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The Family Room by Michelle Martin

February 3, 2008

Mr. Nonfiction

When it comes time to choose books, Frank has always gravitated away from storybooks.

From preschool, he’s chosen books about things: fire trucks, construction equipment, animals, the Titanic, trains, planes and automobiles.

Actually, never really automobiles. But all the rest have topped his reading list at one time or another. He’s the only kid I know whose favorite bedtime reading is an atlas.

His thirst for information extends to video, as well. If he gets to choose a movie, it’s usually something along the lines of “There Goes a Fire Engine” instead of, say, “Peter Pan,” or “The Incredibles.” He’s one of the few 7- year-olds I know who cherishes a desire to go to Winnipeg because of what he saw on a video about a train ride across Canada.

No doubt his reading and viewing habits have taught him a lot; there are more than a few topics on which he is more well-informed than I. That’s started to frustrate him, because he still thinks I should have all the answers to the questions that cross his mind.

Has it ever snowed at the equator? Well, only if there were really high mountains there—but I’m not sure. (A quick Google check points out that Kilimanjaro is close to the equator, so the answer is probably yes) How much do whales weigh? Well, we’d have to look that up. How much does a plane cost? No idea. I’ve never tried to buy one. But it’s probably more than I can afford.

So it didn’t come as much of a surprise when he commented from the back seat, “You don’t know a lot, Mom.”

That, I was quick to agree with.

“There sure are a lot of things I don’t know,” I said. “No one can know everything. But I also do know a lot of things.”

In any case, Frank isn’t too unusual in his preference for non-fiction, at least not according to the literacy teacher and librarian at his school. A lot of kids — especially boys — prefer their reading with heavy doses of fact and not so much fantasy, he said. He was one of them. But he did eventually develop an interest in fiction.

Fiction, after all, teaches lessons that are profoundly true, even if they aren’t factual.

That’s something Jesus knew when he taught with parables. When he talked about the lost sheep, he didn’t mean one particular sheep who wandered away from one particular shepherd. At least, that’s not the way we understand it. If that’s all it was, the story would have ended as soon the sheep was found and we’d have no reason to think about it some 2,000 years later.

So I keep reading Frank stories — he’s partial to the “Fudge” books right now, with their tales of sibling relationships. Caroline likes them too, so they’ve become something we can all share. She, in turn, has started looking at his books about the Titanic.

And Frank keeps reading his children’s Bible. That’s one book, he said, where he likes the stories.

Martin is assistant editor of the Catholic New World. Contact her at [email protected].