They Touch Me in Ways My Smartphone Never Could: Teens on Their Relationship with Books
In his lecture, ‘Why our future depends on libraries, reading and daydreaming,’ Neil Gaiman says that “the simplest way to make sure that we raise literate children is to teach them to read, and to show them that reading is a pleasurable activity.” As teachers of young people in urban India, this is our biggest challenge: to cultivate a love for reading in a generation that equates pleasure with instant gratification. Amidst a barrage of slick, easy-to-consume multimedia content, reading requires commitment and painstaking effort- the sort that adolescents grudgingly reserve for their examinations and other labour-intensive schoolwork.
The Harry Potter books have made an everlasting impact on my life. The idea of wizards, witches and Muggles gripped me right from the very first book. I ...
