The Boy Who Didn’t Like Books

Boy-oh-boy, I love to visit the bookstore. I took my mother to the Walden Books bookstore at the Beckley-Crossroads Mall (Beckley, West Virginia) last Saturday (Sept. 19, 2009). There are just so many fun, interesting, exciting, and wonderful books to read. Who couldn’t love this?

Boy about ten-years-old, who I saw there didn’t like it one bit. He was with an older guy, probably his brother who had driven him there. This boy liked video games, not books.

Pouting, complaining, the young boy kept whining about how he wanted to leave already. He wanted to return to a video-game store. I’m not certain how long they’d even been in the book store. But this young boy was ready to go. The older boy was flipping through a book. The younger one was sitting on the floor. He had his fist up to his chin. He had a bored look in his face. It was obvious that he didn’t want to be there.

Books could have provided the young boy with some type of entertainment. He loved video games. He could have flipped through a book on video game techniques and secrets. He could have found a book on how to win the game. He could have flipped through a magazine for video-game players. He could have found a book on anything in the world. There are so many wonderful, amazing stories and adventures buried in books that this young boy will never have the opportunity to discover. Because he doesn’t like books, he’ll never explore them and their breathtaking stories.

Your Challenge!

I encourage you to go out and get one book this week. It could be any book on anything. Just get one. You could even get a book for a young boy or a young girl in your family. It could do wonders for the child.

The non-profit, First Book provides free books to children in need. They address and promote literacy by providing age-appropriate books for children.