Hooked on Reading!

“My mom read it. It’s the only book I ever saw her read. It made her cry. My brother, he’s in jail, you know. She said it’s just like him. She loved it and told me to read it.”

It was Monster by Walter Dean Myers. It had disappeared from my bookcase over winter break. I’d already made plans to replace it, with a hardbound copy, should it disappear permanently from the shelves. Only a year old, the two classroom copies are wearing out. But it came back in triumph.

“I finished it, Miss! It’s the first big book [281 pages] I ever finished.”

“Want another one?” I asked. I handed him Forged by Fire by Sharon Draper.

“Is it as good?”

“Just read the first page. It’s on audiobook if you need it.”

He read the first page silently.

He looked up. “Do you have another copy? Someone else is already reading this one.” He pointed at the bookmark which indicates a prior claim.

Another reluctant reader is hooked on reading.