May is Get Caught Reading Month!
Reading can seem like a very private activity. It’s just you and a book and the world around you disappears as you enter the story. For a truly literate society, however, a community were reading is considered a part of everyday life and the benefits of reading are enjoyed by everyone, reading needs to be visible. Seeing a person reading a book has to be as normal as seeing someone eating or talking on a phone. That’s why May is Get Caught Reading Month!
You’re already looking at a library blog. I know that explaining the good that comes from reading is preaching to the choir, but let me put together a list. If someone asks you to explain to them why they should be reading more, you’ll have some ideas ready at hand.
It’s relaxing. Remember what I said earlier about the world disappearing? Sometimes you just need to be somewhere else for a while, and a good story, fiction or non-fiction, is a ticket to elsewhere that you can carry around with you. If it’s good enough, you don’t even have to be some place quiet to get the effect.
It improves your thinking skills. When you read a story, you’re thinking ahead and trying to guess what happens next. When you get to the end, you see if you were right. It’s even better if you can talk about it with someone. Did the plot and characters make sense? Why do you think so? How could it have been better? What surprised you but made sense once you had thought about it? It’s great practice for being able to examine real life.
It helps you communicate with others. Reading exposes you to mountains of words arranged in every possible structure. As you take them in, you see how different ways of writing and speaking have different effects, what works and what feels misplaced. When the time comes to make yourself understood, you can apply that.
It helps you to understand others. Reading puts you in the middle of another person’s thoughts. Even reading non-fiction means getting a window into how the author thinks. The more you enter into other people’s logic and experiences through reading, the easier it is to have a similar empathy for people in your day-to-day life.
On top of all that, in honor of Get Caught Reading Month, we will be hosting special events, giveaways, and drawings for people caught reading at the library. Check in with your local branch to see what they have going on!