Why Do You Like to Read?

Carnegie Corporation of New York interviews Monique Thompson, 10, who is in the 6th grade in Brooklyn, New York.

CC: Do you like to read?

Monique: Yes.

CC: What do you like about it?

Monique: I like the action. I like mysteries, mostly. I like how on one page you find something out and it’s something that pops out of nowhere. Right now I’m reading a mystery called, I’m Not Who You Think I Am.* I also like books that are funny.

CC: Why?

Monique: It’s like, you see somebody else’s life and you compare it to your life and it’s funny how you thought that you were the only one with that thing going on, and as soon as you see that somebody else has that problem and the silly things about it, you laugh.

CC: Did you have a reading class last year?

Monique: Every day we had a reading period.

CC: Did you get to choose what you wanted to read during the reading period?

Monique: No, but if you finished early you were allowed to read something else and then do a book report about it.

CC: In school last year, did you read in science classes or social studies classes?

Monique: Yes. In social studies we read about what happens around the country, sometimes in a book, sometimes in newspapers.

CC: Do you like that kind of reading?

Monique: I like the books but not the newspaper. It’s hard work.

CC: When you come across a word in the newspaper that you don’t understand, what do you do?

Monique: I ask my dad, but he always tells me to go to the dictionary.

CC: How do you pick out a book?

Monique: Read the title, then the back of the book to see if it’s interesting. Then I’ll read some of it, but if I don’t like it, I find something else.

CC: So you give a book a good chance before you pick something else.

Monique: Yes. In that book I’m reading, I’m Not Who You Think I Am, it didn’t really get interesting until pretty far along. I’m writing about it in my diary.

CC: Do you write about books a lot in your diary?

Monique: That’s all it’s for.

CC: How long ago did you start reading?

Monique: Since I was little; my dad and my mother used to teach me. They read to me a lot and then I had to read to them.

CC: When do you read when you’re not in school?

Monique: If I’m mad or I’m bored. Like if my brother is playing his games and all there is to do is watch TV.

CC: You don’t care so much for TV?

Monique: No. I’d rather read in my room by myself, even after my dad says turn out the light. But then I put the book under the pillow if I hear my dad coming.

CC: Do you go to the library near your house?

Monique: Yes, for school projects.

CC: Do you like reading for school projects?

Monique: It’s okay. At least that kind of reading is better than writing reports.

* Peg Kehret, Puffin, 2001.

Why do you like to read? Sangay Diki | Monique Thompson | Christopher Wisell & Sam Wisell

Copyright information | Masthead | Carnegie Corporation of New York web site