Should Adults Read Children’s Books?

I read 2 hours a day:

• 1 hour of nonfiction.
• 1 hour of fiction.

During my fiction block, I’ll read Dan Brown’s books, Salman Rushdie’s work, Chinua Achebe’s words, and more.

‘What else is on your list, Armani?’

Goosebumps.

‘Goosebumps? But that’s for kids!’

It is, but that doesn’t matter to me.

I read children’s books as an adult.

And there is a method to my madness.

Fiction Books Help You Simplify Your Delivery

People talk too much nowadays.

The school system teaches us to use unnecessary flowery language.

I believe fiction books will reverse the convoluted speech.

Because fiction writers do their best to not confuse the kids.

They are simple and to the point.

Look at the leaders around the world.

Are they using 50 words when they could use 5?

Nope!

They use the 5.

And they apply more force to the 5.

When you’re yapping away with tons of words, your message becomes distorted.

After I’m done reading a children’s book, I want to simplify my delivery.

I keep the same message; however, I polish up the delivery.

Learn the Fundamentals of Storytelling

Children’s books will also help you learn the fundamentals of storytelling.

When you’re a beginner storyteller, you’ll think storytelling is one of the most complex fields out there.

“Omg, how will I ever begin? There are characters, words, settings, universe-building, and many other things to learn!”

You can learn all those things later.

In the beginning, you just need to know the basics.

Every story has a character, conflict, & lesson.

Children’s books help you understand the basic division of storytelling before you learn long division.

For example, Goosebumps has a way of reeling the reader in, engaging their imagination, surprising them with conflicts, and more.

After I read Goosebumps, I feel more confident to write a story.

Fiction is Fiction

There are 2 types of consumption:

Passive and active.

Watching TV is passive consumption because the director gives you the images to consume.

Reading a book is active consumption because your imagination has to create the images.

With active consumption, your brain is forced to work.

With fiction, your brain is being forced to turn words into out-of-world images.

When your brain imagines things that are not within this reality, you learn to think differently.

Creativity = thinking differently.

Reading fiction = yoga for the mind.

The more fiction you read, the more your storytelling prowess improves!

Reading fiction allows you to turn your mind from a galaxy to a universe.

Children’s Books Are Time Efficient

Another benefit of children’s books is that they are small.

It doesn’t take long to read them.

If you want, you could finish a book in a day or 2.

The tiny books will help you get back into reading as an adult.

If you haven’t read it in a long time, then reading an encyclopedia-sized book will seem daunting.

But reading an 85-page book will feel like light work.

Read books that you used to.

Since you read these books before, there is an element of nostalgia.

Nostalgia allows for effortless consumption!

Find books that you read as a kid.

Read them.

You’ll see that it doesn’t take long and gets you back into reading.

How to Begin

I don’t read children’s books all the time.

But I definitely keep them in rotation a few times throughout the year.

I recommend getting a book collection series.

Goosebumps is great for beginners because the books are small, there are a lot of stories to choose from, and RL Stine writes science fiction.

I like science fiction because it forces my mind to get engaged more.

But you can read realistic fiction as well.

Books like Kite Runner and Things Fall Apart.

If you have no clue which books to choose, read the books you used to be assigned in school.

Go down memory lane and recall the books you used to SparkNotes.

Don’t lie… I know you SparkNotes’d them.

We all did.

Finish your homework assignment as an adult.

Read those books.

If you’re a parent, see which books your kids are reading.

Don’t rule off the books because they seem basic.

Remember, an adult mind created those books.

Each of the images and storylines was placed there for a reason.

Read your kid’s books to see why things were placed the way they were.

If you don’t have kids, then Google is your best friend.

Don’t Knock it Till You Try it

This post will have gone over most people’s heads.

Because many adults think that reading fiction is already for kids.

They don’t do it.

Now I’m telling them to not only read fiction…

But introduce children’s books into the mix.

These adults will laugh me out of the building!

I highly recommend you give it a try.

Reading fiction as an adult is high ROI because you:

• Flex your imagination.
• Improve storytelling skills.
• Learn to empathize (if you can empathize with a talking lion, then you can empathize with an adult).
• Learn how to package your real-life experiences into an engaging narrative.

And much more.

The benefits of reading children’s books only add to the previous list of bullets by:

• Helping you simplify your delivery.
• Familiarize yourself with the fundamentals of storytelling.
• Adopt a reading practice as an adult.

Try it out.

Read a kid’s book that you can finish in a few days.

The Unorthodox Creative

One final point I’d like to wrap up with is that creative people are unorthodox.

They do things differently to reach different results.

If they did the same things as everyone, then they’d be like everyone

In a room full of white shirts, they’d be another white shirt.

Our goal with creativity is to become a purple shirt in a room full of white shirts.

That’s the only way we will think of out of world ideas.

Reading children’s books as an adult is a purple-shirt thing to do.

For more insights into storytelling and creativity, check out the Art & Science of Storytelling Book

✨Ebook

✨Paperback/Kindle

✨Audiobook

– ArmaniTalks