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