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From
the November/December 2002 issue of The Horn Book Magazine Letters to the Editor Congratulations to The Horn Book and to Pamela Varley for her thoughtful article, “As Good as Reading?: Kids and the Audiobook Revolution” (May/June 2002). But there is more to be said about the subject. For one thing, I wonder how many of us realize how very modern this concern is. A few hundred years ago, when an oral tradition was the norm, who would even have understood, much less worried about, whether a habit of listening to audiobooks could interfere with or take the place of anyone’s ability to decipher and relate to the printed word? After all, storytelling was a fundamental way of transmitting knowledge, values, the culture itself to young and old alike. The printed page? — an interloper! And, what about the hallowed practice of reading aloud to children? Can this not be considered to be direct connection to audiobooks as well as to reading (we hope)? During my years as an elementary-grade teacher, it was my strong conviction that if I were forced to pare the curriculum to its absolute minimum, my time of reading aloud to my class would be the last to go — and I still feel that way. Not only was it a way of making a special connection to the children, it was an essential mode of teaching, only one step removed from the storytelling tradition. My mother read to me for years, introducing me to books I would never have picked up on my own. I myself started reading to my own children when they were babes in arms — and it was a practice I continued until they were well into high school and the heavy demands of study and job schedules intruded. To this day my son is convinced he would not be the director of a university press had it not been for this brand of “homeschooling.” Nor is this just for the young. For years, my parents read to each other, a practice my husband and I continue. It is a precious time together which we jealously guard — bringing me to one of the most significant aspects of reading-aloud/listening: the close identification that the listener and reader develop with each other. Anyone who has read aloud to another human being knows the pleasures and delights of sharing discoveries of plot, character, ideas. There is nothing quite like it. So, hurray for audiobooks! I must admit that taped books do eliminate part of that wonderful sense of mutual identification, for the reader cannot “know” the audience, but certainly the listener can “know” the reader(s). And finally a disclaimer: I myself have never listened to an audiobook. I prefer to read, but I cannot emphasize how comforting to me is the knowledge that this rich resource is available should I ever need it. Carroll Heideman
As both a children’s librarian and a homeschooler who advocates late reading, I am appalled by the general lack of understanding regarding audiobooks. I was so glad to read Pamela Varley’s article, which was, at last, a thoughtful take on listening. At first I was worried that Varley’s essay would be an anti-technology tirade, but I should have known that your magazine, so respectful of children and books alike, would take a careful look at the issue. I have told kids in my library that reading is reading, whether one uses one’s eyes or one’s ears — the mental processing, the thinking, is the same. To say that listening is less than reading is to imply that the visually handicapped are somehow stupider than others. How does it matter how we decode our information? That we even have this discussion is a symptom of how educationalized our society has become. Educators tell us reading is a worthy end in and of itself, instead of a tool to be used. Sure, working with tools can be wonderful. I knit for the pleasure of working with wool and bamboo sticks, and I read for the pleasure of it. But reading is mostly a tool to get information. It shouldn’t matter by which sense we decode that information. We have allowed the teachers and educational “experts” to bully us into believing that something easy and/or pleasurable makes us stupid, and something hard is more worthy. (That said, I do think TV-watching eats one’s brain!) I appreciate Varley’s insight that listening is a skill just as decoding with one’s eyes is, and that our brains process the information differently depending on how we receive it. I appreciate her respect for the act of listening well. I also hope that others will stop focusing on the process and start looking at the imagination stimulation, learning, and wonder that good audiobooks can provide. We should also relax about the whole reading thing — kids can learn as much or more from listening, watching, experimenting, and simply living. By pushing kids to use their eyes to decode page squiggles at a younger and younger age, we shut down other capabilities of memorization, listening, noticing details, etc. Let the kids listen for a change! Shannon Barniskis |
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