Brazil and books. Again. - São Paulo

Okay, I am caffeinated up this morning which means it is time for mini-rant. And it shall be about my second favorite topic, after security, well, okay third after food too, and wait, I like bugs. Ugh, no more coffee.

Books. I love books. As you may know if you get through a few of my posts, I read my first popular Brazilian novel over Christmas break. I enjoyed it immensely. So, while waiting for a young lady to show up to interview for my US college, I went to Saraiva bookstore to see if I could find any of Daniel Galera's prior novels. Mind you, I went to a regular Saraiva (Eldorado Shopping) not a Mega-Saraiva so this is not one of the biggest bookstores.

I walked around the store two times and could not find fiction. I browsed a couple of the tables at the front--all translated foreign literature. Aren't we done with 50 Shades yet? No? Anyway, finally I noted the 8 stands that were titled "Literatura Estrangeira". Foreign literature. These are all books translated into Portuguese from English (mostly) or other foreign language. Lots and lots. Nora Roberts, Tom Clancy, all are translated.

Finally I peered around the corner and spied the three racks of "Literatura Nacional." Three. I had to stealth a photo because the sales person was beginning to suspect me of something at this point. As I looked through the books, I noted that none of the Jabuti finalists were in the racks. Not one of the São Paulo award winners. Not one Daniel Galera. Jorge Amado was there. And several other classic novelists, by the way, but not so many contemporaries. 

I need to understand Brazil's publishing industry. Is it simply not worth spending money on upcoming new authors here? Do Brazilians, in their five books a year average, only read international authors? Are all the local bookstores like this? I haven't been to Cultura in a long time but it's on my list of projects now.

Past blogs posts on reading:

Daniel Galera's Barba Ensopada

Reading

Libraries

Read on - São Paulo

 

Here's my attempt at a stalker picture. No, not really. This is at the small neighborhood club, and specifically in the small playground. I am spying through one of the tree trunks at a young girl, probably age 13 or so who is absolutely and totally absorbed in her book. Kids are running around her, yelling, playing with sand (she is leaning on the sand box) and once in a while someone will stop and look over her shoulder and watch her read for a moment then spin off again.

This scene struck me so strongly because I never see people reading books here. Okay, "never" is a very strong word but it is rare. I took a 20 minute train ride on Monday where not a single person (except me--I'm reading The Casual Vacancy) was reading a printed anything. Everyone was listening to ipods or cell phones, or staring blankly into the air. Where are the books here? Even on the beaches, you don't see people reading. Socializing, perusing a magazine or a newspaper, maybe. Never a book. And I am including kindles and nooks and ipads, okay? 

I am not dreaming, it turns out. Recent research by Instituto Pro-Livro (Pro-book Institute) shows that Brazilians read only 4.7 books a year. 62.3% of Brazilians have not read a book in the last three months. I find books very expensive here: the equivalent of US$20 for a small paperback. Think about that cost when monthly salaries are about US$300/month. About 21% of these Brazilian book readers get their book from a library, another 18% from school. I can only imagine how this splits out socio-economically.

One of the reasons I volunteer as a reading mum in my kids' school is because I loved reading as a child. I would have been that girl in the playground. I would have had my nose stuck in a book on the train. I know of no greater escape. 

Reading Mum - São Paulo

My favorite day of the week during the school year is Thursday. From 8-10 am every Thursday morning, I am a reading mum at my kids' private school. The name "reading mum" is a little misleading--I am really a "listening mum" (and I would prefer "mom" but it's British English at their school). There are 23 second-graders who read me their 16-22 page books and I help them with pronunciation and difficult words. We sit on a bench in a corridor near their classroom and the other school kids pass by going to their activities--my own sons (1st graders) also stop by for a hug when they see me.

Why do I love it so? Second graders are funny. Really funny. I started posting on my facebook page a number of the "zen moments" I had with them. My favorite child (sorry, but I do have one, I can't help it) is at a moment in his boyhood that he does not like girls. So I like to tease him that his book this week (every week) is about princesses and he feigns death. Then he'll take the book and read it with every character as a boy (the princess becomes a soccer star) doing "boy" things (on the soccer pitch instead of at the castle). Yes, there are books with gender bias but not many. If there is gender bias, this particular boy will change it. The other way.

I also have had the opportunity to brush up on my British English. I can "humour" them rather than humor them now. Lorries deliver what trucks should bring. But when one of the girls read a story about Cinderella and one of the stepsisters was "stroppy", I crossed my fingers that my reader would not ask me what stroppy meant. Of course she asked. I said "rude." I was corrected by my British friends later, and of course I have already forgotten what they said.

Around 80% of the kids are Brazilian. You might think that the English native speakers would be the best readers but that is not necessarily true. The soccer-obsessed kid above is the best reader of all (no accent, excellent pronunciation and comprehension) and his parents are both Brazilian. In general I can tell who has parents who read with the kids at night, and who does not get the chance to practice after school.

I wish there were more ways to be involved directly with the kids at our school. And I believe that this school is more inviting to parents being involved than most others. The kids' first school here in Brazil (private but Brazilian language only) was not at all welcoming to "outside" help. I imagine that the public schools here probably don't ask or receive much help from the parents--but I'm out of my league. I just don't know. 

Next week is my last Reading Mum of the year. Yesterday the school sent me a present of flowers and tea and biscuits to thank me. I should thank them. I will miss those 7 year old kids who sit as close as they can to me, snag a book and read about laughing hyenas, magic keys and fairy tales. Since my kids move to second grade in the fall, I will not be able to read with that age group again. Maybe I'll get me some first grade readers--I can hope!