To borrow the title of an old song by The Who, “The kKids Are Alright.” Folks who desparage the current generation of kids as slack-jawed video game junkies aren’t seeing the whole picture (My son-to-be 13-year-old son is both a rabid gamer and voracious reader — he tore through the entire Harry Potter series in two weeks — ed.).

Says Newsweek: “Contrary to the depressing proclamations that American teens aren’t reading, the surprising truth is they are reading novels in unprecedented numbers. Young-adult fiction (ages 12-18) is enjoying a bona fide boom with sales up more than 25 percent in the past few years, according to a Children’s Book Council sales survey. Virtually every major publishing house now has a teen imprint, many bookstores and libraries have created teen reading groups and an infusion of talented new authors has energized the genre. ”

If you give them something besides dreary and often dreadfully written textbooks, many tweens and teens will read. Sometimes they just need a little encouragement, as in hitting the off button on the TV/game set.