I read because I love reading. It's really pretty simple. Through reading I have become an elephant handler (Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen), a wizard (Harry Potter by JK Rowling), a pilot (Circling the Sun by Paula McLain), and just about everything else in between. There is nothing else in the world that allows you to experience so many different things all in the comfort of your own home (or car, park, favorite coffee shop, library, etc.) With that in mind, why wouldn't I read?
I know my love of reading came from my parents. When I was younger, we had a personal library in our house up until my sister and I took that room over as our bedroom because we'd outgrown our old room when she graduated from her crib to a big kid bed. Our old room then became the library, but the books were much less accessible in their new location. They were still accessible enough for me to read my mother's entire collection of Anne McCaffrey novels (which was basically every book she had published up to that point.) In addition to that, for several years I earned a dollar for every book I read over the summer. We worked on the honor system, but I was rather honest at that point in my life. If I found a really big book I wanted to read, I'd bargain with my parents to get more than just a dollar for it, with varying degrees of success (although my mother may tell you differently.) You may think it's wrong to bribe a child to read, but I truly feel like I was really just being rewarded for something that I would have been doing anyway.
Now that I have children, I had the added goal of instilling a love of reading in them. I cannot imagine my world without books, and I really want my children to share that love. My one obstacle is my husband who is not a reader, at all (he uses instructions when building things though, which almost compensates for his lack of other reading.) This really creates a problem with our six year old son who wants to be just like Daddy. So if any of you have suggestions on how to get a Daddy reading, I would be most appreciative. - Katie
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