Dragons, castles, and fairy tale creatures are all key elements of stories and tales to a child while growing up. Reading on its own allows the childhood imagination to grow. Whether it is a short story or the entire series of " Harry Potter," reading to kids holds more value than you may initially see.
We heard all throughout school that reading and writing was important. It's important not only on an educational basis, but on a personal growth basis as well. As someone who studies media and digital arts, the conversation about feeling constantly connected and how that impacts the growth of this current generation of children begs the question of how their imaginations grow with them.
Yes, there are games and educational television shows for kids, but what do they compare to being immersed in a book and a world where a child can let their imagination run? Anyone who became obsessed with "Junie B Jones" or "The Magic Treehouse" series knows that once you read one, you immediately wanted to read the next. Of course, kids have toys, playgrounds, coloring, and games, but nothing quite compares to reading a book.
A book lets you escape into another world, one that could have magical elements or unique fairy tale characters. You could travel the world in a book and be with dragons, princesses, and knights. You could follow heroes on quests. Why is reading important? It contributes to what becomes your imagination.
As an adult, those books, series, and worlds have in many ways come to life through movies. A lot of books have become part of a visual medium. For us adults, we had that foundation of reading and growing our imagination, so we all got incredibly hooked when we saw our favorite books come to life on the big screen as we got older. For kids in this generation, will they have the desire to read and enter those worlds through books?
This is why reading is important. This is why those stories hold such value. They helped our imagination form and grow in ways that we did not appreciate until we were older. Those fairy tales, magical worlds, and characters who we relate to are important because, in a way, they contributed to the way that we think and how our imaginations developed.
