How many people have all the time to watch TV, play tricks all night long or spend hours and hours of their breaks between and after classes sitting in the “square”, but say that they don’t have time to read? How many people do you see in waiting rooms, queues, and around campus, simply staring at others or at the ceiling?
I’ve heard many people say that they’d rather do things that are more fun and interesting than read, or that they wouldn’t read in public because they’d be perceived as self-proclaimed intellectual snobs or nerds or simply anti-social boring people.
The whole notion that reading is nerdy, boring, and not cool, hip, nor fun is a very sad phenomenon amongst the majority of young people – not all. Thinking about this reminded me of a campaign I saw in a magazine I used to read back in my teen days; Seventeen. The campaign was called “Get Caught Reading”, and they would feature pictures of celebrities and popular figures “caught reading”. I particularly remember the posters of Whoopee Goldberg and Rosie O’Donnell, and I really liked the concept of the campaign.
So today, as I wanted to sit down and blog these thoughts, I decided to Google and see if I’d find it… and boy was I excited at what I found!
Turns out it’s a project that started in the US, Canada, and Britain, before moving into Europe. Quoting from the website:
My mind started wandering with excitement, thinking about how we can implement such a project here, in Jordan, and in the Arab world, and how desperately we need it. In the last Injaz session I gave, I got the girls a bunch of books as I promised for the small class library and reading program we’re setting up. The idea (again) was that they get a present for every book finished, and the person who reads the most during the semester gets to be invited to a special lunch somewhere. I was so glad to see them rush to see the books and fight to choose first. I tried this plan with my brother over the summer and it worked; he used to tell me that reading is boring, but I got him the Chronicles of Narnia (book 1 for a start) and told him that gets to pick any place to go if he finishes it. I had to go through the torture of watching “The Fast and the Furious” at the movies with him because this is what he wanted, but “the cause” was still worth it ;) after the third book, he stopped asking me where we will go, and he just asks me what interesting books he could read =D
This brings me to another issue, which is the availability of Arabic books that are interesting to teenagers… of course there are a bunch of great books out there that people of any age can enjoy, but when you compare it to books in other languages that specifically target and suit certain age groups, you realize that we are waayyyyy behind. It’s a constant challenge for me to find books for my 8th grade girls in Arabic that would really engage them. Most of the things I’m getting are translations. Also, if you look at the print quality of books in Arabic, you feel sad… I was buying a friend of mine books in Arabic with their translation in English… and when you compare the English version of the book, its beautifully designed jacket, good paper quality, and clear print, with its Arabic version… well, I was embarrassed of what I was going to send her. Of course, I wouldn’t blame the publishers because it’s understandable that they want to cut cost to keep the book price at a minimum since it’s hard to sell the books in the first place. Abu Ali tells me that one of the main reasons less people are buying books these days is that it’s getting more expensive and the majority would rather spend the money on other things.
So back to the Get Caught Reading campaign; Checking out the posters brought to mind the issue of Role Models, which Amin wrote about earlier. A survey has been done before the youth version of “We’re All Jordan” forum, with a sample of over a thousand young people, asking them to name who they look up to in different fields – art, entrepreneurship, politics, culture, music, literature… etc. I didn’t find the results published anywhere, but they were cited, saying that there weren’t even a handful of common answers amongst all the young people interviewed!!
But, Haifa et al aside (don’t get me started), I’m sure we’d find a group of celebrities or public figures to be the faces of the campaign. My mind goes to people like Amr Khaled, Zaven, Giselle Khoury, hmmmm, some football players, athletes… think marketing! Think of people who can address as vast a segment of society as possible, with different tastes and mentalities.
What about Jordanian figures? Just a question, who do you think would work as a figure for such a campaign? Who are the people that the youth of this country look up to? I guess this is an issue for another post, but I’d really appreciate your thoughts.
And don’t forget to take a look at the testimonials from the American and the European versions.
I’ve heard many people say that they’d rather do things that are more fun and interesting than read, or that they wouldn’t read in public because they’d be perceived as self-proclaimed intellectual snobs or nerds or simply anti-social boring people.
The whole notion that reading is nerdy, boring, and not cool, hip, nor fun is a very sad phenomenon amongst the majority of young people – not all. Thinking about this reminded me of a campaign I saw in a magazine I used to read back in my teen days; Seventeen. The campaign was called “Get Caught Reading”, and they would feature pictures of celebrities and popular figures “caught reading”. I particularly remember the posters of Whoopee Goldberg and Rosie O’Donnell, and I really liked the concept of the campaign.
So today, as I wanted to sit down and blog these thoughts, I decided to Google and see if I’d find it… and boy was I excited at what I found!
Turns out it’s a project that started in the US, Canada, and Britain, before moving into Europe. Quoting from the website:
“Get Caught Reading” is a European wide campaign which promotes books and reading through various media and by a well-focused communication strategy. Already promoted in the USA, Canada and Great Britain, the project wants to focus on the fun-side of reading: personalities from the worlds of the media, sport, politics, etc. will be photographed when they are “caught reading”. The campaign is based on these photos, to be distributed through as many media as possible.
There are so many information and entertainment choices competing for our valuable time today that we often put off reading just for enjoyment.
This project wants people to make time for books and to remember how satisfying and rewarding it can be to browse through a bookstore, hold a book in your hands and discover a new world within.
My mind started wandering with excitement, thinking about how we can implement such a project here, in Jordan, and in the Arab world, and how desperately we need it. In the last Injaz session I gave, I got the girls a bunch of books as I promised for the small class library and reading program we’re setting up. The idea (again) was that they get a present for every book finished, and the person who reads the most during the semester gets to be invited to a special lunch somewhere. I was so glad to see them rush to see the books and fight to choose first. I tried this plan with my brother over the summer and it worked; he used to tell me that reading is boring, but I got him the Chronicles of Narnia (book 1 for a start) and told him that gets to pick any place to go if he finishes it. I had to go through the torture of watching “The Fast and the Furious” at the movies with him because this is what he wanted, but “the cause” was still worth it ;) after the third book, he stopped asking me where we will go, and he just asks me what interesting books he could read =D
This brings me to another issue, which is the availability of Arabic books that are interesting to teenagers… of course there are a bunch of great books out there that people of any age can enjoy, but when you compare it to books in other languages that specifically target and suit certain age groups, you realize that we are waayyyyy behind. It’s a constant challenge for me to find books for my 8th grade girls in Arabic that would really engage them. Most of the things I’m getting are translations. Also, if you look at the print quality of books in Arabic, you feel sad… I was buying a friend of mine books in Arabic with their translation in English… and when you compare the English version of the book, its beautifully designed jacket, good paper quality, and clear print, with its Arabic version… well, I was embarrassed of what I was going to send her. Of course, I wouldn’t blame the publishers because it’s understandable that they want to cut cost to keep the book price at a minimum since it’s hard to sell the books in the first place. Abu Ali tells me that one of the main reasons less people are buying books these days is that it’s getting more expensive and the majority would rather spend the money on other things.
So back to the Get Caught Reading campaign; Checking out the posters brought to mind the issue of Role Models, which Amin wrote about earlier. A survey has been done before the youth version of “We’re All Jordan” forum, with a sample of over a thousand young people, asking them to name who they look up to in different fields – art, entrepreneurship, politics, culture, music, literature… etc. I didn’t find the results published anywhere, but they were cited, saying that there weren’t even a handful of common answers amongst all the young people interviewed!!
But, Haifa et al aside (don’t get me started), I’m sure we’d find a group of celebrities or public figures to be the faces of the campaign. My mind goes to people like Amr Khaled, Zaven, Giselle Khoury, hmmmm, some football players, athletes… think marketing! Think of people who can address as vast a segment of society as possible, with different tastes and mentalities.
What about Jordanian figures? Just a question, who do you think would work as a figure for such a campaign? Who are the people that the youth of this country look up to? I guess this is an issue for another post, but I’d really appreciate your thoughts.
And don’t forget to take a look at the testimonials from the American and the European versions.
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