How does one teach a child to become a lifetime reader? Is it something that can be taught or just another life choices made somewhere along the line. For myself, I distinctly remember the library of my school when I was in the 5th grade as being a  place that I frequented and found books that I would read for hours. What cemented my interest, though, was a copy of The Hobbit, by J.R.R. Tolkien, that Santa put in my Christmas stocking that same year. I still read voraciously, as does my wife, although I have never inquired as to what got her started. My two daughters are now in their late teens and can also almost always be found with a book nearby. I remember reading to them most nights when they were younger but at some point they took it up for themselves. Aside from that reading, and perhaps the fact that our house has books stacked in every space available for a shelf, I do not remember ever “pushing” them to read. And yet, they not only read constantly, but they both have such a “love” for books that family vacations often find us all wandering for a few hours through local book stores wherever we happen to be. I am also fairly confident that when they read this and see the pic below that I found on http://theblogonthebookshelf.blogspot.ca, they will both want something similar for their eventual weddings…

So my question still remains…is it simply the exposure to books that they grew up with that made them become the readers that they are? Or is it some inheritable gene that got passed from one or both of their parents? The advantages that reading as much as they do have given them already have been very apparent to me and my wife. If a method for evoking this trait in children could be positively identified, it would make a huge difference in the lives of many.