Alane Adams is a literacy advocate and author who founded the Rise Up Foundation, which supports literacy projects, particularly for children K-8 in  in underserved communities in high-poverty areas. She has written several books, including the middle grade fantasy series The Witches of Orkney. The second book in the series, The Rubicus Prophecy,  will be released today. Alane has written a guest post on the power of libraries and reading– something we’re always ready to share with you here at Monster Librarian!

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The love of reading is one of the most essential gifts we can give our children. Children who grow up reading lots of books develop three important life skills—big imaginations, problem solving, and empathy. Big imaginations are important in order to develop new ideas. Books take us places we have never been and introduce us to new ideas that allow our brains to experience them as if we were there. Having a big imagination leads to better problem solving skills. Most books follow a simple pattern—a character has a problem that needs solving. Voldemort wants Harry dead. Big problem for Harry! Books allow us to follow along with these characters as they struggle, fail, struggle some more, and eventually solve their problem. By inherently modelling these skills, children develop their own problem solving skills coupled with powerful imaginations allowing them to see new paths that have never been forged.

But perhaps the most important aspect that reading teaches is the ability to have empathy. In our everyday life, we cannot read minds—but when we read a book we step inside the mind of the POV character and we know exactly what they’re thinking—if they’re hot, cold, lying, angry, sad. We know everything about them, which allows a very intimate connection we can’t get watching the same story play out on the screen. We can see Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss Everdeen, but we don’t know what she’s actually thinking: we can only read her facial expressions, see her actions, and hear her dialogue. But how will we know if she’s lying? How do we know if she’s smiling that she’s not really sad? That’s the power of books—they allow us inside the character’s minds, allowing us to see not just the outside, but the inside as well, so we know exactly what it feels like to be a boy with magic, a girl facing certain death, or even a pig who only wants a friend.

Libraries play an important part in developing a love of reading as they are oftentimes the only place a child can get access to unlimited books. There are very few places in this world where access to resources is free and unlimited. Getting into the habit of visiting the library regularly with your child will teach them how to respect books by keeping them in good condition, allow them free choice in selecting books they want to read, and hopefully, encourage them to develop good reading habits, because they are being shown—this is important.

About Alane Adams

Alane Adams is an award-winning transmedia author, former professor, and literacy advocate. She is the author of the Legends of Orkney and Witches of Orkney fantasy mythology series for tweens including the newly released The Rubicus Prophecy, as well as The Coal Thief, The Egg Thief, The Santa Thief, and The Circus Thief picture books for early-grade readers. Her new middle grade series Legends of Olympus will launch in April 2020 with The Eye of Zeus. She is also the founder of Rise Up Foundation. She lives in Southern California. For more information, visit https://alaneadams.com or follow Alane on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram: @AlaneAdamsBooks