Anybody out there still reading books?
A National Endowment for the Arts study out later this month will document a decline in reading rates among adults and teenagers and a similar decline in reading test scores.
Other studies have shown that a significant number of children and adults don't read a single book in an entire year, and many children say they never or rarely see their parents read. A recent Book It! study showed that fewer than half of all parents set aside time for bedtime reading with their kids.
How important is reading to your family? What are the challenges to regular reading time -- busy schedules, too much TV, too much homework, too exhausted?
I'd like to interview some families about the struggle to find reading time and some teenagers and adults about how they fit reading into busy schedules. If you'd be interested in talking to me, email me at kramsey@enquirer.com. Thanks!
posted by Krista Ramsey at 4:19 PM
2 Comments:
at 11:27 AM, November 15, 2007 
Anonymous said...
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at 3:17 PM, November 25, 2007 
John Stephenson said...
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Post a Comment*Reading has always been important to me. When my children were growing up I always made time to read, even if that meant reading very late at night, then going to work the next morning. My children are avid readesa, as are most of my grandchildren. Part of visiting Grandma is reading to her or being read to. I have quite a collection of children's books for them. Books are always part of gift giving. Just think of all the things we would not be able to do if we did not have the ability to read...complete an application, work at any kind of meaningful job, read the newspaper, etc.
Thanks for the story on books.
I will never forget my first impressions of my favorite book, the Bible. My Mother, Garnett Bingham, would sit and read it to us children each evening before bed time. Most often I didn’t understand a word she was reading, a problem which still has its place in my gene pool, but I will always cherish seeing her devotion and love as she would read a chapter and then tell us a story about life which I could understand very well.
That lesson in life must have been transferred to my wife June somehow, for she began us reading a chapter of God’s word every morning before our feet hit the floor running for over twenty years now. We have evolved to include a time of prayer and a song after which our cat, “Baby”, gives a loud meow because she knows it is time she will get to go out for her morning hunt for who knows what: bird, snake, mouse or the two stray cats which have now shown up on the door step because June has an invisible sign in the yard: “hungry and homeless cats welcome here!” June says “Tom”, a tom cat reminds her of me, beaten slightly and bitten around the ears and nose but a survivor. And then there is “Minnie”, who eats with fear and trepidation in her eyes every moment. June says that how she feels when she is trying to eat a meal with me around…afraid I will come after it before she can get her portion.
Back to books. Miss June and our dear friends the Hammonds, Gil and Jan, who own several Christian Radio stations, one being WIOK 107.5 on the F.M. dial, know more about the Bible in their little fingers than I could ever comprehend in a life time. I am a basic John 3:16 sort of fellow who just happened to be taken to a Billy Graham rally in the fine town of Louisville back in the fifties and the good Lord knocked on my door and I am thankful that He gave me the wisdom to invite Him into my life. Speaking of blessings, an Old Testament blessing came one day while June was in the hospital. Dr. Alan Cohen, a long, long, descendant of the tribe of Israelite priests, gave June and I the Cohen blessing which we both accepted and cherished ever more after learning of its Biblical underpinnings.
Yes, The Bible is our favorite book, but by far not our only book, as the backs of my children, friends and movers can attest, after moving us three times in the last three years. I have had several Governors and political leaders sign in my Bible and a diary which I have carried across the Commonwealth since 1975 to document my visits to all 120 counties. It has been my small way to demonstrate the Bible needs to be in our lives and not just on our tables. Each year June and I have given away about 100 Bible desk calendars with verses on them to those who have been laid on our hearts by the good Lord. I wish we could do so much more. A political writer once wrote that he had never seen a politician who had a greater thirst for public office than I had. In some ways he was right. I did run for office with every ounce of energy in my body and soul but he never understood the goals I had and still have. Serve Jesus, Serve God and serve the public and let your examples in life, both your mistakes and your rewards, help lead the world to eternal salvation. There is no question in the world or government which cannot be solved by asking, “What would Jesus do?” On the secular side a new book which I just bought for my wife which has a Kentucky connection is called, Endless Love, by Elizabeth A. Ryan. The editor, Teresa Manczyk is married to a friend of mine, Peter, who has attended the Fort Mitchell Prayer breakfast with me for years. This is a book about God supplying all our Needs and I believe your readers will find it a gift that they will loan to others to let their light shine for the glory of God.
Again,
Thank you to all the book lovers of the world.
John Stephenson
Former Superintendent of Public Instruction Commonwealth of Kentucky
2994 Moffett Road Independence, Kentucky 41051 859-653-7000 www.jstephenson.com
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