The Monster Kid just took an unofficial poll of his peers (mostly college freshmen) and asked if any of them had read a book in the last year. With one exception, they said they had not read a book in years. How they graduated high school without reading a book is unclear to me. Certainly my kids have had novels assigned, and I know they’ve read them. Maybe they aren’t counting fanfiction, webnovels, or graphic novels?

This was part of a discussion I was having with him over the book he had just discovered– a revelation! After years of reading and rereading 1984, he has just discovered Brave New World and is comparing them to each other and current events. To discover a book that is a source of wonder is a rare thing once you have passed the gates of childhood, where everything you encounter is for the first time.

Looking back to books we loved in the past often reveals the flaws we missed when the story first swept us away (how did I miss the antisemitism in Oliver Twist?} especially once we have encountered a wider context, both in the world around us and through other books we’ve read (I’ve suggested Julia, The Handmaid”s Tale, Fahrenheit 451, The Parable of the Sower, and others to him), but once he pulls his nose out of his schoolwork and stack of screenwriting books, I guess he will have to discover those on his own as well. It’s pretty exciting to see a face light up like that, regardless,

I would love to see everyone read widely, to discover that book that suddenly clicks and carries you away, and then be able to come to terms with its flaws, if you can. It saddens me that so few of the Monster Kid’s peers have given themselves that opportunity. I hope that every one of you do, as well.