Learning by reading

It took me awhile to realize this, but my opinions have changed a lot since the beginning of this semester. As I explained the other day, these selections have stretched my comfort zone, but now I feel completely comfortable in it. Young adults do NOT live in a bubble, and if I’d like them to be successful grown adults, I need to supply them with reading that might be uncomfortable at first. A racy novel will not make a teenager run out and have sex, and as hard as it might be to read, a novel about school shootings will not make a student copy that activity. And in a perfect world, these books will help young adults make mature decisions – maybe even better ones than they were already considering. I’m still on the fence about what constitutes reading. I ADORE manga, and if I have the time will happily listen to an audiobook or flip through a magazine, but I don’t think these mediums offer the same bang for your buck, say, as a book-book (as my kids cal them). They have their place – the look of glee when the newest manga comes in is a great place – but I feel that their place is a stepping stone to more in-depth reading, not a destination in and of themselves.