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Te Ao Hou, December 1957, Page 60

reading aloud and of course Robin Hood is always successful with boys whether they hear it read aloud or read it for themselves. Many children do not show an interest in reading for its own sake, but that does not matter. It is the experience a child gets out of his reading that matters. Some boys are very mechanically minded and like doing things with their hands, but they need books for help and guidance in making model aeroplanes for instance or in looking after pets. And there are many other children who enjoy reading for its own sake and read widely of imaginative literature. Both types of children are helped through books towards a richer and a fuller life. Boys who like concrete things to do and make will enjoy The Boy's Handbook of play ideas and things to do. And they may go on to read something a little different, a little more imaginative, Treasure Island perhaps or Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, and all Maori girls and boys will want to read The Boy Who Was Afraid, by Armstrong Sperry: a legendary tale of a Polynesian boy conquering his fear of the sea and proving his courage to his family and to his tribe. But don't force books on a child. Children have their likes and dislikes in books as in anything else and these must be catered for. The real secret of introducing children to books and to reading is to start at a very early age. Start first of all with nursery rhymes, then by talking about the pictures in picture books, and then gradually reading stories aloud as the child understands more and more. An important place can be given to Maori traditional tales, such as those printed in Te Ao Hou and a number of books. Books will help to equip country children with the knowledge they need to help them settle into town communities. It is up to you to see that your child gets books which will help him to adjust himself easily and quickly into new surroundings—books about aeroplanes, trains, buses and city life. Most of you who live in rural areas don't have access to a public library, or to a library of any size. But any library can get some children's books from the National Library Service and if you are too small a community to have a public library, you can get hamper collections. This requires a small group of people, about a dozen families would be sufficient. One person undertakes to be librarian and to keep the books safely and make them available to the others. Children's books are not usually included in the hampers, but if asked the National Library Service would do so. Before I finish I would like to point out again that books greatly help the Maori child to grow up in the pattern of this day and age. The Maori child going to high school is handicapped if he or she does not know such books as Treasure Island or Little Women, books that the pakeha has grown up with. They are tales of adventure and family life that any child, no matter what his race or background, will enjoy. On the other side of the picture we want the pakeha child to take a pride in New Zealand and in her history and culture before the white man came. We want the pakeha children to read Myths and Legends of Maoriland and How the Maoris Came and to know the Maori culture and way of life. Much of the Maori heritage can come to modern children through books. Knowing the same books enable the Maori child to live a full life on equal terms with the pakeha child—at school, in the workshop, in offices, on the building site, in teachers' training colleges, in universities and indeed in all walks of life in New Zealand.