For The Love of Reading

As I scour the internet, to drum up interest for Enchanted Island, I'm finding that, many of our young people don't like to read. I've seen on countless social networking profiles, statements like, "I don't need books, I hate reading." It saddens me to see such things coming from our youth. Taking a closer look, a majority of these statements are coming from minorities. It makes me wonder,what made them so adamant about not reading? I remember back to when I was younger, how much I enjoyed reading. In my teen years, I only stuck to one genre, but at least I was reading. As I got older, I branched out into different genres and reaffirmed my love of reading. I can remember when I was just a little girl, my mother would make sure that I had books to read. I fondly remember books from my youth and how my mother took the time to read them to me. My favorite story was Harry and The Terrible Whatzit by Dick Gackenbach. Great memories come to mind as I recall that time. I question whether these youngsters that dislike reading so much, had the same experience. I'm gathering, perhaps not. When I became a mother, I followed my mother's example and, bought lots of books for my children. My son started kindergarten at age four and, already knew how to read. My youngest, I swear, she came out of the womb talking. I'm not in any way saying I deserve, mother-of-the-year award. I just wish more parents would instill a love of reading. It's disheartening to read statements from our youth, that they hate reading. I'm not sure if it's a matter of them not having stories and characters to relate to, or just exactly what I pointed out before. Parents not taking the time to read and stress the advantages of reading. Even more so, now, it's my mission to create stories for those who feel slighted. Writers write what they know about, so the question should be, are there enough minority writers in the main stream? I'm not so sure. Growing up, I don't believe I ever read a story with Latino characters. I'm sure they had to be out there, just not readily available. My hope is that, I can help to change this situation. For the love of reading! Our minority kids need to be engaged.