Some of these comments give me hope. Regarding Bee's point about girls reading more, that mirrors my own experience. My 14-year-old daughter reads far more books than her 18-year-old brother. However, he used to read a lot more. I think it's declined as his web use has grown. Maybe it's just easier to get distracted with all the instant info technology can bring us these days--songs, videos, Facebook exchanges, a million articles and blog comments! These things are all good, but is long-form reading a casualty? Sad, if so.

Michael Scully
Austin, TX