The popular TV program Readers has prompted more people in China to practice reading aloud in booths (小间) set up in big cities across the country.

As the latest TV show to help people’s love for literature recover, the CCTV program Readers invites people from all walks of life to read aloud their favorite poems, essays and books, or even personal letters they wrote to their loved ones. Just as the weekly show has been well­received, its reading booths, equipped with professional recording devices and cameras, have become instant hits.

A crowd of more than 200 people were pictured lining up outside the Shanghai Library at 11 am on March 4—the first day of the booth’s opening to the public in Shanghai. The deadline for registrations was brought forward to 2 pm instead of the scheduled 5:30 pm, as the number of waiting readers continued to grow. Some waited more than nine hours for a tryout in the booth, according to library management.

“There is an old photo in the late 1970s capturing people lining up outside the Shanghai Library before it opens. If that was a spring of reading in Shanghai, now I think another spring has arrived again,” library manager Zhou Deming, told The Paper.

The reading booth is the only one of its kind in the city of economic center at the moment, but more are expected to be put into use in the coming months, according to the library’s website.

The program has also led to booths in other cities including Beijing, Hangzhou, Guangzhou and Xi’an to appeal to more people to read and share their life stories.

With the recent boom of culture­themed TV shows such as Readers and Chinese Poetry Congress, some are optimistic that this will help the country love literature and reading again in general.

As a parent of three children, I’ve read many children’s books over the last decade, some of which taught valuable lessons. Here are four books that teach valuable money lessons and remain favorites of children.

Lemonade in Winter by Emily Jenkins and G. Brian Karas

It focuses on two siblings (兄弟姐妹) who make the interesting choice to open a lemonade stand in the middle of winter. The book features a memorable song about lemonade while telling a story about how sometimes great ideas don’t turn out like what you hope.

Bunny Money by Rosemary Wells

This is a “Max and Ruby” story, as it centers around a pair of rabbit siblings. In this story, Ruby has saved $100 to buy her grandmother a birthday present, but various unexpected events happen to Ruby and Max, causing some of that money to disappear. Will they have enough to buy the gifts for their grandmother?

Joseph Had a Little Overcoat by Simms Taback

The book tells the story of a man who has a nice overcoat, but he wears it a lot and it begins to wear out. Eventually, he reuses the material to make a jacket, then a vest, then various other things until it becomes a cloth button. The book won the Caldecott Medal for its wonderful drawings.

The Lemonade War by Jacqueline Davies

This is the first in a series about two siblings who open up competing lemonade stands. The story steps up as the siblings use their skills and thoughts about entrepreneurship (创业) to drive their “lemonade war” to amusing heights.

Giving children access to literature is important. Educators, parents,and community members should help students develop a passion for reading. Not only is reading literature important in developing cognitive (认知的)skills to be able to succeed in a school or work setting,but it is valuable for other reasons as well.

First,children's literature provides students with the opportunity to respond to literature and develop their own opinions about the topic.Quality literature allows for some differences in opinion. One reader may take something completely different away from the piece of literature than the next reader,based on the two personal viewpoints and experiences.

Besides,children's literature provides a path for students to learn about their own cultural heritage(遗产)and the cultures of other people.However,when teaching students about the cultural heritage of others,one should be very careful in selecting which books to recommend.There are stories which contain inaccuracies about certain cultural groups.However,there are also children's books that are more accurate in teaching the cultural differences of others.

Undoubtedly children's literature also helps students develop emotional intelligence.Stories have the power to promote emotional and moral development.Children's literature contains many moments of crisis(危机),when characters make moral decisions and consider the reasons for their decisions,an important skill for children to see modeled.It also encourages students to think deeper about their own feelings.

Children's literature also encourages creativity.It plays an important role in nurturing(培育) and expanding the imagination.For instance,The House in the Night describes the creativity a young girl has in her dreams at night,as she flies about the dark neighborhood on the wings of a bird.

Children's literature promotes the development of students internal imaginations. Children's literature should be attached importance to because it promotes personality and social development.Children are easily influenced by others,and children's literature can help them develop into caring,intelligent,and friendly people.Being able to understand other people's viewpoints and to not be selfish are important skills that adults must nurture in children. Children's literature can promote social development by encouraging students to accept other people and their differences,thus becoming considerate people and growing into quality citizens.

Finally,children's literature is invaluable in that it is a timeless tradition,one in which books are the major means of passing on our literary heritage from one generation to the next.For a younger audience,children can build their cognitive and language skills through exposure to Mother Goose rhymes.Children in older grades can learn to appreciate the classic plays and messages of William Shakespeare in picture books.Children are only young for a short time,and so we must give them access to a basic literary heritage of timeless books.Quality children's literature has the great power to attract audiences for many generations.

Children's literature is important in both the school setting and at home.Teachers and parents should both be able to distinguish between quality and ordinary literature,in order to give students access to the best books to encourage these important values of literature.

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