ARTICLE VIA CRITICAL MARGINS
In a recent article, novelist Neil Gaiman argues for literacy and libraries, but he also argues for fiction’s role in helping children understand the real world.
Have we failed children by prescribing what they should or shouldn’t read in school? Neil Gaiman thinks so.
In a recent lecture on reading, re-printed in The Guardian (“Neil Gaiman: Why our future depends on libraries, reading and daydreaming”), Gaiman argues that our future depends on allowing children to read whatever they want. Specifically, he argues that children should read fiction — any fiction, not just the fiction adults want children to read.
Gaiman’s argument goes against some of the changes in reading curricula in schools, which emphasize reading non-fiction. Yes, being able to synthesize and analyze non-fiction is an important skill, but reading fiction, according to Gaiman, fosters long-term skills, like empathy. A recent study on reading and empathy backs up this claim.
What strikes me most about Gaiman’s argument is his claim that reading fiction brings us closer to the truth than other forms of reading. It’s through fiction that young readers learn more about the world around them than they do from any form on non-fiction. And, as writers like David Shields argue, non-fiction is often trite, over-simplified. Gaiman goes along with this, saying
Fiction is the lie that tells the truth, after all. We have an obligation not to bore our readers, but to make them need to turn the pages. One of the best cures for a reluctant reader, after all, is a tale they cannot stop themselves from reading.
Ania Ahlborn | The Blog 