Many people ask me why I write for children. I used to say it was because I never grew up. But over the years, I have changed my mind. I write for children because with them is hope. And we have to give them the tools to survive in the adult world without losing faith that they can build a better world.
When I write, I visualize everything through their eyes. I try to think as they think, how they would react under certain circumstances, what they would say and how they would say it. Simply put, I try to see the world from their perspective. In each story, the basic question is whether it will help the child or young person live better and be a good person.
I don't include a moral at the end of the stories, they are implicit and each story carries a different message: self-esteem, the importance of the environment, civic responsibilities, to name a few.
And for the skeptics, children's literature can indeed compete with technology. We just need to encourage reading habits. Video games and the Internet have their uses. With video games you can develop the mind and reflexes. With the Internet you can communicate with the world. With children's literature you can travel with that developing mind. And there are children's ebooks, and tablets for those who can carry the entire library in their hand.
How do you instill a love of reading in your children? It's actually easy. You just have to instill reading in them from a young age by setting the example yourself. It was by my mom's EXAMPLE that I love to read so much. She was always reading. As soon as she got home from work, she would have a book open. She took us to the public library to get our own card and pick out our own books.
It was because of my dad's EXAMPLE that I love words so much, as he read the newspapers and did crossword puzzles every morning. He would always jokingly change the meaning of words to make us laugh.
It was by the EXAMPLE of my teachers that I like to learn new things through books because they demanded that we read and discuss several books a year. They did not care about the number of pages a book contained but the content of its letters.
It was by the EXAMPLE of my paternal grandfather that I appreciated being able to read so much, as he could not even read or write his name. But he loved to look at the pictures and make up stories about them.
Every time I open a book, I seek silence to listen to the words in my head, to enjoy their insinuations and their fluctuations of meaning. Just by reading a book, I know I'm going to have an enjoyable or enlightening time.
We spend so much time creating our families and want the best for our children, but in order for them to be successful in life, we have to lead by example. If they see that we like books, and like to reading, they will follow suit.
So I suggest that you:
Read in front of your children
Read with them if they are very young
Ask them to read to you
Talk about books with them
Give them books as gifts for birthdays or holidays
Visit a bookstore together and let them pick out a book.
Visit a library together and let them get to know their historical tomes
With children's literature we can make positive changes to our world, because children are adults in formation and on the other side of that coin: adults are already formed children...