“Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body” -Sir Richard Steele.

I teach a developmental course called Improving College Reading Skills.  My students learn to improve their vocabulary, to recognize main ideas and the supporting details that give them substance, to recognize the point of an argument, to recognize implied ideas, and many other skills vital to reading college textbooks.  The one skill I can not teach them is to appreciate the act of reading.  I find that either my students love reading or they do not.  So, my focus is to help them improve their ability to read so that they don’t become frustrated in their attempts.  Some will never love reading.  I can’t imagine not being able to read or not loving to read, for that matter.  I owe my sanity to reading!

Perhaps I love reading so much because my mother read to me a lot before I was a reader myself.  I loved to hear the stories and see the pictures; I loved our trips to the library to get new books;  but I think I most loved just having time with my mother one on one.  My parents gave me books as gifts, too, big beautiful picture books with stories that I will always remember.  And when I was an elementary school student, my parents bought me a set of encyclopedias that came with some junior classics of literature.  My mother enjoyed those books as much as I did, and we spent hours reading together, plays and short stories and condensed classic novels and poetry.  I didn’t know that I would become an English teacher back then, but I do realize that it was the foundation of my desire to.  I owe my mother a lot for the gift of the love of reading.

I have read articles about the value of reading to children even before they are born.  They can hear sounds from inside the uterus; this is how they recognize their mother’s voice so readily when they are born.  And reading to children is believed by some to give a baby a headstart on learning.  While there is no real evidence that this is so, in some studies that have been done, infants clearly preferred certain rhymes or certain passages that were read to them while in utero.  Hearing what they had heard before birth seemed to have a definite calming effect on the newborns.  So, even if they are not learning anything specifically, they are learning to bond with the sound of their mother’s voices and can recognize the pattern of sounds and syllables and be comforted by them. 

Also, reading aloud to children is the best way to teach them to read, according to The Commission on Reading, funded by the U.S. Department of Education.  This study asserts that reading out loud to children is a better tool for them than the usual methods of homework, flash cards, recitations, or book reports.  I read aloud to my students and have them follow along.  They always understand the material better when I do that, and they seem to perform better doing it by themselves after I have read aloud with them.  And they enjoy reading more when they’re being read to with all the voice inflections that a good reader allows rather than struggling through on their own.  Reading aloud to them as they follow along also holds their attention far better than having them read on their own does.  So, I am glad that I get to read others all the time. 

My husband and I also read to each other.  We enjoy hearing the words, and we enjoy the personal interaction that reading to each other gives us.  We can watch a TV show together, too, but if we want to make a comment about what we’re seeing, it disrupts the show, and we have to pause it and then rewind it to get back to it.  But when we’re reading to each other, we can stop anytime we want, even in the middle of a sentence to share something we are reminded of or to comment on the beauty of the passage.  I believe that television has its place in a harmonious relationship, but reading together is much more intimate. 

The books that are read are as varied as the people who love to read them.  Isn’t it wonderful that everyone can choose what interests him or her?  I love reading all sorts of things from self-help books to romantic poetry.  Nothing entertains me more than a psychological thriller!  I must admit if I feel I “have” to read something that I have not chosen to read on my own, the reading becomes laborious, and I struggle with it.  But if I choose a book because it interests me and it is well-written, I can lose myself for hours of pleasure.  I can go inside the deepest, darkest minds of maniacs, or I can learn how to read tarot cards or discover what attractions I want on my itenerary for a trip I plan to take.  I can enjoy a romantic comedy set in a 19th century English countryside, or I can learn how to make Swedish tea bread or Chinese egg rolls.  It’s all in the choice of reading material.  I can go anywhere or do anything through the magic of the written word.

Am I any smarter than someone who does not read?  Probably not.  Do I have more richness of ideas and wisdom from the ages in my head from being a reader?  Yes, I do.  I remember a snippet of a poem that I learned in my eighth grade English class.  I don’t remember the poet or the name of the poem, but I do remember the truth:  “Words are keys to kingdoms’ treasures.”  I may not be able to travel the world or go back in time or explore the future, but I can through the healing power of reading.