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Miss Bowsher, of the Christchurch Public Library addressed delegates of the Maori Women's Welfare League during their conference in Christchurch earlier this year. As many Maori groups are now thinking about starting libraries, or encouraging their children to read books, this talk is reprinted here. WHAT BOOKS DO CHILDREN LIKE? by Dorothy K. Bowsher An ability to read has not always been an essential qualification for getting on well in life or for taking one's full share in the life of the community. Plenty of people in centuries past lived quite happy lives without being able to read and write, but they led very simple lives quite different from those of our so called civilized world. In a modern community it is essential to be able to read and write in order to earn one's living. But far more important than this is the fact that reading offers us a fuller life. I suppose for Maori children literature begins when they hear their parents telling traditional tales which later on they will perhaps read for themselves. But right from the beginning I think the Maori child is at a disadvantage where books are concerned since many of these traditional tales, particularly the family ones, are not written down—at least not in a simple enough form for young children to read easily. The pakeha child begins his literary experiences with the Mother Goose rhymes. These rhymes have been told to and read by the European child for centuries and are the heritage of the New Zealand child. A pakeha child going to kindergarten or to the infant school arrives on the first day of his school life feeling rather lost amongst so many other children and in the strange unfamiliar surroundings of the school room. He may know something about school life from his elder brothers and sisters, or it may be a totally new world for him. But sometime during that first day he will hear the teacher recite familiar nursery rhymes in which he will join. That helps to overcome the feeling of strangeness—here is something he knows about and can do. In the same way the teacher may read a familiar and well-loved story and the pakeha child says ‘Oh. I know that story’, and straight away feels more at home. All this helps the pakeha child to settle down quickly into the new routine of school life A Maori child if he knows no nursery rhymes and has never heard any of these well-known stories feels very lost when he is thrust into an infant class with pakeha children who, if they have had this background of books in the home, are much better equipped to start their school life. Feature of the Christchurch conference of MWWL was a bookstall arranged by the Christchurch Public Library along with some local bookshops. This was intended to help the women who discussed the problem of bringing more books into Maori homes. Between sessions delegates browsed through the books and bought some of those for sale. (Leicagraph Studios Photograph) Two very good collections of nursery rhymes are Lavender's Blue by Kathleen Lines and Mother Goose Rhymes with pictures by Arthur Rackham. To the child who has lived with books from Mother Goose on through Little Black Sambo and Peter Rabbit books have pleasant associations and words hold no terrors. To the child who has never been read to, books will be strange. It is important to keep the child interested in books

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