What got you hooked?

Our son, Augie, got too into TV when he was in middle school, so I suckered him into reading adventure novels. I chose “boy books,” adventures by Clive Cussler and Robin Cook, and dropped bombshells into the dinner conversation, such as telling particularly shocking or exciting events. “Where? Let me see,” he would beg.

“When I finish, you can read it,” I’d answer. Before he knew it, he was reading every book Cussler ever wrote.

A former English teacher turned political activist has to be forgiven occasional side trips into promoting reading. I consider reading a political issue because it is connected both to quality schools and to voters who can read and understand complex political issues.

Unfortunately, parents don’t always have the time or inclination to be the nudge who gets kids into books, but you can help. Here’s an invitation to do good and take a gasoline-free trip down Memory Lane. What book turned you on to reading? Why do you remember that one?

First Book (http://www2.firstbook.org/whatbook/) wants you to share the memory of the first book that made reading fun for you, then help get more kids hooked: Vote for the state to receive 50,000 new books for children in need. You don’t have to buy anything. Voting closes at midnight on Sept. 15.

I found the first book question through The Literacy Site (http://www.theliteracysite.com/clickToGive/home.faces)
which has a “Click to Give” feature (See the ad of the side column). If you click on a button, sponsors give a certain amount to literacy projects. You can sign up for daily reminders, and all you have to do is open the site and click on a button. Obviously the sponsors would like you to browse while you are there, but there’s no pressure.

When I was teaching in a Cleveland high school, I found an ad on the Literacy Site that led me to a paperback book series written for inner-city kids. Each book cost only $1, and the kids loved them.

There are also tabs for giving to other good causes: hunger, breast cancer, child health, rainforests, and animal rescue. Click on as many (or as few) as you want!

By the way, if you share your memory on the First Book Site, won’t you share it with us as well?