History Main / ReadingIsCoolAesop

* 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 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.

* ''Film/ThePrincessBride'' uses a grandfather reading to his sick grandson as the framing device, and the movie shows the kid get thoroughly hooked.

* The ''WesternAnimation/{{Recess}}'' episode "The Library Kid" uses this aesop.

* 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:

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 and 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.

-->--'''Rainbow Dash''', ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic''

* The primary theme in ''Literature/ThePhantomTollbooth'' is a more general "learning is cool", so this naturally is going to be a major subtheme.

* ''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.

* ''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 the authors themselves: this troper discovered both Forester and Renault because Nicola Marlow was reading them.

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.

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 public domain]] and, therefore, require jumping through fewer legal hoops to work with. Another option would be to have a [[ShowWithinAShow fictional work within the story]], but that [[StylisticSuck has its own problems]].

** There's a song in the musical episode in which the refrain goes "Having fun isn't hard/When you've got a library card."
** In another episode, 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.
** The episode starring Creator/NeilGaiman provided 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.
** Still another episode had 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, until he reads a book that Arthur thought would be too long and complicated to hold his attention and loves it so much that he spends the entire night reading it.

* 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 Beetljuice, 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.

'''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?'''\\

'''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?''\\

-->'''Taranto:''' "Watch this! I can handle him! Groo, do you not remember me? Your old friend Taranto?"\\
'''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?"\\
'''Drumm,''' ''curiously:'' "No." ''(Groo turns his attention to Pal)''\\
'''Pal:''' "Uhh, Groo... I was kidding! It was a joke, would you harm a person for a joke?" ''(Groo beats Pal senseless)''\\
'''Pal (Thinking):''' 'Apparently, he would.'\\
'''Groo:''' "Learn to read, Drumm. It makes it harder for people to fool you."

* ''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.

** In the episode, "Best Hedgehog", has its Sonic Says segment to be about this Aesop:

* 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".

* 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).
* The ''WesternAnimation/{{Recess}}'' episode "The Library Kid" uses this aesop.

* 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.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/TinyToonAdventures'' episode "Why Dizzy Can't Read" (part of a ThreeShorts episode called "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.
* 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.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Jem}}'' loves this aesop. The series has no less than two episodes dedicated to it:
** 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).
** "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]].
** One episode has The Misfits and The Holograms going on a literature-themed treasure hunt where the prize is first-editions of books.
** "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZkOUOEwKCok Open A Book]]" is a song Jem and the Holograms sing about reading.
* The ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitansGo'' episode "Books" parodies this trope. All Beast Boy and Cyborg learn is that reading is addictive and dangerous.
* 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.
* 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.
* We bet you five bucks you can't name an episode of ''WesternAnimation/SuperWhy'' that ''doesn't'' teach this lesson.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheLoudHouse'' episode "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.

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 and 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 is a consistently growing sector of the otherwise struggling book market, expect that subject to come up.

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 and 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."

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 and non-fiction books. And not to mention, reading in digital formats such as e-books and apps for tablets and phones.

And [[TechnologyMarchesOn in this day and age where written media is distributed digitally]], expect Aesops about reading a physical book.

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 and short stories. And not to mention, reading in digital formats such as e-books and apps for tablets and phones.

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 public domain]] and, therefore, require jumping through fewer legal hoops to work with. Another option would be to have a [[ShowWithinAShow fictional work within the story]], but that [[StylisticSuck has its own problems]].