My mother did many things right when raising my brother, sister, and myself, but maybe the best thing she did was force us to turn off the television thirty minutes before our bedtimes each night. After the TV image flickered into oblivion, she offered us a choice: we could either go directly to sleep or read quietly to ourselves for half an hour. Because we were not parents ourselves, who I now know will choose sleep over pretty much any other activity, we decided to read.
That thirty minutes every night before bed instilled in me a lifelong love for books. I burned through The Narnia Chronicles, The Wizard of Oz series, and my favorite, the under-appreciated Great Brain books by John D. Fitzgerald, about a boy genius and his long-suffering younger brother. I could empathize with those books because I am both a younger brother and a genius.
I also devoured more than my share of Mad magazines, Peanuts cartoons, and the entire Garfield oeuvre. Mom was not particular about what we read, as long as we read. Eventually I graduated to Roald Dahl, Mark Twain, and Dostoevsky (that last one is not true even a little bit).
Reading has become so deeply instilled in me that I cannot get through the day without reading. I need books to keep me grounded and sane. Some recent high-brow choices include Theodore H. White's The Making of the President, 1968 and Sarah Vowell's The Wordy Shipmates. Recent low-brow choices include John Grisham's The Appeal, and a book of erotic photographs called Naked Happy Girls (a real page-turner, although you might want to linger on a few of those pages).
Another great thing about reading is that it's a gift you can share. Now that I am a parent myself, I have adopted Mom's "hook ‘em when they're young" strategy with my own son and daughter. From their earliest days, my wife and I have been reading to them every single night. Goodnight Moon, The Hungry Caterpillar, and now The Magic Schoolbus, and anything about butts.
Both of my kids are reading on their own now - my daughter a hesitant kindergartner, my son a confident second grader - and it's a joy to see them developing their own love for books. Yes, my son's tastes gravitate towards Pokemon: Ultimate Handbook (four and a half star rating on bn.com), but I agree with my mother; let them read what they like as long as they are reading. Hopefully it will start an appreciation for the written word in them that will last as long as mine. Looking back on Mom's gift to us kids, I suspect that maybe I wasn't the only genius in the family.
Editor's Note: Michael Ian Black is a comedian, screenwriter, and the author of the children's book, Chicken Cheeks.
