reading

I read several teacher blogs, and in one of them, I saw this:

There was a widely bruited-about statistic reported last week, stating that 1 in 4 Americans did not read a single book last year. Do you have friends/family who read as much as you do? Or are you the only person you know who has a serious reading habit?

I thought this was a seriously depressing statistic, and I didn't believe it was true. So I searched online and lo and behold, I found the article. Amazing.

It made me think about my own history of reading. Everyone who knows me knows how important reading is to me. I'm a teacher - a first grade teacher who is responsible for teaching children how to read. And I went to grad school to learn how to teach reading. And sometime in the near future, I hope to be employed as a reading specialist who does nothing BUT teach reading. But career aside, I have always been a reader. My parents read to me and Doug from birth. I can't remember a night in my childhood that didn't end with a bedtime story... either read by my parents, or when I got older, read by myself. I remember trips to the library, not just during the school year, but in the summer as well. I had shelves full of books in my bedroom. Series books, like Sweet Valley High and Babysitter's Club... young adult books, by authors like Judy Blume and Lois Duncan. And I still have the copy of Goodnight Moon that I read as a child. That one has a place of honor in my classroom, where it waits to be shared with yet another group of first graders.

But this quote also made me think about the people in my circle of friends. I know that many of my friends read. Several of my friends are even in a book club. However, I'm curious about the rest of you. Do you read? What do you read? Magazines, newspapers, books, online journals? Why do you read? For fun, for work, for school? And if you don't read for fun, what is the reason for that? Is it because you don't like to read? Because you don't have time to read? Because you prefer other forms of entertainment (i.e. movies, TV, internet)? Was reading important to your family? Did you have good models of reading in your home? How many books have you read so far this year?

I'm genuinely curious about this. I'd love any feedback you can offer on this topic. Please... comment away!