Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, June 29, 1995 TAG: 9506290028
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-5 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Move over, Nancy Drew.
Libraries in Northern Virginia are making room for books with Christian themes to meet a growing demand from parents who say they want their children reading stories with high moral values instead of mere popular appeal.
``Christian books have become much more popular,'' said Ayo Dayo, who is the children's librarian at Chinn Park Regional Library in Woodbridge and has developed a Christian reading list. ``We've seen a real increase in readers.''
The reading list includes ``Songs in the Whirlwind,'' a story about a young woman whose faith is tested by her family's misfortune.
The trend appears to be most pronounced in the outer suburban counties of Loudoun and Prince William, as well as in western Fairfax, where home schooling and Bible churches are prevalent.
Nationally, religious literature is one of the fastest-growing fields in publishing. According to Doug Ross, who heads the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association, his group has seen a 10 percent increase in sales over the past year. The volume of children's titles has increased dramatically, he said.
``Christian literature strengthens my children's character and gives them a love for the pure and the good and the noble and the uplifting,'' said Debbie Trefzger, a self-described fundamentalist Christian from Sterling who has six children, ages 3 to 15. ``At a time when there's so much in the world that's dragging kids down, this kind of literature lifts them up to a higher standard.''
Recently, Trefzger read a story to her children about a boy who enters a dog-sled race to try to eliminate his family's debt. While the book doesn't discuss the Bible, Trefzger said it extolled the virtues of compassion, honesty and loyalty to family.
At the Reston Regional Library, which has some of the highest circulation figures for children's books in Fairfax County, librarian Ilze Long said she sees more and more parents selecting Christian titles for their youngsters. The children, she said, often have other ideas about what they want to read.
``I have seen mothers literally take books out of their children's hands because it is not the right book,'' she said. ``Very few children's books advocate unacceptable social values.''
Nancy Berlin, a mother of two from Prince William County, disagrees.
``A lot of the literature that's being put out today makes kids grow up too fast,'' said Berlin, who recently told her 8-year-old son that he could not read a story about a little boy who had a mad crush on a little girl. ``I thought it was inappropriate.''
As do many parents, Berlin said she often has trouble finding books with Christian themes in libraries and orders many titles through a Christian publishing house or borrows them from a library for home schoolers.
While librarians say they are eager to meet the demands of Christian patrons, they say many of the expressly Christian books put out by some small publishers are poorly written and would be unappealing to young readers.
``Time and time again we hear from librarians who say there is a growing search for Christian fiction, but we've run into a problem finding books that are any good,'' said Sally Estes, an editor of the American Library Association's review journal.
by CNB