Photo by Iñaki del Olmo on Unsplash

When we were growing up in the 70's and 80's we did a lot of reading and I don't mean textbooks. We read books about adventure, fantasy, sports and whatever it was that we could get our hands on-literary classics, thrillers, detective tales, biographies, sports books-you name it. Reading these books not only sharpened our language skills but filled us with knowledge about everything imaginable under the sun and actually helped us build character. 

What are the kids reading these days? I don't have a clue. Do they get time off from peering into those infernal screens, playing mindless games and watching mind-numbing videos and reels? Do they even read Harry Potter now? Their language and communication skills may be falling by the roadside, but do they care?

Growing up we would read Enid Blyton, the Bancroft classics, Perry Mason, Hardy Boys, the Sherlock Holmes books, the literary masters like Alexander Duma, Sir Jonathan Swift, Charles Dickens and I could go on and on.

Even the comics we read had class, elan and charisma and evoked wonder and awe- Tintin, Asterix the Gaul, Phantom, Mandrake the magician, Garth anybody? What's the point, today's generation might say? We have our social media apps and what else do we need? Well you need a life and may I suggest you get one that is derived from the real physical manifestation of the world around us.

May I also suggest that you read these books and see if they make a difference in your life and even transform you into a real person-

Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carrol

King Solomon's Mines by Ryder Haggard

Ivan Hoe by Sir Walter Scott

Ben Hur by Lew Wallace

Gullivers Travels by Jonathan Swift

The Sum of All Fears by Tom Clancy

A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas

Freedom at Midnight by Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre

Is Paris Burning by Larry Collins and Dominque Lapierre

The Matarese Circle by Rober Ludlum

The Exodus by Leon Uris

These are just a few-a tip of the iceberg and there is a much longer list of spectacular books that can open any young kid's life to the possibilities that life presents. Start with these and may your life get transformed.