Saving the World

As I start to reach the end of the Reading Olympic's book list (Yes the competition has already happened and yes I am still going to finish the list) I realize that I have saved the books that seem less appealing for the end.  Many of these books are non-fiction.  Don't get me wrong, I know non-fiction is incredibly important and for some people-like my brother-the only type of book they want to read.  But for me, there's very little non-fiction that I have loved reading.

Barbara A Lewis' Kids with Courage is a non-fiction book with the potential to be great.  It is just what the title suggests, a collection of stories about children and young adults who have stepped up and shown great courage.  The book is divided into four sections: Kids Fighting Crime, Kids Taking Social Action, Heroic Kids, and Kids Saving the Environment.

Each story is indeed inspirational and there were many stories I felt were too short.  I wanted to know more about the extraordinary young person being described.  However, my main critique of this book is that it is dated.  Dated, you say?  This coming form the person who has reviewed and loved books from the 1920's?  Yes, coming from me I say this book is dated and that is bad.  It's bad because these aren't fantasies where time has no meaning.  These aren't stories so far out of the realm of everyday reality that time doesn't matter.  These are true stories that I worry modern readers will find unrelateable because they are from a different time.

I picture students saying: Why did they have to go to the library?  Just use the Internet.  Why didn't they just use their cell phone?   Why have a bake sale when you can just set up a gofundme page.  These modern objections don't make the kids in these stories any less courageous, but it's harder to inspire a new generation of readers if these new readers can't connect to the story being told.  I would love for Barbara Lewis to make a new edition of this book showcasing the exemplary courage of kids from this generation.

Making a difference...that's kids stuff.