Recently, I listened to an interview with the American writer Anthony Doerr in which he spoke about the power of books and storytelling. I had known of the writer and one of his books – the award-winning novel All the Light We Cannot See – but had never heard him speak nor read any of his works. I have in the corner of my study an ever-growing pile of books waiting to be read. Anthony Doerr’s Cloud Cuckoo Land is one of those books. 

I thoroughly enjoyed listening to the author speak about his love of reading and the joy he had in imitating writers who participated in the magic of making different worlds come to life by putting ‘black marks down on white paper.’ Books explained to Doerr what it meant to be here. They somehow enabled him to live multiple lives and visit multiple places.

The most powerful childhood experience Doerr can remember is that of his mother reading to him the C.S. Lewis series The Chronicles of Narnia. One of his favourite books, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is, according to Doerr, a marvellous metaphor for what a book actually is. ‘You open this cabinet and there’s this rich colourful world inside… That’s what a book is – a portable universe you can carry around with you.’

An interesting part of Doerr’s account of his childhood included his relationship with his grandmother who came to live with the family when Doerr was fourteen. Her battle with Alzheimer’s disease made Doerr profoundly aware of the fragility of memory and how precious past recollections are for the present. The tension between forgetting and memory colours Doerr’s exploration of continuity and interconnectedness. As a writer, he said he wanted to ‘wake the reader up’ and encourage them to ‘feel the awe of being alive.’

The comment that stayed with me long after the interview had ended was ‘You feel recognised in a book.’ This is so very evident in the English classroom. The look of recognition when a student encounters a character who speaks their pain or their disappointment, shows their delight or their frustration, acts out their anger or craves their need for love and acceptance, is witnessed daily as students read for pleasure.

The challenge for parents and teachers today is to redress the trend which sees reading for pleasure decline as students move through adolescence. Reading most definitely matters because it supports literacy and learning in school, it enables young people to develop their own informed perspective on life, and it allows them to understand and empathise with those in different situations, times and cultures.

Mrs Clare Murphy

English Coordinator & Literacy Instructional Coach