Great books get young at Children’s Read

With so many childhood bedtime story favorites like “Where the Wild Things Are,” “Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs,” and “Alice in Wonderland” coming to the silver screen, literature traditionally geared toward children is becoming more accessible than ever to people of all ages. The annual Great Children’s Read, held in Columbia’s own backyard and sponsored by the New York Times and Target, has a similar moral: that Winnie the Pooh and Puff the Magic Dragon are no longer, in the infamous words of the Trix cereal crew, just “for kids.”

The Great Children’s Read drew children and adults alike, along with a slew of New York’s finest as story readers. Spectators flooded the tents on the main lawn to see the likes of actress and singer Bernadette Peters, Olympic figure skating gold medalist Sarah Hughes, former baseball player Roberto Clemente, Jr., actor Jerry Stiller, and author Peter Yarrow (“Puff the Magic Dragon”) reading from the “favorite read-aloud stories” list, decided upon by the children’s sections of New York City’s three public library systems.

The readers and performers were adamant about the importance of literature in children’s lives. When asked how he got involved in the Great Children’s Read,” Yarrow, who founded Operation Respect, a non-profit dedicated to the prevention of bullying in schools, said, “The majority of my time is spent on educational advocacy. It [children’s literature] is not just about educational literacy. It’s also about emotional literacy. Learning how to read and write and add numbers is the very, very beginning. What we need to do is educate children simultaneously to be good citizens, to be caring human beings.”

Olympic medalist Hughes added, “Children’s books and young adult books are wonderful. I’m from a family of six kids, and my mom’s goal was to make sure that each of her kids could read before anything else.”

The parents gathered on the lawn wholeheartedly agreed, reveling in the beautiful fall weather and the opportunity to dedicate a day towards their children’s enrichment. But the afternoon wasn’t just about the children—at his book signing, the parents were just as enthralled by Yarrow, who spent a good deal of time in conversation with every person who came to his booth.

So what makes children’s literature so appealing to all audiences? Why are films such as “Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs” and “Horton Hears a Who!,” both based off of bestselling children’s books, consistently raking in top dollars at the box office over their more serious, adult-oriented counterparts?

“I think it’s twofold,” said CBS 2 anchor Dana Tyler, a reader at the event and a volunteer for Learning Leaders, a mentorship and tutoring program for public school students. “It [children’s literature] is not only for kids. It’s a nostalgic escape for the adults who want to share with the next generation.”

“Everyone has those one or two books from their childhood that they still love and still occasionally read,” Divya Subramanian, BC ’13, said of why the mystical, whimsical world of children’s literature still resonates so deeply with people of all ages. “I think it’s great to have an event that really focuses on kids. Children’s literature is so important in nurturing a child’s imagination.”

The Great Children’s read nurtured both kids’ and adults’ imaginations. With the reading of stories from “Jazz Baby” to “When Dinosaurs Came With Everything” to “Winnie the Pooh,” as well as musical performances by Broadway star Peters, Yarrow, and many others, the Great Children’s Read proved to be an excellent (and not to mention free) event for children to experience their favorite stories firsthand, and also for adults to connect to their long-suppressed youthful sides.