Blame, the new YA title
by Simon Mayo will be
published by Penguin
Random House on July
7th 2016
You can't force children to enjoy reading, says
SimonMayo
– but great stories have their own power...
T
rue story: I actually wrote
my first book before I could
read. Or write. It’s not as
crazy as it sounds; my father
and grandfather were both
academics, so I grew up with books being
created all around me. As a very little child I’d
sit next to my dad and he would scribble on
pieces of paper then give them to his secretary,
who would type it all out. I deduced from this
that the process of ‘making a book’ must be
a kind of mind reading, and I wanted to do it,
too. I got hold of a notebook and pencil, and
‘wrote’, thinking about a great story all the
while. When it was finished, I proudly handed
the ‘book’ to my mum; I wanted her to read it,
for real, and she couldn‘t. It was quite a shock
to realise that there was more I needed to do.
That said, at my primary school (St John's
in Croydon), I do remember reaching the end
of the reading scheme they were using, and
becoming a 'gold star' reader as a result. One
of the final books was 'Magic Everywhere', and
there was a story in it – in my memory, it was
called, 'Long, Tall and Broadsight', but that
doesn't quite work, because it was about three
giants with different qualities. I remember
thinking it was wonderful, anyway; I've tried to
find it online so I can revisit it as an adult, but I
haven't managed to track it down so far.
I think my experience of reading less
once I left leaving primary school is fairly
typical – I remember enjoying Willard Price's
'Adventure' books when I was thirteen or
fourteen, and finding them exciting, but
otherwise, it's like a black hole; nothing else
comes to mind. And I can't stand those '100
essential books' lists that newspapers are
always publishing, because I've never read any
of them. The only 'classics' I can tick off, more
Waterstones near the BBC, took it home, and
read the first chapter to Ben that evening; then
sat on the stairs outside his room and just
carried on reading, thinking, this is amazing.
I'm sure a lot of parents will nod at that. I read
the series to all three of my children in turn;
the youngest was resistant at first, because
clearly, anything the older two had enjoyed
must have been rubbish. But I told him I'd
read the first chapter, and if he didn't like it,
we'd never mention it again. And of course,
The Boy Who Lived is a brilliant opening, and
he was hooked.
As for writing, well, the great thing about
the 500 Words competition run by the BBC
– and other schemes like it – is that it places
the emphasis on the right aspects, in my
opinion. Coming up with a story, a character
with a spark, an idea that gets readers caught
up with it – that's something special, and
incredibly rewarding. Obviously, for a written
piece in an exam, grammar and spelling will
matter, but for 500 Words the message is:
just go for it. You're writing for pleasure –
just start, even if it sounds like you've dived
in halfway through. There's an enormous
liberation in that. It can be difficult these
days, I think, for teachers to give children
opportunities to write creatively, with no
pressure to craft their sentences perfectly.
And it's hard to teach the joy of writing if it's
a chore; so the fact that schools are getting
involved with 500 Words in increasing
numbers is deeply satisfying.
"It's hard to teach the joy
of writing, if it's a chore"
MY LIFE IN BOOKS
Simon Mayo
62
TEACH READING & WRITING
or less, are the ones I had to write about for
English Literature, which was a subject that was
a struggle for me. Twelfth Night; The Crucible;
Far From the Madding Crowd. I suppose
Michael Gove might be pleased to know that
there really are some adults in the country who
have never read Of Mice And Men.
I know that there's a huge drive for schools to
promote 'reading for pleasure'; but it seems to
me that all authors can do is come up with the
best stories they can and hope they get into the
hands of people who will enjoy them. If schools
are able to provide the 'raw materials', then
that's great – and a buzzy, vibrant librarian can
make a huge difference. My own children are
surrounded by books –and are lucky enough
to have met authors like Malorie Blackman,
Jacqueline Wilson and JK Rowling, too; thanks
to my job. And they do all enjoy reading, I think
it drips in by osmosis.
When they were little, I was always in charge
of bedtime stories, mainly because I was doing
the Breakfast Show at the time, so I wasn't
around in the mornings. At the risk of going
over very familiar ground, Harry Potter was
a revelation, and a revolution. I'd become so
bored of the books we were reading, and then
Ben, who was exactly the right age when The
Philosopher's Stone was published, came
home and said, 'Dad, people at school are
talking about this book...' I found a copy at the
"Coming upwitha story, a
characterwitha spark, an idea
that gets readers caught upwith
it – that's something special, and
incredibly rewarding"
