Ads in Books
Kids are very observant and absorb a lot more than we think. My kids get dozens of books every year and also read through dozens more through borrowing books, the library, and a lot of other sources. They love books. And they know how to get more of the book series because of…ads in books.
When I’m reading any book, there is a good bet that there is some kind of ad in there promoting other types of book from the author or series. It’s a genius move because chances are, if you have that book in your hand and made it to the end, you’ll likely want to read (and buy) similar books. My kids have definitely noticed them and asked questions about getting more books in the past, but it’s not a consistent thing for them to ask thankfully. What I didn’t realize is my 6 year old daughter E is already learning to exploit this in her self authored Gerald and Piggy book series.
E wrote a book about Gerald and Piggy losing their backpacks. It’s a short 4 page book and it starts off with both Gerald and Piggy looking for their backpack in the first two pages. There is a blank page after that and then a conclusion to the mystery where…you guessed it…Gerald and Piggy found their backpacks. When I got to the blank page during the night time story session, I asked E about it the first time. She said she didn’t know what to put there, but that it should be a page for a commercial. I paused the first time she said that because not only is she applying what she observed to her book, but she wanted to use it to promote her future Gerald and Piggy books!
We have read that book a handful of times and every time we get to the blank page, we all say “commercial” and move to the conclusion of the book. E started to say that, so we all say that now. It’s both impressive and frightening that she’s already embedding ads in her creative play and writing. She is so aware of the world we live in and I keep telling her that we need to try not to be influenced by ads because it will sway us into buying things we don’t need. We should save our money, invest, and buy what we need. Sometimes on special occasions, we should buy some things we want. I hope this lesson still holds and that in the future, we will see less ads in her books (at least for the next few years!).
