Liking Books?

I don't want to read too much into this or be overly optimistic (nor do I want to be too cynical), but it appears that N may have become a fan of reading. Don't get me wrong, you have to take that expression with a grain of salt, because he's not quite a book lover, at least not yet. There are plenty of other things that he'd rather be doing, like everything else, but at least he's reading fairly regularly. Granted, we sort of force the issue; we tell him every day to go up and read for about 30 minutes, and we take him regularly to the library where he can choose some books.

Now he could be simply going through the motions and humoring his clueless parents (what kid doesn't?), but there are some positive notes to take from all of this. First off, he's at least reading, and we ask him to write short book reports about the books, so he has to get something out of them to pull this off. Secondly, he's going up and reading on his own, without our prodding, which is huge; I can't tell you how cool we think this is. And finally, he's showing interest in certain books and has even gone to the library and chosen ones by certain authors.

This last part got a nudge from his grandmom, JR. She recently sent him a book that he really liked by a prolific author, James Patterson. I'm guessing he liked the book because he actually asked to go the library to get more of his books, and came home with an armful of them. How cool is that?

In the end we can't predict how much of a book lover he will grow to be, you just can't force the issue, sort of. However, in lieu of TV and video games, I think he's definitely made it an option for his down times, and the great hope is that eventually he'll want to do it for enjoyment... maybe even get lost in a book and lose track of time. Is that too much to ask?

Until the next time, thanks for reading, and thanks to .brioso. for the pic.