By Nelmari Balsdon

Today I would like to give a big gold star to Hollywood.

Why? Because Hollywood has started a reading revolution among the younger generation, and I am so excited to see young people from all ages running home to read instead of slouching in front of the TV all afternoon.

Thanks to movies like Harry Potter, the Twilight Saga, Hunger games and more locally Spud, by John van der Ruit, kids (and adults!) are falling all over themselves to read. I’ve come up with a name for this occurrence: I call this “MUST READING”. A person who is a must reader typically chooses literature based on whatever is famous for the moment. Nothing wrong with that.

As a lover of books I am over the moon to see people reading and I think it is wonderful that authors are coming up with new and creative plots that are able to keep a society that is plagued with short attention span syndrome so intrigued. Even my husband (who could possibly be the worlds greatest hater of commercialism) couldn’t be separated from his tablet until all three Hunger Games books were finished. Personally I haven’t read any of these new books, but from listening to others who have, I really feel that I’ve come to know characters like Katniss and Bella very well. If reading can make us all this excited then I look forward to the future.

So to all the naysayers who believe that we are raising a generation of illiterate minds, I believe there is hope.

Here is an ever growing list of MUST READS:

Do you have any must reads? Add them in the comments box below.

After completing her BA in Child and Family psychology through University of Johannesburg, Nelmari Balsdon is completing a PGCE (Senior and FET phase) in Languages and Life Orientation. She has started her own education blog, love2learn, that focuses specifically on the South African curriculum.

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