WHY READ? WHY BOOKS?

A school librarian asked a number of authors to respond those two questions for children in his school. Why read? Why books? I’ve got 6 reasons …

  • Reading takes you away from screens. Staring at a phone, an iPad, a computer or a television isn’t wrong. But hours and hours and hours and hours and hours and hours and hours and hours and hours and hours and hours and hours and hours and hours and hours and hours and hours and hours and hours and hours of it is. SO PICK UP A BOOK, INSTEAD. 
  • Reading trains your CONCENTRATION. When you are absorbed in a book, you are learning powers of concentration which will be useful to you in many, many ways, in your life ahead.
  • Reading about other people – whether they are imagined (in fiction books) or real (in non-fiction books) creates EMPATHY. This is the ability to ‘put yourself in other people’s shoes’. And empathy is a great quality for life – especially for anyone who wants to be a responsible and active member of a community.

  • Reading teaches IMAGINATION which is essential for our world. No other animal has this gift – the ability to imagine. And human imagination lies behind all books and art, all inventions, all discoveries, and all the many solutions to problems that we depend on.

  • Reading teaches you how to USE WORDS. You learn the meanings of words and the spellings of words. You learn how to structure sentences well. You learn how to play and experiment with words too.

  • Reading is FUN. Books are full of drama, adventure, poetry, comedy, magic and many other pleasures. SO PLEASE … CHOOSE BOOKS AND KEEP ON READING!

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