Most people assume that when we talk about books on
television, what we are really talking about are adaptations. But these are not
the only ways that we encounter books on the screen. I was very sad to hear of
the death of Eric Hill this week--creator of the simple and simply lovely Spot
series--but while it was the ABC Television where I first encountered Spot,
it was not as a cartoon.
I was read Spot books by the presenters of Play School,
and many other books besides. Better than that, there was a whole program dedicated
to reading children's books to kids watching through their television sets,
called The Book Place. Yes, it had a few gimmicky trimmings -- songs and
a strange-looking but endearing "Bookworm" who always wore a collar
and tie. But it was the stories from the reading chair that had us all hooked.
My favourite children's book as a kid (don't ask me why, I suspect the sense of
fun and subject matter of food) was A Sausage Went for a Walk, and it
was on The Book Place that I discovered it. I still know parts of
it off by heart.
This week a Kickstarter campaign for a revival of LeVar
Burton's similarly themed television program in the U.S. Reading Rainbow is
sitting at almost four million dollars in pledges from the public. I think it's
wonderful. People clearly have fond memories of discovering the joys of reading
through the televisions in their lounge rooms, and shows like Reading
Rainbow, The Book Place and even Play School exhibit an
appreciation of the book itself that celebrates rather than translates.
I would love to think that all parents read to their kids,
but even if they do, books being read on screen clearly have a positive
influence on the literacy of many young people. In the U.S. Reading Rainbow looks
like it's coming back bigger than ever. But what about us? What, I wonder,
happened to shows like The Book Place? And don't we need them now, more
than ever?
Lyndon Riggall
