This was the NCTE Inbox blog post by Traci Gardner that I thought of while I was reading through Sumara’s Chapter 2 “Learning how to create insight”.

The post was a response to a report written by Carol Jago (who I believe is the current president of NCTE), which I have attached. Instead of being told the reason to read literaature, the idea is that by answering five questions, people can come to see the importance of reading literature on their own. The five questions are as follows:

1. What piece of literature has stayed with you, even though you haven’t read it recently?

2. What character or story has influenced something you’ve done?

3. What character or piece of literature seemed to relate to a recent news story or personal experience?

4. What character has made you wonder why he or she did/said something?

5. Name something from a work of literature (such as a character, setting, or quotation) that you find beautiful or vivid.

At the very least, it’s something to think about.

The original blog post can be found here: http://dft.ba/-fivethings
Carol Jago’s report can be found here [PDF]

Sumara, Dennis. (2002). Why reading literature in school still matters: Imagination, interpretation, insight. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Assoicates.