“There's a divinity that shapes our ends,
Rough-hew them how we will. ........If it be now, 'tis not to come; if it be not to come, it will be now; if it be not now, yet it will come: the readiness is all. “ From William Shakespeare’s “Hamlet.”

In my many years as a school librarian, my insouciant response to parents who asked, “Is it Ok for my child to read this?” or “Why can’t my child read this now?” was the quote in the title. But now as the years pass and I have time to reflect and ponder, what do I mean when I say “the readiness is all?” There can be so many different interpretations of ‘readiness.’ Firstly, it would be about the skill and ability to read. No arguments on this score. The child is struggling to decipher the words and it is obvious she is not ready. At the next level would be reading with meaning, with comprehension. This too is fairly straight forward. A few questions both explicit and implicit, or even a chat with the child will tell us that he is or is not ready for a particular piece of writing. Here I wish to make a slight detour to share that the readiness to listen and comprehend, along with a parent, librarian or teacher, can come earlier than reading with meaning on one’s own. Finally let us look at reading and understanding the layers or hidden meanings in a book. “Reading between the lines” as it were. How do we as librarians pick up those vibes and decide on the readiness? Here is a hilarious take on readiness!  A 6 year old library user who was hell-bent on borrowing one of the later Harry Potter books, said to me, “Look Aunty. I can carry the book. I am ready!”

A few weeks ago a former student reminded me that I had told her not to borrow “Tiger Eyes” by Judy Blume until she was a bit older. Naturally, that made her want to read it all the more! She now shared with me that she had asked her older sister to borrow it in her name, and then read the book. “And?” I asked. Nothing startling, it seemed. But what prompted me to feel she should wait? Is readiness quite subjective? And as many parents have said to me, they have no objection to their children reading way above their age level so why did I mind? On the other hand, there was a parent who objected to my suggesting “Julie of the Wolves” by Jean Craighead George  to a young child who was a nature lover. Her complaint was that there is a sentence in the book which talks about consummation. I went back to the book and found that the allusion was so fleeting that in the entirety of the story, it would not really be picked up by the child. But these are genuine questions and I will try now to respond.

Looking at my motives and actions closely, I feel that I want each child to experience a book fully. When I read “Good Earth” by Pearl Buck at the age of 8, (no gatekeepers around!) I read it at a very superficial level. The only thing that hit me was the slow onset and inevitability of the famine. The feelings, the complexities, the culture of the Chinese society at that time –all of it fell by the wayside. I feel that I got to know each of the characters in just a one-dimensional manner. I grew up and when anyone mentioned “Good Earth,” my refrain was, “Oh, I’ve read that book.”  Later, as a librarian, I have been less ruthless and let it go when children read books with difficult themes. But whenever I tried to talk with them later, it was sad for me to hear that they had read “Sadako and the paper cranes” with no emotional investment. This is the story of a young Hiroshima victim and how her whole family tries to keep her alive, but in vain. On the other hand, I have the experience of a young girl of 12 who read “Gone grandmother,”  ( about the death of a loved grandmother ) stayed back after everyone had left, read it through again, with complete quietness, gave me the book with a muted “thank you” and left. For me, that was very moving and it was readiness.

One book which had a strong impact on me was Mahashwetha Devi’s” Mother of 1084.” This is the story of a woman whose son joins the Naxalite movement in Kolkata.  With much hope (!) I suggested it to a young girl of 17, an insightful reader. When she was done, I was anticipating talking to her about it and sharing the harrowing feelings portrayed in the book. “Oh ya. I finished it. It was OK,” was her response. After my first feelings of sharp disappointment, it dawned on me that the identification I had experienced as a mother could never be duplicated by this young girl. Naturally! So ‘readiness’ was more complex than I had thought.

Readiness can also be anticipated when a book with a nuanced and difficult theme is opened up by the adult with a group of children.  Two books come to mind. “The two-named boy” and “The Sackclothman.” They are different tales in more ways than one. But a group of 11 year olds could enter into the complexities of religion, loss, death, depression and mental disturbance with sensitivity and feeling, thanks to an adult facilitating and opening up the content of the book.

If I have given the impression that readiness is only applicable to difficult themes, let me hasten to correct that. Appreciation of humour, discerning elegance of language, recognising complexity in characterisation, being able to unravel mysteries – all these also need a maturity in the reader.

It is a new and exciting phase in childrens’ literature especially in India. There are more and more authors and illustrators who are taking on gritty issues and treating them with care and thought. An admirable number of writers are emerging who write for young adults.  Mainstream publishers of children’s literature now welcome books with unusual themes. As librarians, teachers and parents, we have to keep in step with the breakthroughs happening in this space of childrens’ literature.

One of the other questions I am often asked is about an open library. If all material is available on open shelves, how am I able to monitor who is reading what. For me, this begins and ends with relationship and trust. There is no book that enters the library that is not put on display and even introduced to the whole user body. At that time I would say that this is a book for older children and if any younger ones wish to ask me why, come and talk, I say. This never fails for if they don’t come, I might open it up. “Our bodies, ourselves” is an excellent book about our bodies and sex. I kept it in the library and told younger children that I would be happy to look at it along with them when they were ready. It worked. There was an open curiosity and nothing more. For me, that denoted readiness to wait.

More recently I was in conversation with a few young readers  who wanted to know why some of their friends were ‘let’ to read books which were not at their level and yet these children were told they were not ready. In a revealing chat, we ended by saying that I would be happy to have them borrow such books, and trust that they would come and tell me later how they really responded. More than one young user caught me the next time I entered the library to share that they read a chapter and felt they were not ‘ready’ and returned the book! So here was yet another window to understanding this tricky word!

The crucial thing to ask ourselves is where this notion of readiness springs from? Is it, on the part of the adult, coming from a feeling of censorship and wanting to screen children’s reading? Censorship even with the best of intentions can be a dangerous beast.  What are our parameters for this censorship? The adult who is doing this must needs look inward very carefully to examine her or his own conditioning and biases. On the other hand if this recommendation of readiness is coming from a relationship with the child and a wish to have the child fully experience a book in all its facets – if, as Hamlet says, “there is a divinity that shapes our ends,” readiness in its purest sense is the way to go!!

“If it be not now, yet it will come.”

Let me end with a pet peeve. When we can see how layered ‘readiness’ is, how do publishers and libraries label their books according to levels?  And librarians and teachers follow this quite assiduously?! The rest is silence.