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| 4 | [[quoteright:350:[[Creator/NormanRockwell https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rockwell_boy.png]]]] |
| 5 | [[caption-width-right:350:"[[WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}} Having fun isn't hard when you've got a library card!]]"[[note]]''Boy Reading Adventure Story'' by Creator/NormanRockwell[[/note]]]] |
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| 9 | %% |
| 10 | ->''"I love this book. I... I love reading!"'' |
| 11 | -->-- '''Rainbow Dash''', ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'', "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E16ReadItAndWeep Read It and Weep]]" |
| 12 | |
| 13 | A common [[EdutainmentShow PSA type plot]] and {{Aesop}} for kids' shows and movies. There's a few possible plots that lead to this: |
| 14 | |
| 15 | * A book is a ChekhovsGun or contains a [[ChekhovsClassroom Chekhov's Lesson]], and reading helps you solve the plot. |
| 16 | * It's a PortalBook that takes an IntrepidFictioneer and reluctant readers to a [[TrappedInTVLand living adventure.]] |
| 17 | * Related to PortalBook, reading lets the characters inside come into the real world and you can have crazy adventures. |
| 18 | * The book's lead character(s) are {{Expy}}s or {{Audience Surrogate}}s of the reader(s) who finds themselves in a similar situation to the plot of the book. Similar to the first point, the resolution of the book helps solve a real life problem. If live action, almost always [[ActingForTwo played by the same actor.]] |
| 19 | * In the case of religious edutainment, expect characters to get immersed figuratively or literally in reading the Bible in Christian shows or reading the Quran in Muslim shows and Aesops about reading them. |
| 20 | * Some books are like crack, and finding the ''right'' book is really fun (this tends to be the most realistic form of the trope). |
| 21 | |
| 22 | Usually the new reader(s) have to overcome AntiIntellectualism and other prejudices in themselves and others. Frequently these episodes include a rainy day and power outage to force the kids to read, or have them sick and needing a lot of bed rest. The children who learn this aesop usually decide that, even though the weather is better and/or they aren't sick anymore they'll continue to read. May overlap with SeparateSceneStorytelling. If this trope is paired with NewMediaAreEvil the message tends to boil down to "put down your mind-numbing handheld device and read a mind-opening book". {{Anvilicious}}ness optional. |
| 23 | |
| 24 | It's worth noting that a show can be just as likely to promote the opposite Aesop, that too much reading can be just as bad as too little, and encourage kids to go out and play or make friends. The idea of reading as being good for you is actually a [[NewerThanTheyThink fairly new concept]] that came with the advent of television. Prior to that, recreational reading [[FullCircleRevolution was viewed in pretty much the same sense as watching television is today.]] For instance, the books of the Stratemeyer Syndicate like ''Literature/TheHardyBoys'' and ''Literature/NancyDrew'' series were regarded as worthless garbage in the 1920s and 1930s that ruined kids' appreciation of the classics. Of course, by the time the properties' most successful adaptation, ''Series/TheHardyBoysNancyDrewMysteries'', came out in UsefulNotes/TheSeventies, it was greeted by some parents with some hope that their kids watching it might like to read the novels next. |
| 25 | |
| 26 | Oddly enough, the trope is usually limited to novels, [[NostalgiaFilter and ignores the value of reading across other media,]] such as magazines, comic books, manga, novellas, articles, short stories or non-fiction books. And not to mention, reading in digital formats such as e-books and apps for tablets and phones. For that matter, it has largely not been discussed in popular entertainment whether listening to an AudioAdaptation of a book of literature counts as "reading," but considering the audiobook medium is a consistently growing sector of the otherwise struggling book market, expect that subject to come up. |
| 27 | |
| 28 | It also doesn't help that, if done poorly, it can suggest that all books are "classics", or just very long. For example, the reluctant reader is presented with a "classic" book (which they will inevitably learn to love), rather than a more modern work (e.g ''Harry Potter''). As the language used in classic books tends to be alien to a new reader, and the stereotype that classic books are snobby and dull, it can have the wrong effect. Unfortunately, classics tend to be in the PublicDomain and, therefore, require jumping through fewer legal hoops to work with. Another option would be to have a [[ShowWithinAShow fictional work within the story]]. |
| 29 | |
| 30 | And [[TechnologyMarchesOn in this day and age where written media is distributed digitally]], expect Aesops about reading a physical book. If it's saying that the screen-based entertainment is inferior to books, see BooksVsScreens. |
| 31 | |
| 32 | ---- |
| 33 | !!Examples: |
| 34 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 35 | |
| 36 | [[folder:Anime & Manga]] |
| 37 | * ''Anime/ReadOrDie'': The title sounds a bit {{Anvilicious}} (even though it's mostly because Yomiko is a hardcore bookworm and a PaperMaster), but the actual work get the message across quite well. |
| 38 | * ''Anime/SamuraiChamploo'': Mugen learns to read from a HotBlooded teacher who makes learning to read SeriousBusiness in the episode, ''War of the Words.'' |
| 39 | [[/folder]] |
| 40 | |
| 41 | [[folder:Comic Books]] |
| 42 | * There was a comic made by DC and Zellers in 1992 titled ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}: A Word To The Wise'' that uses' the Chekov's Book variation since the Joker tries to track down a book on "The Geography of Canada" for a convoluted scheme to claim ownership of North America, which Batman and [[TagalongKid two random teenagers]] trying to stop him. |
| 43 | * ''ComicBook/GrooTheWanderer'': Played with in the 100th issue. Trapped with a wise old man in a library-cave with no exits, Groo gets bored enough to pay attention to the old man's teachings. Eventually a group of greedy treasure-hunters hearing about 'the treasure of the cave' intrude, and in their search for gold and jewels set the library on fire. Taranto and Pal were among the looters, and their usual attempts to trick Groo into helping them only led to a sound pummeling. The series' usual StatusQuoIsGod was given an exception: Groo remained literate (not intelligent, just literate). |
| 44 | -->'''Taranto:''' Watch this! I can handle him! Groo, do you not remember me? Your old friend Taranto?\ |
| 45 | '''Groo:''' I remember you..." ''(Begins to attack Taranto and his forces)''... And I remember I am very mad at you--! ''(After Taranto and his men are thrashed or running, Groo sees Drumm [[TooDumbToLive cheerfully standing by, holding a sign reading YOU ARE A MENDICANT]])'' ''' Drumm... do you know what it says on that paper?'''\ |
| 46 | '''Drumm:''' ''(curiously)'' No. ''(Groo turns his attention to Pal)''\ |
| 47 | '''Pal:''' Uhh, Groo... I was kidding! It was a joke, would you harm a person for a joke? ''(Groo beats Pal senseless)''\ |
| 48 | '''Pal:''' ''(thought balloon)'' Apparently, he would.\ |
| 49 | '''Groo:''' Learn to read, Drumm. It makes it harder for people to fool you. |
| 50 | [[/folder]] |
| 51 | |
| 52 | [[folder:Fan Works]] |
| 53 | * Books are what set up the plot in the Project {{Crossover}} Books series. The first FanFiction in the series, ''[[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/6302328/1/Paper-Mario-Eds Paper Mario Eds]]'', has [[WesternAnimation/EdEddNEddy Ed]] find a strange book in the school library. Reading it makes the Eds get transported to the ''VideoGame/PaperMario'' world. At the end of the story, the Eds receives a series of seemingly empty books entitled Crossover Books, which are activated based on the Eds' interests, wishes, and themes. At the end of the story, the Eds have the entirety of their adventure recorded on the book. However, if the Eds fail their adventure, they will be permanently stuck in the current world. |
| 54 | [[/folder]] |
| 55 | |
| 56 | [[folder:Film - Animation]] |
| 57 | * ''WesternAnimation/AtlantisTheLostEmpire'': Kida struggles to explain to Milo why their culture is rotting from within. Then it becomes apparent. ''Their own writing'' has become lost knowledge, and the key to saving it comes in Milo's book. |
| 58 | * This is probably the second biggest aesop in ''WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeast'', after the moral about learning to love someone for who they are inside. The main character is a girl who loves reading for recreation, even though everyone else around her in her "poor, provincial town" other than her father thinks her odd for it. The "Human Again" sequence from the stage musical (and adapted for the film's special edition) goes further, with Belle teaching The Beast to read and him admitting that he never knew books could be so powerful - by making him forget, if only for a moment, who and what he is. The theme continues in the follow-up films. |
| 59 | * ''WesternAnimation/ThePagemaster'' ''tried'' to do this, but as many people pointed out, it doesn't really encourage reading, instead name-dropping a few literary classics and using loose approximations of their plots and characters for action scenes. |
| 60 | * Subverted in ''WesternAnimation/PoohsGrandAdventure'' with Rabbit's song "If It Says So". It initially appears to be (and Rabbit clearly intends it as) a song about how reading up on a subject is better than guesswork, but it quickly becomes apparent that it's more of an ironic warning against doing so ''uncritically''. |
| 61 | -->'''Rabbit''': Never use that thing between your ears,\ |
| 62 | Brains will get you nowhere fast, my dears,\ |
| 63 | Haven't had a need for mine in years,\ |
| 64 | On the page is where the truth appears. |
| 65 | * ''Anime/RudolfTheBlackCat'': This anime movie teaches the value of reading books and acquiring knowledge by showing that it's those things that help the title character achieve his goals; Rudolf is a kitten who becomes a stray in Tokyo and an older cat teaches him how to read so he can make plans and interpret signs so he can find his way back home. |
| 66 | [[/folder]] |
| 67 | |
| 68 | [[folder:Film - Live Action]] |
| 69 | * The way {{Book Burning}}s are handled in ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheLastCrusade'' kind of comes off as this trope, showing a mass burning of Jewish literature as a collective KickTheDog for the participating Berliners. The elder Dr. Jones later references this in a minor Awesome Moment: |
| 70 | -->'''Vogel''': What does the diary tell you that it doesn't tell us?\ |
| 71 | '''Dr. Jones, Sr.''': It tells me that goose-stepping morons like yourself should try ''reading'' books instead of ''burning'' them! |
| 72 | * ''Film/{{Pleasantville}}'': |
| 73 | ** In the 1950s tv show world of [[{{Dreamville}} Pleasantville]], though there is a library, [[BlankBook the books inside are all blank]] because nobody actually read a book on the original show. When [[MediaTransmigration real world transplants]] David and Jennifer start recalling the plots to the books, they start to fill, allowing the people of the town to actually expand their minds and leading to a cultural revolution. |
| 74 | ** Jennifer starts the film as a shallow party girl who only cares about her looks, but earns her character development through learning to value her mind and reading. |
| 75 | * ''Film/ThePrincessBride'' uses a grandfather reading to his sick grandson as the framing device, and the movie shows the kid get thoroughly hooked. |
| 76 | [[/folder]] |
| 77 | |
| 78 | [[folder:Literature]] |
| 79 | * ''Literature/TheNeverEndingStory'' fits the second type; Bastian is drawn into the story and becomes a character as he reads. Ironically, the movie is more {{Anvilicious}} than the original book. In the book the emphasis is on imagination, no matter what the source, and Bastian is considered amazing because he can make up new stories on the fly. In the movie this is reduced to a basic "reading is good, TV is bad"-{{Aesop}}. |
| 80 | * The primary theme in ''Literature/ThePhantomTollbooth'' is that [[ReadingIsCoolAesop learning-is-fun]], which is established pretty early on through an emphasis on words and wordplay. This strategy would not work if the book were not also ''funny as hell'' -- it reads like a combination of Creator/ShelSilverstein, Creator/JamesThurber, and Creator/DouglasAdams. Kudos to Norton Juster for also throwing in enough ParentalBonus moments to keep the book funny and relevant. |
| 81 | * In an out of print ''ComicStrip/USAcres'' book called 'Sir Orson to the rescue!', Orson was reading a book about King Arthur. Roy mocked that 'Reading is for nerds'. To get back at Orson for insulting him, Roy took the book while Orson and the chicks were sleeping. He thought of burying it in the woods, but then he read the rest of the story, Orson left off, then couldn't stop reading it. |
| 82 | * In ''Literature/CharlieAndTheChocolateFactory'', this aesop is presented in tandem with NewMediaAreEvil in the Oompa-Loompa song that follows on from the undoing of Mike Teavee. The song urges parents to get rid of their television sets, no matter how much their children might protest, and bring in books as a substitute. It goes on to assure them that once the kids are bored enough by a lack of TV, they'll give the books a try, and soon will forget all about "that nauseating, foul, unclean,/Repulsive television screen!" |
| 83 | * Creator/RoaldDahl gets into this trope even further with ''Literature/{{Matilda}}'', where the titular protagonist gains PsychicPowers thanks to her love of reading and learning, not to mention that her TV-loving parents are shown as quite callous. |
| 84 | --> If only he [Mr Wormwood] would read a little Dickens or Kipling he would learn that there was more to life than cheating people and watching television. |
| 85 | * ''Literature/{{Fahrenheit 451}}'' (an example for adults) is set in a future {{dystopia}} where reading is outlawed and book burnings are the norm. The protagonist gradually comes around to the idea that Reading Is Cool, which lands him in trouble with the authorities. |
| 86 | * ''Literature/ABrothersPrice'' emphasizes that the protagonist and his family are avid readers. They can't only read normal writing, they're also fluent in thieves' cant. This even becomes a plot point when [[spoiler: they have to break a code in order to solve a murder]]. The contrast to this is a boy who refuses to learn how to read and write, insisting that he will never need such skills anyway. His cousin is convinced that reading is cool, and tries to teach him, but due to his considering it useless, her success is limited. |
| 87 | * This aesop is a huge part of Creator/WilliamGoldman's ''Literature/ThePrincessBride''. According to the book's (fictional) framing narrative, the young Goldman was a hopeless sports nerd until ''The Princess Bride'' turned him into a passionate book-lover. |
| 88 | * ''Surf's Up'' by Kwame Alexander is rather an interesting look on this trope. A frog named Dude wants to go surfing, but his friend won't stop reading ''Literature/MobyDick'' (Type 5). As Dude bikes Bro, who is still reading his book, to the beach, Dude can't help listening to what Bro is reading and the illustrations transport him to the story (Type 4). Finally at the beach, Dude has learned his lesson and decides to read instead of surf. |
| 89 | * ''Literature/MagicExLibris'' there are few characters who don't love reading, and the most common form of magic is libriomancy, allowing items (and at higher levels, spells and powers) from books to be duplicated, allowing for all sorts of really cool scenes and ideas. This power only comes to passionate readers in the first place... |
| 90 | * ''{{Literature/Animorphs}}'': Andalites apparently came up with books ''after'' computers, and consider them superior. Of course, this was the 90's, when computers weren't yet as essential to human lives. |
| 91 | * ''Literature/TheMarlowSeries'' Nicola Marlow is a reader for whom novels and fictional characters become real: she reads extensively and introduces her readers to writers including [[Literature/HoratioHornblower C. S. Forester]], MaryRenault, Dudley Pope, Nicholas Monsarrat, and Richard Hakluyt. While not intended as an Aesop, Nicola's enthusiasm for the books she is reading may have led younger readers of her novels to be authors themselves. |
| 92 | * This is the main aesop of ''Literature/GuardianCatsAndTheLostBooksOfAlexandria''. It's about "the mystical power of books". In it, a {{bookworm}} housecat named Marco realizes he's [[TheChosenOne chosen]] to become a Guardian library cat. Marco goes on a dangerous mystical adventure as he tries to keep the secret ''Book of Motion'' safely guarded away. |
| 93 | [[/folder]] |
| 94 | |
| 95 | [[folder:Live Action TV]] |
| 96 | * Creator/CarlSagan summed it all up in ''Series/{{Cosmos}}'': |
| 97 | -->What an astonishing thing a book is. It's a flat object made from a tree with flexible parts on which are imprinted lots of funny dark squiggles. But one glance at it and you're inside the mind of another person, maybe somebody dead for thousands of years. Across the millennia, an author is speaking clearly and silently inside your head, directly to you. Writing is perhaps the greatest of human inventions, binding together people who never knew each other, citizens of distant epochs. Books break the shackles of time. A book is proof that humans are capable of working magic. |
| 98 | * The book theme of ''Series/KamenRiderSaber'' naturally leads to this sort of aesop permeating the whole story and even turning up nearly word for word early on. |
| 99 | * ''Series/OurMissBrooks'': Subverted in "Bones, Son of Cyrano", where Mr. Boynton breaks a date with Miss Brooks to read the rest of ''Theatre/CyranoDeBergerac''. Miss Brooks had advised Mr. Boynton to read it in the first place in the hope it would make him less ObliviousToLove. |
| 100 | * ''Series/ReadingRainbow'' was an entire series dedicated to teaching kids that reading is cool. |
| 101 | * ''Series/{{Wishbone}}'' is all about a Jack Russell Terrier that loves to read classic novels. |
| 102 | * In an episode of the Chinese {{wuxia}} TV series ''Seven Swordsmen'', we learn that the reason Swordsman Mu wants to learn to read is that his entire family was killed because of their illiteracy. The "festival banners" they were hired to put up were actually anti-government slogans, and the government soldiers were very displeased. |
| 103 | * Spoofed in the ''Series/HannahMontana'' episode "Love That Lets Go". Jackson keeps procrastinating on a book report and says reading is dumb. He has a nightmare where Wrestling/JohnCena appears and beats him up, berating him for mocking books. A terrified Jackson wakes up and starts the book report. |
| 104 | * Subverted in the ''Series/ElvisAndSlickMonty'' episode "Woo's the Boss". When the main characters try TalkingWithSigns during the [[ItMakesSenseInContext endless cheering of the]] StudioAudience, Elvis tells Slick he can't read. Slick teaches Elvis how to read books, after which Elvis clarifies that he meant he can't read Slick's handwriting. |
| 105 | * Used ironically in a famous vignette put out by the Brazilian Creator/{{MTV}} in the early-to-mid 2000s: "[[HypocriticalHumor Turn off the TV and go read a book!]]" |
| 106 | * The cast of ''Series/{{Beetleborgs}}'' did a few PSA segments dedicated to reading. One of them featured the Hillhurst monsters in {{Imagine Spot}}s as the heroes of the books they were reading. Another had the kids discuss how reading is an important part of being an actor (but what they like to read most is ''fan mail''). And another had the kids do a [[GratuitousRap rap song]] about how much fun reading is. |
| 107 | * ''Series/{{Lupin|2021}}'': Assane's father encouraged his son to read when he offered him a ''Literature/ArseneLupin'' novel, and Assane did the same with his son, who dropped playing video games as a result. Assane also became a badass GentlemanThief and PhantomThief out of his love for the adventures of Maurice Leblanc's literary hero. |
| 108 | * ''Series/BarneyAndFriends'' had 3 songs that taught this lesson: "The Library", "I Love to Read", and "Books Are Fun". |
| 109 | * ''Series/AdventuresInWonderland'', being based on [[Literature/AliceInWonderland a classic book]], naturally fell into this trope a few times. |
| 110 | ** In "TV or Not TV?", the White Rabbit receives a package from his "Book of the Month" club. Cue him and Alice [[ThatRemindsMeOfASong singing a song]]--"Look! A Book!"--about how awesome it is to read. |
| 111 | ** In "Rip-Roaring Rabbit Tales," the White Rabbit decides to act out classic literature scenes to spice up his day--only to nearly destroy the Queen's flower vase collection. This one is more of a BrokenAesop, as it ends up suggesting reading as a ''substitute'' for imagination, which rather defeats the purpose. |
| 112 | ** Nearly every episode featured the Caterpillar using an enchanted storybook (with the plots acted out in Claymation) to hammer home a moral to various characters. |
| 113 | * ''Series/FamilyMatters'' did a subtle version in a VerySpecialEpisode about racism. Laura campaigns for a Black History class at her school, prompting anonymous bullying. "Mama" Esther Winslow encourages her by sharing a story about her own childhood--she loved to read, but the library in her town was only for white people. Regardless, Esther went to the library every day for six months, and whenever she was kicked out, she would stand on the sidewalk outside until the building closed. Despite facing abuse and self-doubt, she [[{{Determinator}} never gave up]], and the librarian eventually relented by giving her a library card and permanently desegregating the facility. Mama Winslow points out that it was her love of literature that inspired her to make a change, and urges Laura to do the same, regardless of the difficulty. |
| 114 | * The ''Series/WizardsOfWaverlyPlace'' episode "Future Harper" has Alex, who is often BrilliantButLazy, proudly declare that she never reads. When popular author H.J. Darling's books reflect the Russo family's magical adventures, though, the kids investigate and learn that Darling is a future version of Alex's best friend Harper, who is the family's SecretKeeper in terms of wizardry. At first, Alex thinks that Harper has betrayed their friendship by writing the books, but Future!Harper explains that she just wanted to share the amazing things that happened in her childhood with the world (it helps that the existence of magic eventually becomes widely-known in the future, so Harper didn't give away anything). Alex thus learns that reading can be fun. It's [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] in the credits, when Selena Gomez breaks character to deliver a parody AndKnowingIsHalfTheBattle-style PSA, featuring a guest appearance from Creator/RobReiner: |
| 115 | -->'''Rob Reiner''': Hi! I love reading too.\ |
| 116 | ''(Takes a sip of milk, then [[SpitTake spits it everywhere]])''\ |
| 117 | '''Rob Reiner''': ...like I should have ''read'' the expiration date on this milk! |
| 118 | * ''Series/DoctorWho'': |
| 119 | ** In "Tooth and Claw", on the run from a werewolf in 1870s Scotland, the Doctor and his companions barricade themself in a library. When asked about weapons to kill the werewolf, the pacifistic Doctor responds, in what would become a MemeticMutation: |
| 120 | ---> '''Doctor:''' You want weapons? We're in a library. Books are the best weapon in the world. This room's the greatest arsenal we could have. Arm yourselves! |
| 121 | ** Implied as a BadassBoast in "Forest of the Dead", which proves to intimidate some creatures that inhabit a planetary library: |
| 122 | ---> '''Doctor:''' I'm the Doctor, and you're in the biggest library in the universe. Look me up. |
| 123 | ** The Doctor's love of certain historical authors who have shown up in the series, such as Charles Dickens, William Shakespeare, Agatha Christie, and Mary Shelley, tries to encourage viewers to appreciate their lives and works. |
| 124 | [[/folder]] |
| 125 | |
| 126 | [[folder:Music]] |
| 127 | * Bomani Armah's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlKL_EpnSp8 "Read a Book"]] rap takes this almost to the point of parody. |
| 128 | * The [[Creator/{{Nintendo}} Nintendo]]-endorsed album ''White Knuckle Scorin[='=]'' features a pack-in ''VideoGame/SuperMarioWorld'' comic where Mario and Princess Toadstool respectively teach Yoshi and the Koopalings how to read, and each has repercussions on the plot. |
| 129 | * Music/TearsForFears' "Sowing The Seeds Of Love": |
| 130 | -->"Everyone, read about it\ |
| 131 | Everyone, scream about it\ |
| 132 | Everyone (everyone, yeah)\ |
| 133 | Everyone (everyone) read about it, read about it\ |
| 134 | Read it in the books, in the crannies and the nooks, there are books to read" |
| 135 | [[/folder]] |
| 136 | |
| 137 | [[folder:Newspaper Comics]] |
| 138 | * One ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes'' comic has Calvin and Hobbes encounter a snake slithering across the ground. They realize that the snake has several mysterious behaviors, so they decide to find and read a book about snakes. However, Calvin soon objects to the thought of spending a summer day learning about something his schoolteacher would make him learn. Hobbes assures him that since the teacher's not forcing Calvin to read over the summer, doing so anyway could still prove fun. Calvin ends up agreeing while he and Hobbes read the snake book together. |
| 139 | --> ''Calvin And Hobbes'': "Cooooooool". |
| 140 | [[/folder]] |
| 141 | |
| 142 | [[folder:Professional Wrestling]] |
| 143 | * Would you expect anything else from Wrestling/PaigeTurner, the [[WrestlingDoesntPay wrestling librarian]]? She brings books to the ring with her, often ''The New Book of Knowledge'', sometimes leading to ThrowTheBookAtThem, as seen [[https://twitter.com/PaigeTurnerShhh/status/575408271030247424 here]]. She even assigned a [[https://twitter.com/PaigeTurnerShhh/status/478622310245466112 Summer Reading List]] for the fans of Inspire Pro. |
| 144 | [[/folder]] |
| 145 | |
| 146 | [[folder:Puppet Shows]] |
| 147 | * This is ''the'' main point being driven home by the shows ''Series/BetweenTheLions'' and ''Series/{{Wilbur}}'', whose slogan is that "Books are moovelous!" |
| 148 | * This shows up occasionally on the ''Franchise/WinnieThePooh'' franchise, but special credit goes to ''Series/TheBookOfPooh'' for a general focus on language and reading, and even more special credit goes to that show's song "Carried Away with Books" in which the characters and Owl in particular sing about how books can carry you away on adventures. |
| 149 | * ''Series/BearInTheBigBlueHouse'' had Bear's Book Club in "Read My Book" and also a two-parter in which Bear and the kids pitch in to fix up a library that was damaged in a storm. |
| 150 | * ''Series/LosLunnis'' featured an exceptionally unsubtle episode where Lucho suffered a magical disorder, caused by watching too much TV, which could be cured only by reading. For extra cringe, his favorite TV show was a parody of ''Franchise/DragonBall'' - although this was probably less of an intentional statement on anime than a petty TakeThat to rival network Cuatro, which at the time was broadcasting ''Dragon Ball'' in direct competition to them (in fact, ''Los Lunnis'''s network used to broadcast a lot of anime too along with them). |
| 151 | [[/folder]] |
| 152 | |
| 153 | [[folder:Video Games]] |
| 154 | * ''VideoGame/HarryPotterHogwartsMystery'': A SubvertedTrope during the Bibliomancy lesson in the 6th year Divination class of the [[PlayerCharacter Jacob’s sibling]]. As stated by Professor Trelawny herself, this topic is not the magic of reading but the use of a book as a tool to predict the future by picking a random page and interpret the meaning of it and how it relates to the reader. |
| 155 | [[/folder]] |
| 156 | |
| 157 | [[folder:Web Comics]] |
| 158 | * Parodied by ''WebComic/ElGoonishShive'': A poster that [[FunnyBackgroundEvent shows up in the background of many shots]] indicates that you should [[SpaceWhaleAesop READ OR THE OWL WILL EAT YOU.]] |
| 159 | [[/folder]] |
| 160 | |
| 161 | [[folder:Western Animation]] |
| 162 | * ''WesternAnimation/AdventuresOfSonicTheHedgehog'': |
| 163 | ** In the episode, "[[Recap/AdventuresOfSonicTheHedgehogS01E013BestHedgehog Best Hedgehog]]", has its Sonic Says segment to be about this Aesop: |
| 164 | --->'''Sonic''': I love reading! Books can take you to far-away lands, and exotic places, or show how to see everyday things in a way cool way! [[NeverLearnedToRead Too bad some people have a problem learning how to read.]] If you know who has trouble reading, tell them to ask a teacher, or get help at a local library. All they have to do is ask. I'll tell ya, there's worlds of fun at reading! |
| 165 | ** The last episode, "Sonically Ever After", has its Sonic Says segment to be about going to the library. |
| 166 | * An ''WesternAnimation/AlvinAndTheChipmunks'' episode had Dave reading ''Literature/TreasureIsland'', and at the end, the boys turned off the TV and video games to read ''Literature/TheThreeMusketeers''. |
| 167 | * ''WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}}'': |
| 168 | ** There's a song in "Arthur's Almost Live Not Real Music Festival" in which the refrain goes "Having fun isn't hard/When you've got a library card." The song surrounds all the cool things that can be done in libraries, including the kinds of interesting and informative books it has. |
| 169 | ** In "The Short, Quick Summer", Arthur bemoans the fact that he wasted his entire summer vacation because he didn't do any of the things on his summer "to-do" list, then realizes he did ''all'' of them by reading stories. |
| 170 | ** "Falafelosophy", starring Creator/NeilGaiman, provides a rare example of an {{Aesop}} in favor of reading graphic novels: they inspire Sue Ellen to be creative and try her hand at writing and illustrating her own work. |
| 171 | ** "Buster Hits the Books" has Buster try to find a book to read for a school report after initially cheating by basing his report on a movie instead. Arthur gives him multiple books to try reading, but Buster gets bored and gives up reading each of these books no matter how short they are. He reads a book that Arthur is also reading, ''Robin Hood'', and he loves it so much that he spends the entire night reading it. |
| 172 | ** This aesop practically appears everywhere in the series, which makes sense since the cartoon was based off a book series. Heck, Arthur's last name is "'''Read'''". |
| 173 | * WesternAnimation/{{Beetlejuice}} is sent back to kindergarten in "Back to School Ghoul" and he doesn't want to go through the learning process. But when Lydia makes a grotesque face to scare off someone antagonizing Beetlejuice, he asks her where she learned it. Holding up a book, Lydia chirps "I read!" This is all the incentive Beetlejuice needed to complete his schooling. |
| 174 | * The ''WesternAnimation/CaptainPlanetAndThePlaneteers'' episode "The Fine Print" had the importance of reading as its moral, the conflict dealing with Looten Plunder duping an [[NeverLearnedToRead illiterate]] worker named Joe into spreading pesticides to ruin the farm he's working on by lying to him that the pesticide is actually a nutrient that will help the crops. The Planeteer Alert for the episode even had the Planeteers inform the audience of how being able to read can help them find ways to take better care of the environment. |
| 175 | * In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/ConanTheAdventurer'', Conan causes a ruckus in town because he could not read a particular sign. He then admits to his friends that he can't read or write at all. Conan spends a good chunk of the episode trying to change this. He takes great pride in learning how write his own name. |
| 176 | * Used in "Dora's Royal Rescue" on ''WesternAnimation/DoraTheExplorer'', which is essentially a WholePlotReference of ''Literature/DonQuixote'', save the more adult bits about Quixote being crazy. At one point, after Swiper is stopped, he sees some books, including one about puppies that he'd like to read, and Dora's steed tells him "No one can be all bad if he likes to read." Oh, and by the way, the love of reading is ultimately what defeats the villain, making his magic wand go away as the characters declare "I love to read!" and [[FakeInteractivity encouraging the viewers to do so also.]] It turns out that the reason he wants to stop everyone from reading is because he himself can't read. [[NeverLearnedToRead He never learned.]] In the end, Don Quixote agrees to teach him how to read, at Dora's suggestion. |
| 177 | * ''WesternAnimation/{{Gargoyles}}'': |
| 178 | ** The episode "[[Recap/GargoylesS2ALighthouseInTheSeaOfTime A Lighthouse In the Sea of Time]]" reveals that Hudson and Broadway [[NeverLearnedToRead are both illiterate]]. Hudson is ashamed of this and tries to hide it, while Broadway is proud and openly considers reading a pointless skill. By the end of the episode, however, both have been brought around on the value of literacy and decide to start learning, and [[ContinuityNod future episodes make a point to include small scenes showing them practicing and progressing]]. Hudson's friend [[BlindBlackGuy Jeffrey Robbins]], introduced in this episode, in particular has strong feelings on the subject. |
| 179 | --->'''Hudson:''' But I'm too old to learn.\ |
| 180 | '''Robbins:''' Oh, hogwash. I had to learn Braille when I was almost forty. And I'll learn a new way to read when I'm ''eighty'', if I have to.\ |
| 181 | '''Hudson:''' Well, who would teach me? I've never told my clan that I can't read.\ |
| 182 | '''Robbins:''' I can teach you. But that's not really the point, is it?\ |
| 183 | '''Hudson:''' It...shames me.\ |
| 184 | '''Robbins:''' I understand. But it isn't shameful to be illiterate, Hudson. It's only a shame to stay that way. |
| 185 | ** Meanwhile, all the way back in [[Recap/GargoylesS1Awakening the pilot]], the showrunners snuck in an implicit pro-literacy statement by portraying Hakon as not only the ruthless Viking who slaughtered most of the Wyvern Clan, but also unapologetically illiterate. "Magic spells, hah! Makes me glad I can't read!" |
| 186 | * Crosses over with EvenEvilHasStandards in ''WesternAnimation/HeManAndTheMastersOfTheUniverse1983''. Batros earns Skeletor's admiration after stealing all of the books on Eternia. When Beast-Man questions why Batros would steal mere books as opposed to gold or precious gems, Skeletor scolds him and says that "Books are the real treasures of the world". |
| 187 | * ''WesternAnimation/{{Jem}}'' loves this aesop. The series has no less than two episodes dedicated to it: |
| 188 | ** One of the main Starlight Girls is Ba Nee. She loves to read, which created an issue when she started to go blind (though an operation fixed that). |
| 189 | ** "Roxy Rumbles" is one of the most remembered episodes in the series since it's [[VillainEpisode Roxy centered]]. Roxy NeverLearnedToRead and when she botched an appearance on live TV, her bandmates (excluding Stormer) made fun of her. She leaves, coincidentally finds a winning lottery ticket, and decides to permanently leave the band. In the end she [[StatusQuoIsGod loses the cash and The Misfits drag her back]], partially due to her inability to read contracts. Ba Nee gives Roxy a book for beginner readers and we're shown Roxy to begin learning to read. This is given a reference in the season finale when [[spoiler:The Misfits come to Ba Nee's going away party]]. |
| 190 | ** One episode has The Misfits and The Holograms going on a literature-themed treasure hunt where the prize is first-editions of books. |
| 191 | ** "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZkOUOEwKCok Open A Book]]" is a song Jem and the Holograms sing about reading. |
| 192 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheLoudHouse'' episode "[[Recap/TheLoudHouseS2E23ReadAloudNotALoud Read Aloud]]" has Lola refusing to participate in a book reading challenge because she thinks reading is boring. When Lincoln learns that Lola has trouble reading, he helps her learn that reading can be fun the more she tries. |
| 193 | * In the ''WesternAnimation/MuppetBabies2018'' episode, "Library Leapfrog", Miss Nanny takes the babies to the library to check out books. While the other babies are excited about checking out books, Robin isn't, as he would much rather play his video game. The other babies show Robin how much fun reading can be when they go inside the books themselves and have an adventure getting Robin's video game back from Piggy and Summer when he accidentally gives it to them instead of his box of animal crackers. By the end of the episode, Robin decides that he would much rather check out the book of ''Zorna and the Muffonians'' than play his video game. |
| 194 | * The ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' episode "Read It and Weep" has Rainbow Dash laid up at a hospital with nothing to do. Twilight suggests a book, but Dash resists because "reading is for eggheads". Eventually she starts reading, and becomes enraptured with a story about AdventurerArchaeologist JustForFun/DaringDo. So much so that when she is discharged, she sneaks back into the hospital to finish the book. Somewhat unusually, the book in question is a modern-type light adventure novel, as opposed to the "classics" that this trope normally involves. |
| 195 | * Averted in ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse''. Despite Luz being an avid bookworm who is introduced gushing about her favorite series, wanted to be a writer when she was younger, and [[spoiler:eventually goes on to date a librarian]], reading is just treated as one of many hobbies with nothing particularly special about it. The closest the story ever gets is a quick gag at a book fair in "Sense and Insensitivity". |
| 196 | -->'''King:''' A fair without rides?\ |
| 197 | '''Boy:''' Who needs rides when ''this [shoves book on King's face]'' can take you ''anywhere''?\ |
| 198 | ''[King throws a piece of bacon on the guy's head, causing him to get carried off by a winged demon]'' |
| 199 | * Possibly [[EnforcedTrope enforced]] on ''[[WesternAnimation/PBAndJOtter PB&J Otter]]'', as if the characters were seen reading anything, it was usually comic books, but an episode late in the show's run had them singing about how great reading adventure books was. |
| 200 | * ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'' has an episode in which Candace, Stacy and the titular duo go to England to visit their grandparents. Candace is bored and her grandmother suggests that she and Stacy read to spice things up. Candace responds by saying that reading is what people did before they invented fun but resolves to read "Sherlock Holmes" nonetheless. Cut to both Candace and Stacy with [[ExhaustedEyeBags loads of bags under their eyes]] indicating their lack of sleep. Candace says that they read the entire series causing her grandmother to smile and say "before they invented fun, indeed." |
| 201 | * The ''WesternAnimation/{{Recess}}'' episode "The Library Kid" [[ZigzaggedTrope zig-zags]] this trope. The titular character is an AdorablyPrecociousChild who learned to read before she could walk, but her complete shunning of the outside world for books is seen as a negative. Unfortunately, when she finally ''does'' experience recess, she becomes addicted to it and starts doing all manner of dangerous stunts. Gretchen encourages the rest of the Gang to use books to lure her back, but they become absorbed in the stories and fail to help. The moral ultimately becomes "Both reading and playing are cool, and you should enjoy both." |
| 202 | * Subverted in the ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' episode "Chicken Lover". Officer Barbrady turns out to be illiterate and has to be taught how to read in order to solve the mystery of who is having sex with chickens. The culprit turns out to be the owner of the bookmobile, as part of a convoluted plot to get Barbrady to read books. At the end, Barbrady swears off reading after having to slog through ''Literature/AtlasShrugged'' (which the bookmobile guy rewarded Barbrady for solving the case, ironically enough). |
| 203 | * We bet you five bucks you can't name an episode of ''WesternAnimation/SuperWhy'' that ''doesn't'' teach this lesson. |
| 204 | * The ''WesternAnimation/TalesFromTheCryptKeeper'' episode "All Booked Up" had a boy being taught the value of reading by the Crypt Keeper, who does so by putting the boy through reenactments of ''Literature/{{Frankenstein}}'', ''[[Literature/TheThreeMusketeers The Man in the Iron Mask]]'', and ''Literature/TheAdventuresOfTomSawyer''. When the Crypt Keeper is done with the boy, he can't get enough of books. |
| 205 | * In the ''WesternAnimation/TinyToonAdventures'' episode "Why Dizzy Can't Read" (part of a ThreeShorts episode called "[[Recap/TinyToonAdventuresS2E3ElephantIssues Elephant Issues]]"), Dizzy Devil is addicted to television, but eventually embraces reading after a DreamSequence he has upon being knocked out by a book on fairy tales. The punchline of the episode is that we see a group of kids so engrossed in reading that they're not watching cartoons, leading Dizzy to stick his arm out of the TV set and turn it off. |
| 206 | * The ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitansGo'' episode "Books" parodies this trope. All Beast Boy and Cyborg learn is that reading is addictive and dangerous. |
| 207 | [[/folder]] |
| 208 | |
| 209 | [[folder:Real Life]] |
| 210 | * This is TruthInTelevision; lots of children's libraries promote reading as a way to find new adventures. During the 90's, this became a little on the {{Anvilicious}} side. Many (ironically!) televised PSA's were heavily pushing this aesop, and more often than not, they had a NewMediaAreEvil slant. |
| 211 | * During the RedScare, Joe [=McCarthy=] and Roy Cohn started mounting a campaign against subversive literature and mounted a campaign to ban books across various libraries and burn them. President Eisenhower criticized this campaign with a simple exhortation: |
| 212 | --> '''Eisenhower''': "Don't join the book burners. ... Don't be afraid to go in your library and read every book." |
| 213 | * Frederick Douglass, a slave in the home of the Auld family of Baltimore, was taught the alphabet at age twelve by Sophia Auld, the mistress of the house. Sophia's husband Hugh criticized her plan and feared that slaves learning to read would encourage a desire for freedom; Douglass referred to this moment as his "first decidedly antislavery lecture," as it taught him that "knowledge unfits a child to be a slave... from that moment I understood the direct pathway from slavery to freedom." As such, Douglass became a huge advocate for literacy and learning programs for both enslaved and newly-freed people. |
| 214 | [[/folder]] |
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