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I am sixty-seven years old. When I was a kid, there was no TV or Internet. I spent a lot of time on my grandparent's farm. They had a radio and our evening entertainment consisted of listening to 'Fibber McGee & Molly' or reading. My mom and grandma read to me practically from birth. By the time I was old enough to talk, I could recite from memory many of the books that had been read to me over and over again. I still have one of those early books. It is titled Bobbie Had A Nickel by Frieda Friedman, published in 1946. Today, I have a nine-year old grandson and the entertainment choices available to him absolutely blow my mind. Television, Internet, movies, X-Box, Wii, and cell phones with 1,000 games all compete for his attention. With all these miracles of modern technology, are books obsolete? I certainly hope not! But how does a kid choose? As it always has been, the responsibility falls on the parents to guide those choices, and unfortunately, that's a scary proposition. I have a seven volume series of children's chapter books for kids five through ten, and my wife and I promote them at many book signing events and craft fairs. There is no greater joy than having a child, drawn to our table by the colorful covers on our books, stand in awe as I explain the adventures awaiting them between the covers of the books. Most of the kids look imploringly at mom and say, "Can I have a book? PLEASE!" We, of course, love it when mom says, "Sure, honey." and then says to us, "We'll do most anything to keep him reading." A parent making good decisions. The other side of the coin is the parent who ignores their child's pleading for a $5 book and pushes him to the next booth where they pay $5 for a package of those silly rubber bands that kids wear on their wrists. It reminds me of the old jokes: "Mommy, why can't I go out and play ball like the other kids?" "Shut up and deal!" or "Mommy, why can't I have ice cream like the other kids?" "Shut up and drink your beer!" Ok, maybe these are extreme examples, but the message is the same; kids will do what their parents encourage them to do from an early age. There is no greater gift a parent can give to a child than a love of reading and good books to inspire their imagination. I'd love to hear from you. booksbybob@hotmail.com or my website, http://booksbybob.com Lady Justice Mystery/Comedy Novel Series booksbybob.com  Senior citizens fighting crime, a laugh-out-loud mystery series
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