Our mentality of entertainment has changed from finding wonderlands in books to seeing it happen in front of our eyes in the movie theaters. Our generation is more into watching T.V., than picking up a book. I mean why pick up ‘Beowulf’ when you can just see the movie right?

Hollywood has a nice way of changing stories for box-office hits and making money at the expense of the original writing and author. Not all authors can be as lucky as J.K. Rowling and have every detail of every scene go through her.

So when it comes time to taking a test on ‘Hamlet’ and you saw a movie instead, be aware that things aren’t always what they seem on the big screen.

In addition, books unlike movies and television shows allow the mind to wander and come up with its own backgrounds, setting and faces for characters, so things seem to jump out of pages and really link on the reader. Readers can imagine flying right next to Harry Potter as he wins a Quidditch match instead of watching it happen in a theater seat.

We believe that our generation is becoming hooked on movies rather than books and that’s where the problem starts. Reading doesn’t just do the mind good, but it trains the mind to wonder and to think on its own; something you don’t get when watching a movie where everything is set for the viewer in stone.

The problem doesn’t just stop with imagination but comprehension. When you read, your mind tries to understand what it is reading, while watching movies and television has everything laid out for you.

I bet you’re asking what is wrong with that, or saying “so what the movie is thinking for you,” but when our school has loads of students stuck in Intensive Reading classes and those students are consistently failing the FACT, it leaves many to wonder why.

The fact is that the students don’t understand what they’re reading, but by picking up a book, students can practice and train their minds to understand what they are reading.

Picking up a book doesn’t have to be that hard. Start small and work your way up. Students might just be surprised about what they are interested in. Not just that, but they might even learn something new while building their vocabulary and comprehension skills.