May 26, 2010

Owning Cellphones vs. Owning Books -- WHAAAAH?!----

Kids More Likely to Own a Cellphone Than a Book, Study Finds

What an interesting comparison to make. What's a book anyway, and isn't it all about having access to reading materials, from a young age?

As the article notes, this kind of a study is full of logic holes. Just goes to show you that you shouldn't believe everything you read.

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May 2, 2010

If you don't read, what's wrong with you?

Our Spanish teacher Ms. Nabor LOVES to read! As we chatted about this in the library the other morning, ninth grader Nalu popped in to look for a book to read, and joined in the conversation.

This is what I learned from them.

Ms. Nabor usually has two books at her bedside: one for the morning, like an adventure to get her day started, and one for the evening, to lull her to sleep. The bedtime books may be books she's already read.

She likes series. She reads books by James Clavell over and over. And she likes Musashi. Right now, she's reading Comanche Moon from the Lonesome Dove series by McMurtry. She also likes Isabel Allende and J. K. Rowling. One of her all-time favorite books? The Scarlet Letter by Hawthorne.

Nalu likes adventure stories like The Hunger Games and Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins. He avoids reading scary stories at night. He likes to read BEFORE he does his homework, something his mom is not that crazy about.

Ms. Nabor and Nalu agree that EVERYONE should read.

How did Ms. Nabor come to love reading so much? Her parents encouraged reading, and books were a large part of her life. The "greatest thing ever" she notes is that she used to read World Books (yes, as in encyclopedias) for fun. And there was room for TV too, and there still is. She got hooked on reading fiction after she graduated from college.

Ms. Nabor reads at least a book a week "whenever I have free time" (she usually takes a book to the beach), and Nalu comes to the library searching for a new book to read a couple of times a week.

And talking about books can open up conversations between people, Ms. Nabor enthuses.

Her parting quote? "If you don’t read, what’s wrong with you?" -- I like that.

Thanks to Ms. Nabor and Nalu for giving me permission to tell the world that they're proud to be readers!

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