Anyone who says they have only one life to live must not know how to read a book.

[ardvari]

The person who would become a lifelong reader should stumble upon very rich stuff first, early, and often. It lived within, a most agreeable kind of haunting.- Gregory Maguire, "Lost

Comments

[fishwithfeet]

I would kiss you if I could for this

[fishwithfeet]

Also, I totally see what you did there. You clever girl :P And I feel like I need to make one more comment in order to use my third relevant icon to this post :D

[ardvari]

AH, awesome icon is awesome! It's such a great book. The movie... also funny. But it lacks some of the wonderfulness of the book, as movies tend to do.

[ardvari]

Yes, yes, yes!

I was really into Michael Ende growing up, so for me The Neverending Story and Momo were probably what The Hobbit was for you. I didn't read The Hobbit, and subsequently The Lord of the Rings and Silmarillion until I was in high school.

There's something amazing in the written word that I wish more people would come to appreciate. AMEN! :)

[thothmes]

Oh, I totally agree. I grew up with books, I read constantly, and I live in a house with well over 5,000 volumes in it, many of them kids books. Before I had kids I used to read (on average) 3 250-page books per day.

I have 4 kids. Three of them love to read. The fourth one, not so much. It's the A.D.H.D. She just can't keep focused long enough to get through a chapter book (she's 9!) without the compulsion of having to read aloud for 20 minutes from school. I've spent her whole lifetime trying to pick out things that suit her, that match her interests, and she tries, but it's a no go.

It's so sad, but I'm still trying, still hoping. I won't give up, because I agree with everything you've said. This one is just different from the others, and she came that way. I could tell, even when she was a baby. But I'm a stubborn woman, and I'll keep trying.

Funny thing is, I pick what I ask her to read very carefully. I don't ask her to go for things that wouldn't suit her. She loves everything I have her read, but it doesn't

[ardvari]

See, it's great that she loved everything she's read. Maybe the spark will catch eventually.

You never know, maybe once she learns to focus and something really grabs her attention, she'll come to really enjoy reading.

When I was working with kids, I loved working with ones that had ADHD. They're brilliant, the stuff they do, and draw, and say! They see the world differently. It was hard to find things they could really focus on and sit still for but when I did- best. moments. ever.

YAY for you continuing to try to get her to read. I'm sure she'll appreciate it as she grows older. In fact, she probably already appreciates it now.

[ardvari]

That's one of my favorite things about studying English. Everyone I was there with loved to read. We sat out in the hallways between classes just reading and discussing books. It was awesome because for once in my life I was surrounded by people who really enjoyed reading as much as I did. I don't think I had any profs that actively didn't like reading either.

I'm crossing my fingers for your second year! :)

[xfchemist]

I always loved reading, though I have to say that a lot of classics that I had to read at school were sooo boring!

[ardvari]

Oh, were they ever! Admittedly I pretty much winged it most of the time and didn't read most of the stuff I should've read during my last two years of high school (in Germany). I found The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath to be much more relevant to my interests than Effie Briest.

Then again, we read Chaucer in my first year of university and I adored Chaucer. I think there's a time and place for classics and I'm fairly sure no 16-year-old can appreciate Wilhelm Tell properly unless they're so inclined, so high school might not be the place to throw them all at unsuspecting, bored, and confused people struggling through puberty. /run-on sentence

[wastedrock]

It's something I've never understood either. We started those little "reading is fun" books in 1st grade. I was SO BORED with them because my parents and my brother had been reading to me, and with me, since I was about 5. By the time 1st grade rolled around I was reading semi-long children's books, not tiny pamphlets!
And I STILL love to read, it's one of my favorite pastimes. I feel so...lost if I don't have a story to think about!
Nic, however, is the opposite. He never read as a kid, and still doesn't like it now. I don't understand that to much, but whatever. My brother, his girlfriend, and I all have Kindles/Nooks now, and every holiday we're together we always end up reading for like 5 hours (not in a row hah). Nic is always lost :p

[ardvari]

Oh, my Kindle has made my life so much better! I no longer have to cart five books around with me at all times.

I think reading to/with children is probably the most important thing to do if you want to turn them into readers.

My mom used to read all her favorite children's books to us. I eventually just got bored with having to wait until the next day for her to read the next chapter, so I started reading myself.

I was one of those kids reading with a flashlight in bed at night and I went through books ridiculously fast. :p