I fear that 12 year olds are too busy today playing video games and don't read the books that will change their lives.

So sad for them.

Both my daughters read like crazy.

I guess I have different opinion on this piece. The books I liked as a 12 year old (Burroughs, London, Tom Swift) have not aged well with me. Even books I picked up in Middle/High School (Asimov, Bradbury, Vonnegut, Farmer, Moorcock, Lieber, Niven, Pournelle, Tolkien, Stephen Donaldson) do not appeal to me nearly as much now. Finally the college selection (King, Ellison, Heinlein, Clive Barker) are also not ones I will likely return to soon.

My interests lie with mostly non-fiction history and science now.

try the Chronicles of Prydain by LLoyd Alexander, i like it more than LOTR or Narnia

for yourself and daughters. i just learned a new word!

Bildungsroman
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In literary criticism, a Bildungsroman (German pronunciation: [ˈbɪldʊŋs.ʁoˌmaːn]; German: "formation novel&quot [1] or coming-of-age story is a literary genre that focuses on the psychological and moral growth of the protagonist from youth to adulthood (coming of age),[2] and in which character change is thus extremely important.[3]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Chronicles_of_Prydain

that could be the whole problem, right there. the problem with EVERYTHING!

It uses the brain in a completely different way. Books wake up the brain, and the video games shut it down. And kids spend HOURS with their brains shut down every day.

reasons other than assignment, if that. They did not have video games, but they had plenty of games, sports, distractions, hobbies, pursuits and diversions outside of reading. Same as now. Some kids read, some don't. Twas ever thus.

You ask them after a weekend, "What did you do this weekend." "Played video games" "Did you go to the park?" "No." "Did you go outside?" "No." "Did you read a book?" "No." "Did you draw a picture?" "No." "Did you do anything at home other than the video games?" "No."

And that's the vast majority of Monday conversations about the weekends. The kids are out of shape, they are inexperienced in things that require physical coordination, they often have a really hard time solving problems. They have a difficult time forming games among themselves at recess without someone telling them what to do. All this has long term effects.

She'd probably say The Hunger Games, the only book I've ever had to break up a school fight over. Best day of my teaching career, breaking up two non-readers who were almost to blows over the second book in the series and who was going to get to read our only copy.

I'd say it starts in middle school and goes through college depending on the student. Some come to it late because they hate reading so much.

changed my life....I read A Wrinkle in Time to my son when he was about 8, and he still remembers the story (he's 30 now).

i've been meaning to read that again, great book (wrinkle)

Great book!

Opened my eyes to the complexities and structures of revolution.

Wrapped in a fascinating story. Definitely altered my life.