Always reading

When I got into town this week, right away Quincy, who's just six, wanted to read to me! He read me a page from his homework, very smooth and fluent. To me, this is such an amazing accomplishment. We were so appreciative of all the developmental milestones - toilet training, being dry at night, getting dressed, stopping the thumb sucking, riding a two wheeler, swimming.. But reading is the BEST! To me and to all our family, we know that to be able to read is the ticket to everything else.
Last evening I hosted our book club at our new apartment across the yard from Quincy's house. Quincy appeared in person, fresh from his bath, to have a preview of the apple pie I was serving as dessert to the book club.
We had dinner, the ten of us from 40 to 90 years old. Our book this month was "Huckleberry Finn", that none of us had read since seventh grade or so. It was my choice because of the press lately about the word "nigger", and also because this was a book I should have read when it was assigned, but faked it because I couldn't stand the dialect and the linear boys plot line. I much preferred such things as "Ben Hur" with the emotional content. My brothers loved Huck. So I thought it was time for us in the book club to revisit this American icon.
We really discussed this book. And everyone pretty much agreed that this book has little to do with what engages kids now.(Though it should!) They don't know about the history of slavery and the Civil War, and don't care anyway. But mostly, kids do NOT READ. Some of us in the book club have been instrumental in bringing Shakespeare into the lives of children. Is Shakespeare any more compelling than Mark Twain?
We think YES! So many of our students believe that the unit they did when they produced and acted in a pretty much full bore Shakespearean play was the best thing about school. The themes are universal and accessible, much easier than Huck Finn.
One of the book club women who teaches in a local high school, said that the kids never read anything and she is hoarse at the end of a day because she reads everything out loud. She also says that the other teachers never read to their students, nor, as far as she knows, ever read for themselves. This matches what I have learned as a volunteer in my local public school.
We talked about what the digital world means in terms of reading, and we are old in this realm. What do you think?

It's all about reading!