Reading is fundamental, that’s true, but somehow this idea gets lost in the translation. Re-stated, it means, in today’s education system, that reading is fundamental when we make Johnny read and read and read until the words come out of his eyes and ears. At that point, it becomes a habit, so deeply ingrained in him, that it is only natural for him to pick up a book in his leisure time.

Imagine that: In a world of constant distractions and events flying by at high speeds, Johnny will read at a pace much slower than reality, where digressions and inner-space journeys intervene frequently. In order to prevent these diversions from happening, we bombard the child with a barrage—sometimes called a list—of thirty books to read on his own.

By reading, on average, three books per month, along with the summer bonus of ten more books, Johnny might become, for us, but unbeknownst to him, a reader, booklover, lifelong learner, in a naturally unnatural way. This is the fundamental way to impact the reading process, or the magic of reading, so he can sit engaged and bored simultaneously, and constantly thinking and asking questions about his future days, for example:  

What are the easiest books to read and respond to?

Around the winter holidays, two of my students presented me with a lovely card and the gift of a novel. Always interested in what my students are reading, I took interest in their selection, especially because they recommended it so highly. Unfortunately, life made it difficult for me to carve out the time to read it until this current Spring Break.

Looking for Alaska by John Green has all of the appeal and character of a modern day Catcher in the Rye. It seeks to answer the big questions about life and what motivates us.

Miles, the protagonist in the novel goes searching for "The Great Perhaps". Shipping himself off to boarding school and taking refuge and interest in famous people's dying words, he longs to connect with his peers in a way he hasn't at the school by his home.

Admittedly when I began reading the novel, I wasn't quite sure if I'd continue and began to question the taste of the students who shared it. On some level, I felt like perhaps I had "aged out" of this kind of coming of age novel. No longer an adolescent, was this novel going to hold up for a grown up?

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