by Ben Ingram, my late twin brother
If you ask most students around here if they want to read a book, they will probably respond with, "Hell naw, I ain't readin' no gosh darn book!"
Getting kids to read a book can be a real challenge because today's students hardly ever want to read. They complain and moan every time a teacher assigns a book. Their new age brains have been tempered to more fast paced forms of media such as television, movies, and videogames. These new activities occupy every corner of their brains, leaving no space for tedium like reading which is left huddling in the streets trying to stay relevant.
Books can hardly compete with such formidable foes. When kids are looking to get a quick fix of entertainment, television or videogames are always there. Books, however, offer much more than most T.V. shows, movies, and videogames combined. Nothing stirs the imagination as books do. They allow the reader to create worlds and characters and exotic places and creatures all in the reader's mind. One does not even have to leave his or her room to go on wild adventures or visit the future.
If students find an appreciation for books early, they will be lovers of reading for life. - Ben Ingram
(Written in 2012 by Ben as an argument essay assignment in his Ole Miss freshman writing class.)
Love you, Bensonite
09/24/1993 - 7/22/2017