I have met some school teachers whom never allow their students to read fantasy books. Why? One told me that the language they use in fantasy books are not proper English with words and character names that are created on purpose for the story. Another teacher said it is not healthy for the mind to read something which is not realistic.

This group of adults believe that children who read fantasy books would most probably delve into a sense of escapism, the tendency to seek distraction and relief from unpleasant realities, especially by seeking entertainment or engaging in fantasy.

Stories with magic spells, dragons, goblins, fairies would only encourage the young minds to escape from the reality world and to believe in those non-existent entities. I have read articles stating teachers in UK claimed that children who read fantasy books would develop difficult behaviours.

I am not here to agree or disagree on this topic for I'm not an expert in children's psychology and behaviour and I have yet to find any studies regarding this subject with substantial results. The reason I am interested in this topic is because I am concerned on the books I choose to buy for my niece to read.

As Neil Gaiman once wrote that there is no such thing as bad books for children because every now and then, it's fashionable for adults to criticize and declare certain books to be bad for children. Speaking from my personal experience, I grew up reading Enid Blyton, but do you know that she was once declared as a bad author and some parents banned their children to read her books.

What about you? Do you believe there are such thing as a bad author or bad books? Were you discouraged from reading a certain type of books when you're young? From my perspective of views, I tend to seek children books which are not only easy to read but stories with moral values for the child to learn the difference between good and bad behaviour.

For now, I would pick children books with more colourful images and not too many lines on each page for my niece because at this stage, I just want to instill a reading habit and the love for books. I want her to get attracted to books first, to encourage her to the wonderful world of fiction.

I will end with another quote from Neil Gaiman.

"Do not discourage children from reading because you feel they are reading the wrong thing. Fiction you do not like is a route to other books you may prefer. And not everyone has the same taste as you."

Any parents/teachers out there? What do you think of this topic?


P/S: If you would like to donate or sponsor some children's books to my niece, please email me at jhtanjhtan@gmail.com OR leave a message at my Facebook Page which is shown in the side column and at the bottom of this page. Just click on the icon and LIKE to FOLLOW my Facebook Page. Thank you for your support.