Books Are My Super PowerAnd They Can Be Yours Too

i

am a superhero now you may not think it

to look at me and

i admit spandex is not my best look

and the only spider webs i ever handled

are the ones in the corner of the dining

room but i

am a superhero my superpower

i can get kids to talk to me about their

lives

about their fears about their hopes and

about their dreams

and today i’m going to share my

superpower with you

my secret weapon books

now i am pretty good at interviewing

people

i mean i hosted a talk show in public

radio for nearly a decade

i covered capitol hill for years getting

politicians to open up to me

these days i interview kids

on a podcast about books

now you may ask yourself why is talking

to kids so

darned important i mean especially if

you’re not a parent and you’re not a

teacher and the only encounter you have

with kids is yelling at the one sitting

behind you on an

airplane to stop kicking your seat

well at least pre-pandemic but kids

approach the world with real honesty

they view the world through a sharper

lens

they have wisdom and insight and all you

need is a way to get it out of them

yeah well there’s the rub

most of our conversations with kids are

fairly shallow as in

how school fine end of conversation

well if the only thing you can think to

ask a kid is how’s your day you are

missing

massive opportunities to learn the

answers to much larger questions as in

how’s your life and by considering the

answers

it allows us to ask ourselves how’s my

life

i want you to put yourself in their

shoes

turn back the clock to the time when you

were double digits

that time when you were almost but not

quite a teenager

and the good news this time is you don’t

have to worry about acne

i can distinctly remember being 11 years

old and the only question an adult would

ask me was

how school drove me crazy

inside my head i was saying ask me

something important

i mean ask me how i can fix my

neighborhood so kids on bikes won’t get

hit by cars

ask me how i can raise money to fight

cancer

ask me how i can get the guy down the

street to vote in the next election

i mean if only an adult had asked me

really important questions had had

treated me like i had half a brain in my

head i would have told them

anything and everything

so how do you break the ice

books create a safe space

for the magic to happen a book gives a

child agency

the permission to talk about the

unexpected the important the things that

are closest to their hearts and minds

i mean you already know this to be true

look at your own book club

you get together there’s wine there’s

cheese and crackers there’s something

fattening you shouldn’t eat but you do

and you start with the book talking

about the plot and the characters

you talk about the things that made you

mad the quality of the writing the

things that made you cry

and then at some point in the

conversation that evening

it takes a left turn you veer off on a

tangent and suddenly you find yourself

talking about the things in your own

life

you talk about your college-educated

daughter who is

working 26 hours a day carrying cable on

an indie film

and your husband who will not give up

his flip phone

and then you find yourself confessing to

this group of readers that deep down in

your heart you have

always wanted to write a memoir

this this is the power of books

the magic books allow us to explore the

parts of our lives that really

really matter they give us the tools

the permission the agency to talk about

them

and it’s the same way with kids

now on my podcast i go into schools and

libraries and talk to kids about middle

grade novels

we start with the plot and the

characters but just like in your book

club at some point in the conversation

it takes a left turn and it’s my motto

to follow

that left turn because it’s there that

the conversation opens up and kids

start talking about what’s really

important to them

like the future like their families like

life and death

my favorite unexpected conversation

happened in an

elementary school not far from the u.s

capitol

i walked into the school library and

there was a group of five

fifth grade boys climbing the walls i

mean literally

climbing the walls the librarian had to

go in and pluck them off the bookshelf

and plunk them down on the bean bag

chairs and i said to myself this is not

going to be good the book was

a novel in verse about brothers in

basketball so we started by talking

about poetry and

hoops and at some point in the

conversation the boys started talking

about

family their own families their

relationships with people in their own

family

one boy said you know he could hardly

wait until his older sister went off to

college but then when she went he felt

really sad

and he didn’t know why and then another

boy piped in

and said you know his father worked for

amtrak and he really worried about him

because he had to go up on ladders to

change the lights

because nobody else could do it as well

as he does and he worried that his dad

would fall off the ladder and break his

arm

and then these five tough little

fifth graders broke into an acapella

song they wrote inspired

by the books

now i can’t promise that a kid

in your life is going to suddenly break

into song because of a book

but a book can open the door to

conversation

it can make it safe to talk about the

things that really matter it can allow

you to crack open the hearts and minds

of that young person and scoop out the

wisdom

that could change your life

a book is a safe way to open the door to

the passions and worries that deep down

all of us share whether we’re 9 or

whether we’re 99

conversations that start with a book can

create a relationship

with that next generation that allows

you to peek into the future and

perhaps even influence it

so go pick up your own secret weapon

call your local indie bookstore and and

speak to the person

very nice person in the children’s

department or call your local public

library and talk to the children’s

librarian and

ask them which novel is it that kids

just can’t stop talking about which is

the one that flies off the shelves

and then get a copy and actually get two

copies one for you

and one for the kid in your life and

read it and let the child know that you

are reading it too and then

tap into your own superpower set up a

zoom call or

fingers crossed get together in person

and talk

about that book start with the plot and

the characters and then

listen for clues what what small thing

in that book does the child want

to talk about and i’m sure it is

something that you will barely

remember and then ask questions

what did you think of the main character

did you identify with them

what about the parents in the book were

they fair in their treatment of the kids

what magical power do you wish that you

had

the ability to fly to be invisible to

read minds

and and why do you want that special

magical power

and listen for the left

turn and i promise you it will happen

it’ll lead you to discover what’s really

important to that child

what wisdom that young person has to

share with you

listen for it it could change your life

and when you share your own bit of

wisdom be honest

treat the child’s opinions with the same

sort of respect

that you expect from the outside world

by listening carefully to their

out-of-the-box opinions

their unexpected ideas you’re also

respecting the child who has them

you’re giving them the gift of

confidence of practicing critical

listening and thinking skills you’re

giving them the gift of your attention

your time and most important of taking

them seriously

a book can be your secret weapon to

create

deep profound conversations with another

human being who just

happens to be three feet tall

you have the super power

to turn shallow chit chat into a

lifelong

connection this is my super power

and now it is yours

you