READING HABITS

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 11, Issue 34, 28 May 1947, Page 7

READING HABITS

AMERICAN CHILDREN ATOMIC BOOKS PREFERRED The atomic age has hit the children’s library. Days when youngsters asked for “Captain Kidd,” “Huckleberry Finn,” “Little Nell,” and “Penrod” are gone. Demands by children for books with an atomic slant are growing' daily (states the Christian Science Monitor). Miss Marie Heitzman, children’s librarian at the Massillon public library, since 1912, is meeting the demand by arranging a new book shelf, entitled, “The Atom—from Star to Split.” “My. atomic shelf is very popular. It is taking its place besides other shelves where book titles suggest the steady march of scientific progress,” she said. One of these other shelves bears the title Radio and another Aeroplanes. “I find children are talking familiarly about things that were only phantasy a few years ago,” the librarian added. “They tell me about radar and atomic energy as glibly as they used to discuss the Bobbsy Twins and their pranks. “They talk about space travel and rocket planes and trips to Mars as if they were already accomplished facts.”

More Picture Stories

Other changes in reading habits of her young charges are being noted by the librarian. “They are demanding more and more picture stories,” she said. “They don’t seem to have time for the stories children used to love. Words seem to be too slow for them. Perhaps it is because there is so much more .happening these days in the world.” Movies, modern advertising, and the popularity of the funnies have combined to make children pictureminded, Miss Heitzman says. She utilises many posters, and cut out figures in the decoration of her library on this account.

But the .librarian looks sad when asked about the demand for classics. “Except for the few bookworms who read everything they can lay hands on, children these days are not interested in the classics,” she said. “We have had to remove Dickens and Cooper into the adult section, in fact. Fairy Stories Popular “As to fairy stories, that is different. They never seem to get enough of those,” Miss Heitzman relates., “All ages never tire of reading fairy tales and they ask for them in the story hour. “Children have developed more imagination as world horizons broaden,” she added, “although they have discarded the classics and are frankly too lazy to do much serious reading, yet they are sharp of wit and quicker to learn and grasp new ideas.”

The Massillon library is .one of the best-equipped and stocked in the entire Akron district. It is supported partly by an endowment from the pioneer Massillon family of McPlymonds and partly by state funds.

The children’s room is a model of quiet homeliness. Soundproof floors deaden the tramp of young feet, a huge fireplace flanks one end of the room. Miss Heitzman has a quiet ease of manner and a cheerful voice. Children surround her desk at all times.