If you haven’t read Catcher in the Rye, or even if you have – once upon a time, read it again!

Salinger totally gets the teenage voice and nobody else has come close to this authentic feel for the young adult’s journey.  It is truly a masterpiece and should be on your list.  I am thrilled to see it on the IBE matric setwork alternatives.  Well done to whoever selected it.  Students are told to read their setworks during the long holidays and then come back to school fully prepared to study them.  In case you hadn’t guessed, very few students actually do this.  Many matriculants write that paper on a wing and a prayer, trusting that the teacher’s notes and a study guide will be enough to fudge their way through the questions.  This is deeply disturbing, as we are bringing up a generation of non-readers who often enter tertiary education without ever having read a work of fiction, from cover to cover.

I am tickled pink that one of my extra-students has not only read Salinger’s masterpiece, but thoroughly enjoyed it and is excited about exploring it in depth.  She is now taking home a book every fortnight and has already identified the next ones she is keen on.  Hooray! My job as her tutor is done really and now we are aiming to fly with the eagles.

 Tuesdays with Morrie will be the next one on offer and I’ll throw in a box of tissues too.  There are so many wonderful stories to be read and each time a student takes one home  with them, I rejoice in the knowledge that they are truly on the road to good English marks.

If you want to be good at English, then read!  Fifteen minutes at bedtime, will soon stretch into half and hour and eventually you’ll get to the stage when that torch under the duvet becomes a reality.

You feel a bit lonely? Read.

Your best friend is not talking to you? Read.

You are not allowed to go to the coolest party ever? Read instead.

The train/bus trip to school is long and boring? Read.

You wish you had a bigger vocabulary?  Read!

You’d like to write better essays? Read!

You dream of becoming an author one day? Read, read, read!

Reading is your secret weapon and it is never too late to become a Bookworm. Put a book of your choice next to your bed and start tonight.

Welcome to the Bookworm’s world!