confusedSo, for all those asking if kids are reading, I think the answer is that, yes, many (if not most) are. Ad yet we underestimate this group regularly. The example, unfortunately, comes from some of the same group as those attending ALA. I spoke to someone about a book I thought was one that committees should consider. The person's response was that it was a book ordered and then one that she ordered returned to the jobber because it was too dark, not appropriate. SIGH. It is always disappointing to find someone who should be reading widely bt is, instead, closing her or his mind to a book. Let's shoot ourselves in the foot by being the gatekeepers. Let's keep books away from kids because they might be scary. Let's protect kids from darkness. Let's not give kids credit for being able to read about books with intense content without becoming violent or morbid or whatever.
On the other hand here, though, are the thousands of others who are here visiting exhibits and attending programs to learn more about the books and their authors. They are raving crowds and dangerous bags of books that threaten to topple and spill and jab. They are walking miles (and often at snail's pace) to see the new books and to meet the authors behind them. They will take those books back for their kids to read in the fall. In the meantime, they will curl up between events and read those same books themselves and then find someone else to talk about them, too.
I have books to read. Then, they need to pass on to others who are in the classrooms and who will share them with kids knowing how important those books will be.