Reluctant Reader

On Saturdays I tutor a young man who is brilliant in math and not so brilliant in reading and writing. He and his dad both have round faces and big eyes, but the son is about two inches taller than the dad. Adorable.

When we were finished, I reported to his dad about how well he’d done (I slowed him down to work on accuracy in reading, and he did very well). I commented that the more reading he does on his own, the better, asked what kinds of magazines his parents got (good ones for reading practice, sophisticated). I suggested he get a book to read for fun (he interrupted “I’m already reading Frankenstein”–for school). His dad declared that he had been on his son’s case to read more, to watch the Lehrer report for ideas for essays, etc etc but he never wanted to, and maybe he would listen to me. I glanced at the son and laughed. He had his head down and was drawing his foot back and forth on the carpet, just like a cartoon kid being scolded. I pointed this out and they laughed as well, and chortled their way out the door.