Books Forever - Son No 1

Son No 1 is not an avid reader, but he is an intense reader. He reads periodically, but during those times when he read, he would read endlessly. In his first 12 years, I would say Son No 1 has had four phases of such great reading spells.

The first phase was when Son No 1 was 4 years old. He was in pre-school and we invested in a set of children's books called "A Child's First Library Of Learning". It was a most worthwhile investment. Every night, we read 2-4 pages and in that way, we read book by book until we finished almost the entire set of 24 books.

Most people might think that reading such encyclopediac books is dry, but my children (yes, subsequently the two younger boys followed the same path) would disagree. They light up when they discover new things and have a natural curiosity to always want to know more. It is not surprising therefore that people are normally impressed by their general knowledge. This is not to say that my children are exceptional in that way; I believe all children have the same curiosity about the world around them, it's just that some may not have the opportunities to have their questions answered.

The transition from being-read-to to reading-by-himself was difficult. For a while, I did not know where our informal reading programme was headed. Thank goodness the next big wave hit and that was when Son No 1 discovered Roald Dahl. He was about 8 years old then and I believe credit must be given to his class teacher that year for her role in encouraging her students to read. Son No 1 loved Roald Dahl's books and very often, would burst out laughing when reading his books. The characters and plots were zany and sometimes, irreverent. The books were about imagining the impossible and making the impossible a reality.

After that phase, I could not get Son No 1 interested in reading for a while. He did not like Enid Blyton. I could not get any other age-specific books that interested him. He had other distractions and pursuits.

It was when Son No 1 turned about 10 years old, that he started reading a series of books, Mr Midnight, which are essentially horror stories written in the local context. The writing was pedestrian but heeding Deng Xiaoping's theory that "it does not matter whether the cat is black or white, so long as it catches the mice", I bought every book in the series for him. So captured by the books was Son No 1 that he went for a book-signing session at Junction 8 by the author who wrote under the pen-name, Simon Lee, but is in fact a white Australian residing in Singapore. The author gave out a free signed poster of himself, which still hung in Son No 1's wardrobe. Up to when he was 12 years old, Son No 1 would be eagerly awaiting each new additional book to the series and would be among the first to purchase them.

At 12 years old now, Son No 1 tells me not to buy any more Mr Midnight books. His reading has matured to a new level - Harry Potter.

I myself have read Harry Potter and know that the books are page-turners but even I have failed to anticipate how Son No 1 could be so fully captivated by them. He has read the books umpteen times and laments to me that I should have got the hard cover version for him. I would have too, if I had known that he would love the books that much. As it is, it was only the last instalment that his Ping Yee got a hard cover edition for him.

So where do we go from here? I don't know. Recently, I bought the first two of Dave Pelzer's trilogy. I also bought the Diary of Anne Frank. They are my gifts for him for the upcoming holidays.

I have also thought of writing to JK Rowling. I would say, "Please, can you continue writing about Harry Potter? Here, I will give you an idea. Harry and Ginny got married and they had children who also went to Hogwarts. Why don't you write about this next generation? Ya, we can also have the Malfoy gang and a little Hermione brainiac. We ALL want to read more of Harry Potter and only you can do the magic. Kindly make more millions for all our sakes."