Culture of Reading

Foster connections with other readers who support you. Building relationships with other readers sustains our interest in reading because it reinforces to us that reading matters to a lot of people. Challenge you to branch out and try new books, authors, and styles of writing. Talking with other readers about books broadens your horizons and exposes you to books you might not otherwise discover on your own. Improve your enjoyment and appreciation of what you read. The only thing readers enjoy almost as much as reading is talking about books with other readers. Discussions with other readers help you clarify and deepen your understanding of what you read. Increase how much you read. If everyone around you reads, you are more likely to read because reading is seen as a cultural norm. Suggest titles for additional reading. What is the number one way readers discover books they would like to read? Recommendations from other readers. Encourage mindfulness about what you read and share. Our fellow readers help us prioritize what we read. Hearing about a book from several readers heightens our interest in reading it and leads us to books that readers we trust have enjoyed. When suggesting books to others, we consider what we know about them as readers and how specific books meet their needs and interests, too.

"Kids are bombarded by media," says Blake. "They're completely high tech, and they don't know a different way. When you hand them a book, they're going to say, 'Is this all there is?'"