Feb 25 2008
Continuing to think about reading…
Hello all,Most of you have not posted yet about Tom Newkirk’s article on reading, but I found this blog essay over break and wanted to share it with you. It is another thread to our discussion of reading. You can respond to this essay and post or Tom’s, or both. Let me know if you’re having any trouble posting.One of the things I love about break week is the opportunity to read. I finally picked up and finished Three Cups of Tea coauthored by Greg Mortenson and a journalist, who’s name I have forgotten. This is a book that definitively answers the question: can one person make a real difference in this world? It is about his mission to create schools in Pakistan. It is great reading, filled with adventure and insight into an area of the world I know too little about. It also reminded me of how many people in our world are desperate to learn how to read. I hope you had a chance to do some light reading of your own….Below is the blog essay I mentioned. I think you’ll enjoy it. February 20, 2008Book Lust by Timothy Egan, The New York TimesEvery now and then, someone who is brilliant says something stupid — often the result of spending too much time riding a jet stream of high praise. Steve Jobs, the co-founder and chief executive of Apple Inc., did such a thing last month when he all but declared the death of reading.Asked about Kindle, the electronic book reader from Amazon.com, Jobs was dismissive. “It doesn’t matter how good or bad the product is,” he told John Markoff of The Times, “the fact is that people don’t read anymore. Forty percent of the people in the U.S. read one book or less last year.”This is nonsense on several levels. But before we get to reading, let’s stipulate that Jobs is deserving of his 2007 ranking by Fortune Magazine as the most powerful person in business. Anyone who can cause revolutions in five industries, as Fortune noted, is a titan — capable of touching a billion lives.His life story is inspiring. An adopted child, he drops out of Reed College in Portland, Ore., but remembers the calligraphy classes when he designs the typography for the Macintosh. Gets rich. Gets fired. Gets cancer. Survives all three. Takes acid, wanders around India, dates exotic older women. Marries. Has kids. Loves the Beatles, and cites their creative tension as a business model. Gives great commencement speech at Stanford, concluding: “Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life.”The Mac, Pixar, the iPhone, the iPod, iTunes. This stuff is cool. Lighter than air. iGetit. But it’s just product, dude.Reading is something else, an engagement of the imagination with life experience. It’s fad-resistant, precisely because human beings are hard-wired for story, and intrinsically curious. Reading is not about product.For most of my lifetime, I’ve heard that reading is dead. In that time, disco has died, drive-in movies have nearly died, and something called The Clapper has come and gone through bedrooms across the nation.But reading? This year, about 400 million books will be sold in the United States. Overall, business is up 1 percent — not bad, in a rough economy, for a $15 billion industry still populated by people whose idea of how to sell books dates to Bartleby the Scrivener.Next year, business may be down, and several publishers may merge, and certainly more of the poor, beloved independent bookstores will cling to life support. Steve Jobs will stroll into a room filled with breathless acolytes and pull a must-have trick from his bag. We’ll oohh and ahhhh about it, then go back to lives where a good book still holds more power than anything with a screen. Power to transport the reader to another world. Power to get inside somebody’s else mind, to live their story, to be moved.Yes, the act of reading takes some effort, unlike the passive act of using the products Jobs has created, which involves little more than directing eyeballs to a flat patch or putting a plug into the ear. True, reading is down, somewhat, from 1992, especially reading of literature. So what? People are eating fewer vegetables than they used to – or should – but that doesn’t mean carrots have no future.When Jobs cited the 40-percent-who-don’t-read figure, he was no doubt referring to a hand-wringing and possibly erroneous 2004 study by the National Endowment for the Arts. “This report documents a national crisis,” the chairman, Dana Gioia, said at the time. Message from the cultural elite: read, you morons, and eat your spinach while you’re at it!Last year, a survey for the Associated Press found that a much smaller number — 27 percent — had not read a book lately, which means nearly three-in-four have read a book. Steve Jobs may be many things – maestro, visionary, demi-god – but he apparently isn’t a careful reader of certain market reports.The more compelling statistic was rarely mentioned in news accounts of the A.P. story: the survey found that another 27 percent of Americans had read 15 or more books a year. That report documents a national celebration.Most companies would kill for a market like that – more than one-fourth of the world’s biggest consumer market buying 15 or more of its items a year. And half the population bought nearly 6 books a year. If only Apple were so lucky. The latest Harry Potter book sold 9 million copies in its first 24 hours – in English. “The DaVinci Code,” a story of ideas even with its wooden characters and absurd plotting, has sold more than 60 million copies.By contrast, Apple reported selling a piddling 3.7 million of the much-hyped iPhones through 2007. Is the iPhone dead? Of course not. But what should be dead are foolish statements about how human nature itself has changed because of some new diversion for our thumbs.Jobs was prompted by the excitement over Kindle, the $399 electronic book reader that shows signs of being a blockbuster for Amazon.com; demand is much higher than supply, according to the company.Paper or plastic, it doesn’t matter what form the book takes. What is timeless, Steve, is story, and that’s why people will never stop reading. I loved Sara Rimer’s piece in The Times about how immigrant children were taking to “The Great Gatsby,” the perfect novel about the tragic side of the American Dream.Our teenage son put his text-messaging aside when he discovered “Friday Night Lights,” by H.G. Bissinger, and “Hate Mail from Cheerleaders,” a collection of Rick Reilly’s spot-on sports columns. Those were his gateway drugs. He’s moved on to the Tobias Wolff memoir, “This Boy’s Life,” and “Seabiscuit,” by Laura Hillenbrand. He even sets aside his iPod when he reads.I look forward to a first-rate biography of Steve Jobs, an American original. His life – what a story! I’d read about it any day, in any form, long after the iStuff is forgotten.
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Just a quick note; I’ll blog between snowblowing and shoveling tomorrow. I have multiple copies of Three Cups of Tea. If anyone wants to borrow one, let me know. I also sent three copies to the library. I received them from North Country Education Foundation. See me if you want a good read…
Kathy Keene Room C128 (bottom floor, next to the preschool)
Egan’s article from the Times was interesting to me in a couple of ways. I was reminded by his use of comments from the Apple tech guy about how reading is dying and the ipod and other such gizmoes will rule the brains of people in the future, and then of course, Egans response which was all about the strength of books and the publishing industry and what not, and the thing is everyone has an agenda they’re trying to push… the Apple guy wants to sell his technology, the writer guy wants to push the written word in books and papers, and it’s fun to read them duke it out.
I have to admit, I’m a bit overcooked with the crisis in this and the crisis in that mentality. Boy do we hear about the crisis in education, the crisis in reading, the crisis in writing, the crisis in Iraq, the global warming crisis, we’re losing polar bears in the next fifty years, I mean, I can only handle so much crisis talk in one era, these days, everyone seems to have a crisis they’re pushing, and that’s how they will grab their bit of the headlines.
I love the voices that find a less alarmist kind of approach. I have more faith in a calm presentation about an idea or phenomena, someone who turns ideas on many of their sides, seeks different perspectives all around for intelligent observation and comment and debate about dynamic situations, avoiding a more didactic, polarizing approach in their thinking; I raise a red flag like, “OK, what’s this guy’s agenda?” when the next person presents me the next crisis on whatever it is this time. Yeah there’s trouble all over the place with lots of things, but books are not disappearing anytime soon, or ever for that matter. The Apple guy is getting attention for his product on the cheap.
I was also struck once again by the sketchy nature of numbers and statistics to try and support an assertion with evidence whenever people present their arguments. Egan, the Times guy, cites a report that has very different findings than the report from the Apple guy on what the story is with reading habits and numbers in America. Interesting debates, and important ones to be sure, for our field, our nation, our classrooms, our children, our educators, but where’s the truth? Usually it’s somewhere in the middle of the extremes that get presented in debates. Perspectives, agendas, statistics, all this stuff and more arouse my skepticism about the arguments, the debates, the sides, the findings… it’s definitely a challenge to sift through all the business and arrive near some kind of real truth. Books dying out? Are you kidding me? Look at the Oprah book club numbers, how many public libraries and book clubs and universities and elementary schools and story times and Pooh Bear, and… I could go on and on with examples of millions of readers humming along in America with their books. So no, they won’t be dying. They are timeless, and as long as there are places like the library of congress and great people and things like that where our literary culture is preserved, and publishing houses keep doing their thing, books will be cared for and readers, many millions of them, will love reading. The Apple guy is tooting a horn, playing to a citizenry that is all full of educational and reading and writing crisis rhetoric, when what he is really about is pushing some buttons to get free advertisement, preying upon a collective fear among people, trying to sell us more of his gizmoes and make some more millions. He’s a salesman making a slick pitch and stirring up some trouble and headlines and op-ed pieces in the process. He loves that we’re even blogging about him. I’m glad I can’t remember his name.
Books are in OK shape for the long haul. There are always problems (Three sure things in life… taxes, death, and trouble) So give students time to pick some good books of their own, have reading time in class when teachers read too, sometimes silent, sometimes aloud, sometimes alone, sometimes together, mix it up, and assign reading their books (not school textbooks) for homework, and we’ll be doing just fine as we grow as a nation and culture into our information age and beyond. Look at percentages, compare the numbers of people who read in America today with the numbers of people a hundred years ago. We have many more now, at a wider variety of socioeconomic levels. Just look at how many people go to public school now compared to one hundred years ago? Many more. How many people have access to college that didn’t even 50 years ago? Many more. I suspect we’re living some kind of a social-cultural paradox… the more people in a country that can read, we now realize how many more and how much further we need to go to have people get to higher plains of literacy. Overall, we’re doing great. Ask a ninety-four year old former slave who’s granddaughter just earned her master’s at Grambling. Lots more literate folks now in the States than a hundred years ago. Do we have millions more steps to go? Sure. Literacy for a nation wasn’t built in a century. It probably takes two or three centuries, who knows. But if I had to put my money on a race for survival between Pooh Bear and his kin of literary characters in books, or the ipod and its family of techno gizmoes, my money is on Pooh and the literary crew. I don’t reckon either will really “die” and fizzle out of existence; that’s argumentative rhetoric for salesman with business agendas. Technology and Literature will both grow and prosper throughout human history, morphing in ways we can’t even imagine as they move through the centuries. More and more people will read as time marches forward because our survival instincts can identify literacy as good for us, and and doesn’t taste half as bad as spinach or some of the other vegetables we know we have to eat to be healthy.
Somebody will probably be holding a copy of Winnie the Pooh… A Blustery Day… under their arm, press a button, and their molecular structure will dissolve and get sucked into the screen of some ipod gizmoe descendant (think beam me up, Scotty) and then get sent out of the Milky Way, and land on a couch in another galaxy with a kid there ready to read the bedtime book with Nano-Nunu, together, beneath a warm blanket. They might even munch a micro-chip cookie and drink moon milk before sleepy time. That cozy literate human thing won’t go away, though, ever. It’s too good. Books are some of our best things. They’re here to stay.
I’m with you, Ed. Some of my favorite childhood memories are of the bear known as Pooh for short, who came to life in my mother’s storytelling. We read to enjoy the story and snuggling in bed before sleep. I heard they sold 9 million copies of Harry Potter #7 on the first day it was released! Many of those readers finished it within days and went on to read another dozen or so novels that summer…
How do we develop that independent reading habit for all students at Kennett? It’s our #2 academic expectation in our mission statement, but not enough students are hooked on books. Any thoughts?
This article was disturbing to me because in many ways changes in my personal reading habits concur with some of Egan’s observations. Reading has always been a favorite past time of mine, but I do spend less time losing myself in the pages of good book now for several reasons. Yes, I am a “techie”, fascinated with technology and the infinite possibilities of where it can take me. I admire the work of Steve Jobs and Bill Gates. I am also a news junkie – wanting to know more about anything and everything. Some of you may not know that this is only my 7th year of teaching (late bloomer) so I spend many hours researching business news to incorporate daily into the classroom and my curriculum. Computers are used throughout my curriculum on a daily basis, so at the end of the day, after being on a computer all day and spending countless hours lesson planning and grading, my brain is fried and eyes are tired. Rarely do I pick up a good book during the school year. And I miss it!
I remember back to when my kids were small and spending hours reading to and with them. The trips to the library, the first library card. Does that still happen in our society today, or are parents too busy working? I hear of TV being the babysitter, witness people with a cell phone glued to their ear, or hear of people on the web blogging, chatting, etc. Are those precious hours spending quality time with kids a thing of the past? When I hear students say their parents are never home, or the parents don’t care, is it true? Are we so wrapped up in ourselves that we are not spending quality time or influencing our children to be the best they can be?
I agree with Ed, books are here to stay. It is up to us to make the time to delve into the pages of a good book. I moved here 22 years ago to get away from the fast pace, I find myself right back in the same situation. Yes, Kathy I would like to borrow one of your books, and I vow to read it! (As soon as I get back to finishing the one I borrowed from Penny!)
First, I should admit that my only experience with Winnie the Pooh was when I translated a copy written in Latin. I think I made a few errors in the conversion to English because Pooh occasionally did some very abnormal things…
I can’t say how many people are reading and I agree that we can’t trust statistics to tell us. There is also the undeniable fact that publishing is a business and as such its goal is to make money. Publishing companies want to sell books, so how can book sales tell us how much people are reading? We live in a country where consumption is currently akin to patriotism; the mere act of purchasing a book doesn’t logically lead to the conclusion that one has read it. (If A, then maybe B?!) There is no way to measure who is reading and what they are reading. So how can we declare a crisis? Conversely, how can we declare that reading is on the rise? There is no way to substantiate either claim.
I enjoyed this article quite a bit- thanks Penny- and think it raises some very valid arguments not only about the state of reading but how to determine what the state of reading is. I don’t have any solutions; I think I’ll just go home and read.
Thoughts while reading…. I agree with Ed in that we need to know more about where the author and Jobs are getting their statistics, how valid are they. Gathering anecdotal evidence for myself see a lot of reading happening at Kennett. I often look around the classroom, during homerooms, and yes my class, and see students reading…reading when I would hope they’d be working on their math. I am impressed by the amount of reading our students appears to be doing. I know on this snow day my step kids are looking forward to spending the day reading…and they have plenty of electronic devices they could be using instead.
As far as the statistical nature of the evidence presented, in the “real world” many “things” are normally distributed, heights, weights IQs, etc… All of these measures are normally distributed (creating the bell curve); people naturally fall above and below the averages. It should be no surprise that 27% of adults fall above and below the average as far as number of books read per year. It would be more interesting to see if the “average” number of books read per year has shifted over time. And I have to wonder do we count books people listen to books on their ipods, or in their vehicles as books “read” per year? Would that be valid?
I can also relate to what Lori is saying. I find my brain fried at the end of the day as well and picking up a book is not always the best way for me to unwind at the end of the day. I do however always have a book going; it is just a matter of when and where I find time to read it. Today seems to be a great day for that!
I found this article very interesting. I find that I can agree with both sides- reading and technology. For me there is nothing I rather do when I get home but watch TV or dabble on the computer, or listen to my Ipod. They are mindless activites that don’t require a lot of thinking after a long day at work. I also played my first video game ever last month and I must admit it was very fun and I fins myself waiting to play it again. I think a lot of people in general tend to be a bit more lazy, and I think society promotes that with all these new items for us to try. However I really love reading a good book as well. I love getting lost in books-especially during the summer.Unfortuantly I fall in the 1 or 2 books a year range.
At my old job we started a reading initiative where students had to bring or check out a book of thier choice and read for 20 minutes 2-3 times a week. This all happened during the school day. It was always interesting to see what they chose to read. Some picked historical novels, some Harry Potter, and a select few chose books on something they where already studying. Almost all the kids in my group where focused on thier reading the whole time and often commented on where the time went. After the 20 minutes they had to journal about what they read for 10 minutes. Most of these kids did not mind reading and forgot all about their Ipod’s and whatever else they had prior to the class. Reading most certainly is not dead.
I also remember students commenting that they were never encouraged to read at home or had parents that didn’t know how to read. I think this is a HUGE issue when it comes to inspiring kids to read. If they don’t see it at home or are encouraged to do so I don’t think they know the value of reading. I think these issues are part of those statistics. There are a lot of people that don’t know how to read and there are many more that are so busy working they don’t take the time to read. I agree with Lori and her comment about society and whether or not parents still read with thier children or go to the library and recieve thier first library card. I remember that well. I think children are losing that quality time with adults and just are exposed to reading the way some of us were. I do think that we as teachers can inspire them by suggesting books we know they may enjoy and maybe give them more options other than video games and Ipods.
Thanks for the opportunity to get on my soapbox. A 120 page report recently came out of the Economic Mobility Project. You can access it from economicmobility.org. The last chapter on education includes a piece of preschool education, illuminating the advantage the lower scocioeconimc levels of our society gain by being exposed early to literacy when enrolled in a preschool program. [Ironically, 207 is on right now; Laura Numeroff "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie" is on television discussing the decline in reading in his country!] When our ancestors came to America, they wanted to escape the confines of a class-based society. We are re-entering that era (a large wealthy class and large poor class, with a shrinking middle class in the center: aka…a ‘barbell society’). The passport out of that seemingly working-class- poor segment of society is a good education. The start to that end is reading, reading, and more reading. I try to do a little reading current news issues that coincide with our weekly topics. This week we’ll read and talk about a New York Times article that focuses on librarians and parents who resented a children’s book which included the word “scrotum”. We then research a list of books that were, at one time in our history, banned. They range from Picoult’s “19 Minutes” to “To Kill a Mockingbird” and “Of Mice and Men.” This is very intiguing to teens. We must continue to introduce meaningful literature to our children, particularly our youngsters. This is the age when they catch the fire. I’m proud to say that introducing our children to books is something the Conway School District does well…really well. It was always fortified by the middle school reading program, and I hope that’s still intact (they suffered through those annotations, but Mrs. Schuff and Ms. Shannon were tigers about structure!). Personally, I enjoy reading piecemeal (internet newspaper and magazine articles). If we want our kids to rad more, let’s introduce lots of current news articles in our subject areas. Start small and intriguingly, but start. Blogging in response is something they love. Let’s do it their way!
So many interesting thoughts – where to begin. I agree with both Lori and Marj. I usually have a book going or one waiting in the wings but between the brain being fried at the end of the day or the general steady pressure of housework, dog walking, exercising or the myriad of other to-dos it is hard to remember that reading for pleasure is and should be a priority. I also see lots of kids with books when they are supposed to be doing other work and it is hard to tell them to put it away.
Kathy – I would love to borrow one of the Three Cups of Tea books to read. I have often thought a book club or discussion group would be good for me to get involved with.
There is so much technology out there that it is overwhelming to try to keep up with it all. In one of the blogs it was mentioned that TV is such a passive activity and it is but (as odd as this will sound) there are times when a good Sci-Fi show or movie will inspire me to read. I find my brain gets so tired with all that teaching involves that watching a favorite show will reignite the brain and provide the push to want to explore a topic or better understand an idea. That is when I tend to pick up one of the many physics topic books that I have bought but didn’t get to reading (Su – you were right on with that thought).
Phew… I love the different angles, and this feels like I belong to academia – smart people just kicking back in the cyberspace coffee house wrestling with the whatever comes to mind.
My response – I have a ton of books, I read loads as a kid and have been carrying this growing load of books each move – any doubts ask Scott Lajoie who helped us move locally two years ago and who wont help me again regardless of how much beer I offer. So, I am admittedly biased towards books.
Ed – your dead on – Pooh is timeless, and I think books are timeless, we just need to make sure that widespread reading of books and access to them is also timeless.
Suzanne – I’m sure you were fine Poohsticks is Poohsticks regardless of the language its in, and as an aside – what is the Latin translation for Heffalump?
Lori – kids do read still. I call Ryan Mahan in the evening and if it coincides when the three kids are going down – he calls back later because he is reading to and with the kids. I am sure there are many people like their family. On an average night Patrick brings a book to me at least 8 to 10 times and I bet collectively he has around 50 books read to him every day, when my dad is here they look at the same train magazine many times a day – these are all initiated by Patrick – he brings the book to us. Suz and I consider ourselves to be very lucky – one that he likes to read and be read to (note at 16 mos his reading is just unfolding – but he holds books, turns pages, has favorites, and reacts to certain books and pictures within in them with enthusiasm) and two that he has a family that has read to him from in utero to this afternoon. We go to the library for Olga’s reading hour and there are lots of kids there – so if I had to guess – there are lots of kids and families who read – and read lots. We also dont have television- we have the box with the screen – but its for my xbox and dvd’s and Patrick enjoys pushing the on/off button more than he enjoys watching anything on it. I am sure it is very easy for a well meaning but tired parent to just turn on the tv to occupy themselves and/or the kids.
Physics books Rebecca? You science people are nerdy aren’t you. Its ok – today I blew off reading the last two chapters of Daniels book to read “The Secret Life of Lobsters” – and it is exactly about what the title says – and a great read.
I wonder though – as educated people we all get the merits of reading and see the bigger social implications of people – even a small percent – who dont or worse – cant – read. Is that what we are struggling with though the merits and value. I think it comes down to how do we reach those who dont read – can we “win” a few over to our way of thinking, which I hope is not just driven by arrogance or rightousness, rather by the desire to broaden and deepen understanding of those folks so that they may live more enlightened and enriched lives; and the more important task of teaching the kids that can’t read how to and how to enjoy it. I have had plenty of kids – and have them now that hate to read – or at least that is how the describe it.
How do you develop a SMART goal for independent reading? Is it measureable? Is it specific? Is it time-bound? I get a little uncomfortable when independent reading becomes a school standard and a state standard because I don’t see how you can produce the statistical data to ascertain whether or not kids read independently, make good choices as independent readers, and improve their reading by reading independently. Reading is a cultural trait, not a trait of our educational system…but schools are part of our culture. I think buying into reading has to start very early…people neeed to realize that reading is good for the mind and the soul.
I liked Darron’s response about how his son engages with the act of reading in a level far more tangible than watching television or video clips on YouTube. We are communicators (at one point it was absolutely necessary for our survival), and we need to pass this on. I read to Lyssa, but right now it’s just the sound of my voice…I can’t wait until she holds the pages, looks at them, and brings me a book.
After reading the wonderful blogs on this page, and after reading the articles, I can only ask this: Are students reading when they swear they are at home? I agree with Jason; how can we measure a SMART goal in a reading category? Is it attainable through ‘trust’ or the basic, check in with me? I tried book reports the past couple quarters with my students – unfortunately, I knew when they were blowing off the work and just giving an oral presentation to, ‘get it done’ however I also knew when a student poured their heart and soul into the assignment. It’s unfortunate that not only I pick up on these tricks the students think we all miss, but it’s even worse when their peers notice this as well. What is a teacher to do? I know I’m rambling and probably way off topic but it’s a bit uneasy to know that students only read assigned reading – if that. I have students that say they have never had to read a book before my class – and it’s good, but it’s sad as well!
Darron’s response on his son is true. If a student is brought up in a house where reading is a positive activity, then it is engaging. I think of my mother, who was brought up by a single mother because her father was killed in one of his monthly flights back to New Jersey to get home, and, well, reading was only done by my mothers father. As you can see, when he passed away when she was 5, she didn’t have that much interaction with a novel. She still calls me and asks me what is important – it’s sad. And then going with this a bit more, I see students where reading is negative at home, so picking up a novel will almost be more painful than not knowing how to read. It’s all an interesting complex mind set that I myself, can’t fathom…
Interesting to say the least.
Well, I suppose I should read Three Cups of Tea . . . I will be traveling to Guatemala soon and am hoping to visit a school that was created by a similar sounding visionary . . Hanley Denning, a woman from Maine who started a school for the children of the people who have found a living picking through the trash at the Guatemala City Dump. I have had this feeling all of my life that there are very few ways to truly make a difference in this world. One of them is by adopting a child who might otherwise have a bleak future, another is by doing the type of life sacrificing things that Hanley Denning, and apparently the characters in Three Cups of Tea did . . . For me the eternal challenge is . . .too many books . . too little time . . . I remember visiting a library nearly twenty years ago . . and I had the same feeling that was voiced in the student’s journal that we read in class on Monday . . there are soooo many books to read, it is impossible to read them all in a lifetime, even if all free time was spent reading. Time for bed. Buenas noches.
What a great group of readers, writers and reflective thinkers we have here!
E Pluribus Pooh-num?
Having a 21 month old son and sharing with him the excitement, mystique and fascination surrounding books is so inspiring. After not having finished a book in a year – (sorry! I do read loads everyday, but cover-to-cover books have lost out to time constraints. I used to ‘listen’ to endless books-on-tape, does that count as reading? However, Gabe is more often than not in the car with me and prefers conversation and music to phantom stories.) Anyways, I’m now up to three unfinished books this year. I’m not sure if that’s an improvement or if I’ve become yet another Job’s statistic.
I used to read/tell stories on the radio. I’d get stopped in the grocery store, not by kids but by their construction worker dads telling me that they had to sit in the car before coming in to the store in order to hear the end of “Rikki Tikii Tavi” one more time.
Reading is not dead! Long live reading!