Do you know of young people reading a lot?

[Miss Make It So]

My niece (14) loves to read, my nephew (16) not so much.
My daughter (12) doesn't like to read, but she's visually impaired and that has a lot to do with it. She enjoys having stories read to her.

 

[Timewalker]

When I was a librarian, "agreeable" was defined as "knows how to use his/her indoor voice, doesn't rampage through the library pulling books off the shelves and leaving them in piles on the floor, is polite (for their age), doesn't bully other children, and can be reasonably trusted to return the books they borrow." Fairly low expectations, but you'd be surprised how many fail to meet ANY of them.

And that makes sense for a library setting. But most homes don't have libraries (mine does, but then everyone in my family is/was a voracious reader except for my mother, and I've been collecting books for over 40 years). My mother didn't mind me reading - far from it, considering that even in my crib, my bedtime companions included not only the usual stuffed animals, but also a stack of books (even before I could read them; I remember the pictures in Bambi gave me nightmares). What annoyed her was what I eventually chose to read - I left the dog and horse stories behind, stopped reading fairy tales, got bored with Harlequin romances, and didn't bother with westerns. It really bugged her that I got into science fiction and "boys' books" like The Hardy Boys.

I know he CAN, read, he just refuses to. My mother (main source of information) says he just ignores - or tries to cheat his way around - reading assignments in school. (And like any kid whose divorced parents babysat him with electronic devices, he's just addicted to those.) His father is a failed chiropractor, anti-vaxxer woo-monger. We haven't gotten along since childhood. I could be a better influence on the kid if I didn't live a bit too far away (and if his mother didn't randomly change what weekends she wants to have him on.)

Is it possible that he might have dyslexia, or some sort of visual problems? If he cheats his way around having to read and he does know how, there could be a medical issue going on.

 

[Doom Shepherd]

Is it possible that he might have dyslexia, or some sort of visual problems? If he cheats his way around having to read and he does know how, there could be a medical issue going on.

Unlikely. We know he is able to read, because he will, adeptly, if the bribe - er, reward - is sufficient. He simply chooses not to. HIs vision otherwise is excellent (though since everyone else in the family has glasses, we expect his first pair is only a matter of time) according to the most recent tests.

My mother believes he is trying to push his boundaries by exploiting whatever reasons he can get people to accept for his not doing any work. Creative laziness that he puts a lot of work into.

 

[RandyS]

My mother started us out early, by reading to us every night before we could even talk. I started reading on my own when I was 4 years old...I think, if the parents set aside an hour a day for reading, the kids will read voraciously.

Yeah, it was the same with me and my mom.

As to the thread question, I don't really know any kids beyond those in my neighborhood and they are always staring at their cell phones so I guess you could argue that that's a type of reading. What (if anything) they read at home, I couldn't say.