Hi there and welcome to my first blog post! I hope you stick around to keep reading my updated posts each week. The purpose of this blog is to discuss books that correlate with issues happening in society today. I will also be passing my judgement and ratings, so stick around to see if there is a new book you can add to your summer reading list!

you can read more about literacy rates on this website: https://nces.ed.gov/surveys/piaac/doc/us-piaac-skillsmap_summary.pdf

Literacy rates in America are vastly skewed and could lead to problems with education in the future. All the red states in the image above are the bottom 25% of literacy rates. It is very evident that most are in the south which poses questions about legislation and perhaps differences between the north and south in the education system. Reading is a great way to learn information to carry with you into adulthood.

Reading is not as popular today because of all the new technology that has come out. The enjoyment of reading has decreased greatly since adults and children stick to social media, televised news, and entertainment through the tv too. However, I have been in contact with several small business book stores when they were able to open back up. I asked them how their business is doing after the quarantine lightened enough for them to open. They said that the quarantine actually helped them profit. People were becoming bored with technology entertainment and were beginning to go back to old school. So how do we keep this trend ticking upwards?

People believe that fiction writing is used primarily for entertainment and never really holds a true meaning behind the words or story. Neil Gaiman, the author of several books including “The Wolves in the Walls,” “The Graveyard Book,” and “Coraline,” believes that libraries and readings need to stick around for future generations. He says that reading provides information in all forms, even if it is fun fiction, for people to educate themselves without feeling like they are doing so. He describes fiction as “a gateway drug to reading.”

Here are some points that Gaiman brings to light:

  • There is not a bad book for children.
  • Adults forcing children to read specific books will ultimately ruin the fun of reading. Hence, ruining their future reading enjoyment in adulthood as well.
  • Fiction builds empathy.
  • Fiction exposes the reader to different environments they might never have been able to experience without the use of that novel.
  • Reading fiction allows you to become content with the life you live.

You can read more about Neil Gaiman’s views on literature and libraries at the link down below.

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/oct/15/neil-gaiman-future-libraries-reading-daydreaming

My main purpose with this blog is to educate. Some of the books that I will breakdown and digest focus on heavy topics that some people want to hide under a rug. Censoring important novels is not something I condone since reading is a look into the universe. The books could revolve around gun control, Black Lives Matter, mental health, or sexual assault and violence. Sure there may be a book or two that I would like to discuss because of how they took off in the media world, but ultimately exposure will be the main thing for this blog.