explains why religion matters.  In part 2, he explains what we once knew about religions as a nation and how we forgot it.  In part 3, he explains what should be done to remedy the illiteracy.  Namely, he argues for reintroducing religion education in school.  He's very clear that schools should not teach religion, but that they should teach about religion. Basically, knowledge is power and the more ignorant one is, the more dangerous everything appears.  He ends his book witha  dictionary of 100 religious terms in alphabetical order.  The explanations are good, but somewhat superficial and not inter-related. After reading this section, you feel like you need to read more about this topic and he anticipates this by including a list of further reading.

It's not exactly the primer I am looking for.  I am searching for a book that succintly explains the world religions and this was not it, but I did learn quite a bit about how religion has influenced public policy in this country.  Overall, I'd have to say it's a good book, but be prepared to slog through some of the longer explanations about puritans in this country and the origin of religious studies in schools.  Enjoy!

Books, Glorious Books!

I love books. There's no denying it. Yesterday I drove to the downtown library and perused the new books aisle, the cookbook section, and the parenting section for an hour and came home with 13 books just for me.

People ask me, "When do you have time to read?" I carry books with me all the time. I read at stoplights much to my kids' chagrin. "Mom! The light is green!!! Go!!!" I read in waiting rooms. I read in the car while I'm waiting in the pickup line at school. I read right before I fall asleep for at least an hour every day. I just love all the knowledge out there that can be so easily absorbed by just reading.

One of our dreams for our family has always been to raise avid readers. I like to think that we have done all the right things to encourage that. They need models. I think we are doing our part, there. David is also a big reader (surprise, surprise). :) We have been reading to the kids every single night since before they were born. (The picture above was taken in 2000, when D was five months.) Even now that they can read independently, we read together out loud almost every night. (I like to pick one author and read all his/her books. This week we are reading Patricia Pollaco.) It comes as no surprise then, that they also love to read.

Yesterday, I picked up a book at the library titled If I Live to be 100: Lessons from Centenarians by Neena Ellis. The book originated from a project she did for NPR's "All Things Considered." I am intrigued by centenerians since my dad is 90 and in such good health. I wonder what he has done differently than most people his age who have alls sorts of ailments. He takes no pills, except for heartburn (because he probably overeats!) He has all his teeth. His hearing is not as great as it used to be but he can still hear, and he can't see with one eye. He has no arthritis. No diabetes. Nothing. Thank, goodness! Anyway, I saw this book and I thought about my dad so I checked it out.

I read parts of it on my way to pickup the kids from school (at stoplights only, of course!) and fell in love with some sections. At dinner, I was so excited about the book that I spent a good 10 minutes describing it to the kids. They listened intently and asked lots of questions. Then I casually asked them what they were reading. I did not expect this, but my two older kids ran to get their books and brought them to the dinner table. D has three books going: Lone Wolf from the Wolves of the Beyond Series, something from the Lemony Snicket series, and one from the Seekers series. He proceeded to tell us about his books. Then N shared with us The Puppy Place's Chewy and Chica about two chihuahuas that are born in a doggy mill and are adopted by a family. I was thrilled to see my kids so excited about books. They even read sections of their books out loud. After we picked up the kitchen, the reading out loud continued.

When my husband got home, I couldn't wait to share with him about our "book club" dinner. My 2-year-old overheard me talk about it and she told Daddy that tomorrow she is going to talk about the books she's reading.

I am so excited about this. I think we are going to implement a weekly, maybe daily? book talk at dinner.

Responsible Parenting

Do responsible parents let their 10-year-old read Stephen King's Pet Sematary? What about the Lord of the Rings Trilogy? I don't want to squash his enthusiasm for reading, but seriously, Stephen King?

"Aren't there other more age-appropriate things he can read?" I asked the lady in charge of Juvenile Literature at Half-Price Books (they are so knowledgeable - almost as good as Book People employees!).

She said, "Well, have you tried Harry Potter?"

"Yes, he's read that."

"Have you tried Percy Jackson?"

"Yes, he's read that."

"Have you tried Redwall?"

"Yes, he's read that."

"Have you tried Ranger's Apprentice?"

"Yes, he's read that."

"Peter and the Star Catcher?"

"Read it."

"Warrior series?"

"Reading it."

"Lemony Snicket?"

"Reading it."

She gave me a funny look and then she said, "Well, I don't know what to tell you. He's pretty well read." Well, that was helpful.

So back to my orignal question: Should we let him read Stephen King books? I'm leaning towards NO, but I could be swayed. David said he read it when he was 11 and he had nightmares. Maybe he can read that stuff when he's a teenager...

See Pug Run

I am so happy.  Tonight, for the first time ever, my kindergartener read Green Eggs and Ham all by herself! She has been reading those little Scholastic Bob books since she turned 4, but those don't really count because they aren't even real books.  For example, here is the text from the first 3 pages of Sam, one of the Scholastic gems to which I am referring:  page 1, "Sam and Cat."; page 2, "Mat and Cat."; page 3, "Sam, Mat, and Cat".  See what I mean? 

Tonight, we were reviewing her homework after dinner when we realized that we had not done one of the items on her list.  I was supposed to read her a book and she was supposed to follow the words with her fingers as I read them.  She loves Dr. Seuss so she picked up Green Eggs and Ham for me to read, but before she gave it to me, she read the title.  Then she read the author and next thing you know, she was reading the whole book.  I wish I could capture the look on her face when she realized what she was doing.  She was beaming, and I guess I was, too.

Every time our children hit a milestone, it brings back memories of my own childhood. The first book I ever read was called Pug.  I still remember the first few pages of that book, probably because it is so similar to the Scholastic gems I was just talking about--Pug.  See Pug Run.  Go, Pug. Go.  Run, Pug. Run.  I guess we all have to start somewhere.  

I wish all kids had a chance to get excited about books early in their academic lives.  I was lucky to have two people in my house who were avid readers: my grandmother and my dad.  I have this vivid memory of my grandmother sitting under a tree reading her favorite book to me. I am supposed to be playing outdoors with my little neighborhood friends, but instead I am sitting right in front of her fascinated by her story.  She looks so cute with her glasses on and that look of total concentration on her face.  She is reading The Three Musketeers. That is such a happy memory for me.   

My dad also loves books.  He has a special affinity for westerns.  We had many, many books and many, many bookshelves in our house growing up.  We didn't have children's books, but we had two encyclopedias - Childcraft and Brittanica, six huge dictionaries where you could look up any word in 10 different languages, many religious books (my dad was educated in a seminary), many science fiction books, including a large collection of Isaac Asimov's, many books on math and physics, and hundreds of other books all over our house. We, kids, all loved the Childcraft Encyclopedia and we all read it from cover to cover by the time we were in fourth grade.  I still love those books.  My bookshelves don't look right if I don't have a set of Childcraft Encyclopedias on it.  Those books must mean a lot to my siblings, too, because at least two of them also have a set in their house for their kids. 

I was lucky, too, that my first grade teacher had a passion for books and she shared it with her students.  She had a loft in her room decorated like a tree house.  We all loved climbing up into that tree house to read.  I wonder how many of those 6 and 7 year-olds are still readers today because of that tree house?

Some people say that they associate whole periods of their lives with certain music.  They hear a song and all these memories flood back.  Books do that for me.  I hope they do that for my children some day, too.

TTYL.