I give books to my grandchildren as Christmas and birthday gifts. At other times of the year, I may gift them with clothing or sports equipment or something that just makes Gramps feel good to give. But, at Christmas and birthdays it is books. Books in print format; no e-books or audiobooks, although Gramps buys a lot of those for Gramps and Grandma.
My grandchildren receive books that are classics for their age as well as books that are currently trending. They receive books that are age appropriate and that push the boundaries of their vocabularies. They unwrap books of fiction, biography, as well as US and world history. I dare say these are the only print books they receive as gifts all year long. There was a time in their infancy when their parents bought them large, picture books and novelty books – books about birds and dogs and later about pooping and farting. Now that my grandchildren are in upper elementary and middle school and looking for the latest in electronics, their parents no longer buy them books. “Who wants to give a kid something the kid doesn’t want!”, I hear from my offspring. I do. So, I do. I am building breadth and depth to their knowledge base, some of which pays dividends in school. When a teacher asks, “Who knows where Patagonia is?” and most children answer, “In the clothing section at Macy’s”, my grandchildren say with assurance, “Patagonia is at the southern end of South America and is part of Argentina and Chile.”
Books. It is hard to beat the experience of reading books. Using Siri or Google as your reference is very contemporary. But, being able to say “You just crossed the Rubicon, Bud!” to a person who is unbelievably offensive speaks to being well read. What a gift.