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Can't put a good book down"Pull your nose out of that book and help me with the dishes." "For crying out loud, if you don't put the book down and start on your 4-H project, I'm taking it away." "All right, one more chapter, but then you go to bed. I mean it." My poor, poor mother--she must have been the only woman in the country to have to threaten her children with taking their reading material away in order to punish them. For my sister, brother and myself, we really didn't care if Mom and Dad took away the phone, or the television, or the car. We knew they meant business, though, when they threatened to toss our books in the trash. Call us nerds, or geeks, or whatever. Really, go ahead. It doesn't bother my family at all. We know what we are. We're readers. By the time I came around, my parents had already established a love of reading in Joni and James. So, it was only natural that Joni, in a fit of boredom one day, decided her three-year-old little sister should learn to read and write. Evidently, there are only so many games of pattycake an older sister can take before she cracks. It worked, though. Those simple shapes she showed me on a page opened up the rest of my world. I couldn't learn words fast enough. From that point, my childhood was plotted by the authors I read--Dr. Seuss, E.B. White, Carolyn Keene, Laura Ingalls Wilder and more. Rather than toys, I played with books. While most little sisters tortured their older sisters by getting into their make-up and clothes, I was reading my sister's Nancy Drew and Little House on the Prairie books without her permission. While most kids today pack video games for car trips, I was making sure I had enough reading material to last to the state line--even if the trip was only 45 minutes long. To this day, if you're looking for a gift for any Latzke family member, just start in the bookstore. Our family didn't just read something and then move on, though. We discussed what we were reading. So, if there was a story in the newspaper about a local issue, Mom and Dad encouraged us to talk about it at the dinner table. Different opinions were accepted, as long as we could support our reasoning. Books were shared and new authors were explored with open-mindedness. When it came time for Mom and Dad to design and build our house, Mom insisted on turning the basement into a reading library with floor to ceiling shelves, each filled with books of every shape, genre and author. Our parents were committed to our learning--even if they were frustrated at times at our unwillingness to put the books down. I can't tell you how many times I had to be reminded to not read a book at the breakfast table, or that I should listen to the sermon in church instead of bringing my own reading material. It's a tough place to be as a parent, I suppose. On the one hand, you want your child to grow up educated. On the other hand, you also want them to have a social life and be polite, productive members of society. In the end, I think we turned out okay. Now, I know our family is in the minority here. There are plenty of people out there who for one reason or another aren't recreational readers. Frankly, I pity them. They won't know the joy of meeting old friends again and again in the pages of a classic book. They let their imaginations be shaped by a television producer, or a video game designer, rather than stretching them on their own. Or, they let someone else tell them what to think about the issues of the day, rather than investigating their opinions themselves. I can't imagine a life without the simple pleasure of reading. Sure, my career is to shape a story with words and phrases, but even if I wasn't a journalist I'd still be a reader. A reader with a sink full of dirty dishes, but a reader nonetheless. Jennifer M. Latzke can be reached by phone at 620-227-1807, or by e-mail at jlatzke@hpj.com. 2/2/09 Date: 1/26/09
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