ARE YOU A READER?

 In 2020, according to Statista data, adults in the United States spent more time reading on weekdays than in the past seven years. The average time spent reading in the U.S. amounted to 0.34 hours (approximately 20 minutes) on weekdays, while daily time spent reading on weekends and holidays reached 21 minutes or 0.35 hours.

And before we get too excited, in 2019, the time spent reading for personal interest varied greatly by age. Individuals 75 and older averaged 48 minutes of reading per day, whereas individuals 15-54 read on average 10 minute or less per day.                                                                   

Recently, Better Homes and Gardens (BH&G) magazine verified the above statistic, stating in their August 2021 edition that “the average 15-44 year old spends only 10 minutes or LESS reading daily.”

Disheartened, I dug into articles about reading. What did I find? The only logical conclusion I can make is that electronic devices, radio, and television have replaced reading—even though reading strengthens a person’s mind, and boosts memory and thinking skills. Again, according to BH&G, research shows that reading also reduces stress levels by 68 percent. Avid readers know that even a few minutes before bed time with a good book helps a person to wind down and find sleep easier and faster.

I personally believe children who learn to enjoy reading at an early age do much better in school. Reading is like a mental airplane that takes you on vacation and transports you from the world you’re currently experiencing to a different time and place. I was right there with Nancy Drew as she solved mystery after mystery. I was there with Laura Ingalls on the prairie and in the big woods. And oh my goodness, it was fun.

Do you have a favorite book or series you enjoyed as a child? Drop it in the comments box below. 

Again, I'm featuring UNDER STARRY SKIES and it's new cover. You can purchase it here on Amazon.

 

Remembering Laura Ingalls Wilder

Laura Elizabeth Ingalls Wilder

Born February 7, 1867

Died February 10, 1957

Long before Laura Ingalls Wilder’s books became part of the Little House on the Prairie television series, the Little House books were a favorite of mine as a child, starting with the Little House in the Big Woods, published by Harper in 1932. It was Wilder’s first book and was based on memories of her early childhood in the big woods near Pepin, Wisconsin, in the early 1870s. It propelled her Little House series consisting of eight more books which recorded pioneer life late in the 19^th century based on her family’s experiences on the American frontier.

I was an avid reader of all the Little House books. I remember taking one of them outside on my swing during the summer and devouring it as quickly as possible. There was something magical about the big woods, the prairie, the unsettled Dakota Territory, the farm, the banks of a Plum Creek and life during a blizzard.

Laura Ingalls was the second child of five children to Charles and Caroline Ingalls. During her childhood, her father moved the family many times, but over the winter of 1879-1880, he filed for a formal homestead in De Smet, South Dakota, which became her parents’ and her older sister’s (Mary) home for the remainder of their lives.

Two months before her 16^th birthday, Laura Ingalls accepted her first teaching position. In order to help her family financially, she taught three terms in one-room school houses between 1883 and 1885, worked for the local dressmaker, and attend high school in De Smet, although she didn’t graduate. Her teaching career and studies ended when Laura married 28-year-old Almanzo Wilder on August 25, 1885. She was eighteen years old.

Wilder House in De Smet, SD

Although there is much controversy over some works, which Laura Ingalls Wilder’s daughter, Rose, supposedly claimed to collaborate on with her mother, the brilliance and importance of the books far outweigh second guessing what might be truthful or false claims.

Laura Ingalls Wilder is considered a literary legend. School-age children have been enthralled with the series for decades. I was one of them.