By Jude Njoku

The culture of reading in Nigeria is unarguably at its lowest ebb. Gone were the days when  reading novels written by seasoned authors was the hobby of many students. Today, most children and youths spend their time either browsing the internet, playing computer games or watching home video and football matches in  their homes or viewing centres.

Parents are not helping matters either. In the days of yore, parents would spend fortunes to buy books for their children to read to widen their knowledge base and improve their English language vocabulary. Today, most parents would rather spend such money buy pocket-sized video games for their children.

Educationists posit that to restore the reading culture, parents should try to set up mini-libraries in their homes.
Director of Language Studies at the Alvan Ikoku Federal College of Education, Dr Celestine Njoku explained that honing a child’s reading skills should begin at an early age.

“Reading will not only help children learn new words and widen their vocabulary, it would also bring them to a position where they would be able to appreciate different types of literature,” Dr Njoku who is a Reader in the College said.

No matter the size of the apartment, parents he said, should endeavour to carve out a space for studies or a mini-library where residents including children can stay and read without distractions.

A home with a mini library

Parents, he argued, should endeavour to teach their children by precept and practice. If parents are in the habit of telling their children to go and read while they hardly open books to read themselves, such children would undoubtedly be discouraged.

Parents should therefore be a role model to their children by cultivating the habit of picking books from their shelf and reading them instead of staying glued to the TV set or browsing from one internet site to the other all day.

A Lagos -based Architect, Mr Emeka Izuwah said a Study or mini-library or some people would want to call it, should ideally be located in the upper floor of a building since it is supposed to be a private and noiseless place.

According to him, the Study should be close to the Master-bedroom. Arc Izuwah however put a caveat; if the owner of the house is self-employed and does not have an office, he can locate the Study on the ground floor so that he can also receive business visitors there.

A Study or mini-home library should be able to cater for the reading requirements of everybody in the house. You can buy inexpensive portable shelving that can be expanded as the need arises.

For kids, you can start by gathering books that would be of interest to them. Such books should be kept in kid-friendly shelves in terms of height; medium-sized shelves would be ideal.

The chairs and tables should also suit their taste. You may not need to buy new books at the store, though you can if you have the financial muscle to do so.

It should be noted that as children become older,  their reading interests will widen hence the need to procure a wider variety of books for the library. Ensure that you have a collection of fiction and fables, nursery rhymes and educational materials for the younger ones.