Neil Gaiman and reading for pleasure

I loved this article by Newbery Award winning author Neil Gaiman for many reasons, not the least of which that he propped up science fiction fans as the most imaginative and inventive people.  Just this week I told second and third graders about a short story written in 1895 by Jules Verne in which Verne describes a character in the United States talking to his wife in Paris through a screen, in which he could see her and the surrounding room as well as hear her.

"What do you think this sounds like?" I asked.

"FaceTime," one student replied.  "Skype," said another.

Exactly.  Envisioned by a famous science fiction writer in 1895, fifty years before the concept of the Internet was first mentioned in The Atlantic magazine, more than fifty years before the first room-filling computers were invented.

But more important than the props to science fiction readers and writers was Gaiman's emphasis on the importance of reading for enjoyment.  One of my professors at East Carolina, Dr. Ruth Clark, lamented the disappearance of the concept of "losing oneself" in a book.  It was in library school that I learned of using comic books and graphic novels as a means to draw in reluctant readers, and as such I have one graphic novel per month automatically pre-ordered for the library.  

When I promoted the public library's summer reading program last year, I emphasized to students, "Summer is fun.  Read whatever you want; read what is fun."  Sixty-four students participated in the program at the small local branch near the school; a fifth of those completed the full 20 hours.

I want kids to be convinced that reading is as fun--and is supposed to be as fun--as watching a cartoon or playing a video game.