Why don't children read?!

I agree with all parents who say that television, the internet and computer games have completely ruined children’s reading habits. When I was small, I was an avid reader of books by Enid Blyton, Roald Dahl, C.S. Lewis and many other children’s writers. It is unthinkable to me to imagine a childhood free from Brer Rabbit’s amazingly ingenious swindles; Amelia Jane’s naughtiness; exploring exotic, magical lands to which the Wishing Chair took me; Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory, and the Chronicles of Narnia (I was too stupid to understand the Christian undertones, of course). The thrilling idea of playing detectives with my friends arose from reading the Famous Five and Five Find-Outers’ stories. That quickly succeeded to playing the more sophisticated secret spy agent in dark glasses and hats pulled low over the forehead.
Nowadays, my friends’ younger siblings, and my own younger cousins never read a single book! They haven’t even heard of the Secret Seven or Kirrin Island. Never read about the fun the students of St Clare’s had, or how Charlie found the last chocolate bar with the golden ticket by a stroke of immense good luck! It’s impossible to imagine a childhood free from the colourful pictures of Noddy in his red and yellow car.
I was pleasantly surprised to find a 10-year old cousin reading Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince yesterday. If Pottermania is somewhat annoying, it has one very good result. It is the children who have created the insane craze for Harry Potter-that means that children now read. Be it only Rowling’s amazingly popular Harry Potter books, or maybe even Eoin Colfer’s books, but kids now putting aside their hi-tech computer and video games to feel passionately about a book is a big achievement. I must sound like a 50 year old grandmother droning about the lack of children’s reading habits, but it’s an issue I feel really strongly about. My childhood was peopled by characters from all sorts of books, and it kind of hurt to see that tradition completely fading away. Kudos to Rowling for inducing children across the world to read again. It is the children’s passion for reading which has led to the books being translated into a zillion foreign languages. So, for people who hate Harry Potter and wonder what the hell the hype is about, look at the good side of the phenomenon.