CHILDREN WHO ARE BOOKWORMS.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXIII, Issue 4494, 20 November 1922, Page 4

CHILDREN WHO ARE BOOKWORMS.

CURE TOO MUCH HEADING BY WRITING. (By a teacher of English.) Two mothers have been telling me what bookworms their children are. One was rather, proud of the fact, regarding it as an indication of intelligence. The other complained bitterly and blamed the father. It is really amazing to learn what children do read. They are omnivorous. I have seen a girl of teji who devours the Wessex Novels and a boy of eleven who had read tlhe whole of Scott and Dickens.

Most parents like to see their children enjoy a good bpbk, but few are anxious for them to become bookworms.

The boy or girl who is always read,ing seems to be lacking in the animal energy which is natural in the young. There is danger, to eye strain and of headaches. But the greatest danger pf the youthful bookworm is ap unhealthy state of mind. Is there any cure for the bookworm habit ?

It is unfair to ban books altogether, but the sensible parent will impose Limits. Care must be taken, however, to fill the gap created in the young bookworm's’ leisure. Otherwise the restrictions, will lead only to unhappiness and deceit.

The only sound method of curing excessive bookishness Lies in the contrary process. In other words, set the child to write. Thousands of adults devour books at a great rate, but at the end of a year they have only the vaguest impressions remaining. The reader’s mind is a whirling nebula of emotions and ideas which have never been allowed to take shape. It is only by trying to write about a book that we discover what we really feel about it. The practice of expression clarifies the judgment and dispels the fogs of the mind. When a boy has revelled through “Treasure Island” he will enjoy writing to a friend telling him the best things in 'the story. And most bookworms are only top willing to write a serial story of the sort which most appeals to them. Expression should alternate with impression as exhaling alternates with inhaling. The two movements are complementary and make for mental life.

People who are always reading rarely have anything interesting to say. Those who periodically rummage through their own minds are invariably worth listening tp. It is writing and talking, not reading alone, which develop “personality*.”