Identification with fictional characters takes place; it is selective in terms of the child's own characteristics and problems; and such reading may help the child resolve some of his personal conflicts. But there is more to the matter than that. In moderation, such reading apparently supplies something that is lacking in the child's real life and hence, provides him with constructive channels for development and growth. In excess, however, such reading may have less desirable effects. It may result in "escape," wanting to remove oneself from the real world for a time, into a more pleasant world of dreams and fantasies in which one takes on a higher status and a greater stature, all with the end of recreating oneself for more productive activity in the real world on one's real problems. But removing oneself to the world of fantasy is an easy and constant escape from this harsh one. It is obvious, then, that the major objectives sought in reading --- prestige and affection --- are gratified only by people, real people. There are many things reading can do, but there are some things which it cannot, such as successfully substituting for genuine affection and deference from the immediate environment. Reading may have its own undesirable influences upon the child's personality. It is an extremely valuable experience for a child (or an adult, for that matter) to live with books; it is quite another thing to live in them.
There is another more general problem in the area relating reading to the psychological state of the reader, that is, reading may have positively detrimental influences upon the adjustment of the child to his fellows and to his own world. Some children undoubtedly read too much. By doing so, they inimize the normal contacts with their fellows which would be of particular value for them; some children would be much better off on the playground than in a library. They learn to fortify themselves in a fantasy world of their own selection, though not of their own making. A major and serious effect of this tendency is the increasing withdrawal of the excessive reader into his world of books, into himself and away from the world in which he has to live.
This whole are can perhaps be summed up in terms of one basic value of children's reading. That value is the improvement of the child's capacity for the assessment of reality, on the assuption that the better able he is to evaluate reality and live with it, the better off he will be. However, it should also be recognized that some reading may make the child's realization of the objective more difficult such as overindulgence in fantasy materials and reading materials which themselves contain distorted conceptions of the real world. Reading to Develop Social and Political Values
The adults carry the responsibility of finding the solutions to basic political problems. As adults with a professional concern about communication and youth, they carry the additional responsibility of structuring the preparation of children and young people so as to meet the political problems of their own generation. It is praticularly relevant to inquire about the effect of the reading of children and young people upon the formation of their political values. Reading can make a major contribution. It is for cleavages within society; everyone has been concerned to one time or another with the effects of propaganda. At the same time, of course, communication can make for consensus and for democratic consensus, within a society.
As with the psychological adjustment of the child, so his social and political values are formed in a context of direct personal relations. Used in conjunction with such relations, print can fulfill an important role. A more specific problem here, which can only be briefly mentioned, is the formation of young people's opinions on controversial social issues. The more we recognize the importance of attitudes on social issues which they brought with them from adulthood.
There is another aspect of this problem which deals not with the formation of political values, but more modestly with the development of an interest and desire for preparation in political matters (in the sense of an enlightened citizenry). The conduct of children and young people's lives and probably the lives themselves, are dependent upon political considerations, and increasingly so.
Among the most valuable of the natural resources with which we must build our world are the children and young people. Like other resources, they should not be wasted, they should be developed carefully, rationally, constructively. In such a development, reading can play its role. Those charged with the guidance of such reading have an opportunity matched only by their responsibility.
