International Literacy Day is September 8th. If you can read this and you are one of the 27 percent of Americans who didn’t read a book last year, please be thankful you are literate and do something different before the end of December.
     According to a recent Associated Press (AP) poll of more than 1000 adults, one-third of the men questioned and one-fourth of the woman hadn’t read a book in the past year. These facts caused the Minneapolis Star Tribune to wonder if the American reader should be added to the endangered species list.
     I wish the pollsters had called me. Once I learned to sound out words, nothing could stop me. In fact, my dad often left the cereal boxes on the table to give me something to read during breakfast. When I was old enough, the Rice Krispie box was gone and a newspaper was in its place. My parents pretended not to know, but bedtime found me under the blankets with my Girl Scout flashlight, deeply engrossed in adventures by Lois Lenski and Laura Ingalls Wilder.
     You can imagine my excitement when our grandson visited recently and entertained us by reciting aloud from one of the books I keep on a living room shelf. He will be entering second grade soon (Reading at a much higher grade level, of course!) and his mother and father say he is a booklover. With that in mind, I asked my son to make sure his seven-year-old is given plenty of opportunity to indulge this pastime. Many children lose interest in the written word when their lives become filled with other choices. Gameboys, Play Station, TV, and an onslaught of after school activities don’t leave much room for curling into a corner with a tall tale.
     There weren’t so many distractions when I was young. We could ride our bikes, go to the park, or play games. Hopscotch, tag, and hide-and-seek couldn’t keep me away from the thrill of a mystery or the lesson of an Aesop’s fable. In fact, my parents often chided me for being rude when we had company. "Put down your book and play with your cousins," they said. Perhaps I was shy and wanted to hide behind Nancy Drew. Maybe I was just rude, as Mom and Dad suggested. It didn’t matter. As soon as everyone left, out came my biography of Jane Adams or Florence Nightingale.
     While the AP pollsters found an abundance of booklovers, it is apparent not all Americans feel the same. In fact, every year this survey has been conducted, the number of readers has dropped. It bewilders me. When we are children, we can’t wait to read. As adults, we choose not to.
     If you haven’t read a book this year, it’s not too late. Celebrate International Literacy Day on September 8th. Visit the library or a bookstore. Borrow a volume from a friend. Heck! Send me an email. I’ll be happy to lend you one of my story books. Read a chapter or two. You may feel that childlike excitement again and holler, "I can read!"
     At the end of the year, if you receive a call from the AP, you’ll be able to answer proudly, "Yes, indeed, I read a book in 2007." You might have to admit it was so much fun, you’re well on your way to finishing another.