I really don't need anything for Christmas. I had the best gift ever last night, watching my two sons reading their books before bedtime.

    My older one was reading a murder mystery. My younger one was reading one of the Warriors cat books by Erin Hunter, a favorite series for him.

    They were each in different rooms, engrossed in their pages, with no TV, music or anything else blaring away in the background. 

    Call me sentimental, but I will take this small gift any time, any day, any season. 

    Curled up in a corner of the living room, or propped up in bed, I read almost constantly as a kid. So did my five siblings. Like anyone else, I had distractions and lots of other interests, but once I discovered reading I was pretty much hooked. I read everything—books, magazines, newspapers, the backs of cereal boxes or orange juice cartons if there was nothing else on the table at the moment.

    I have my parents to thank in large part for the love of reading. Voracious readers themselves, they were always working on something.  

    With few exceptions, today's kids are up against far more distractions than most of us ever were, and it is so EASY for them to become disengaged in reading. And to view it as boring, uncool, and unnecessary (or a necessary evil). 

    There's TV. And the astounding array of choices there now.

    There's the PlayStation or the XBox.  

    There's the iPod, with thousands of songs at the fingertips (for a little work and money). 

    There's the Internet. 

    There's email, instant messaging, and texting, and not in that order for a certain age group. 

    And there's peer pressure. If the coolest kid in the class thinks reading a book is the most godawful thing...

    I've told my sons that with reading comes information, understanding, and connection. All of which will help them at every stage in their lives, now and forever. 

    This can be such a pain to hear from a parent. (I can see the rolling of the eyes... It is way too familiar...) 

    But we've gotta say it and model it. And keep doing so, for many years. Because the rolling of the eyes shall pass, and the good stuff sinks in.

    It's not enough for the teachers to say it and require it, or for us to leave it to them. We have to, as well. 

    Of course we have to use and acknowledge the power of new technologies in our lives. But we need to keep the reading going too. There's a place and a need for everything. 

    So as my sons were reading their books last night, I was reading mine. Including the fascinating Carolina Clay: The Life and Legend of the Slave Potter, Dave, by Leonard Todd (Norton), the story of a slave artist in Edgefield, South Carolina, in the early 1800s, and his amazing life and handiwork.

                    (courtesy W. W. Norton and Co.)

    He was so talented in the earthenware arts, and he worked under such restrictive conditions. At a time when reading and writing by slaves was forbidden, Dave   inscribed many of his beautiful jars and pots with poems--gorgeously! Todd makes this man's difficult but productive life come alive. And how fascinating for this author when he discovers that there is a surprising family connection to Dave.    

    Later, I checked on the boys. They'd each slipped a bookmark into their books. And snapped off their lights. 

    So it's an amazing thing. It's not Christmas yet and I already have my gift. (My husband's comment when I told him this: "Does this mean I can return all of yours?")