Dear Diary,

My thirteen year old grand-daughter recently caught the reading bug. It happened with the popularity of the "Twilight" books. You know, the one about the good vampire. Last summer she started buying the books with her allowance and has read The Complete Twilight Saga Collection – more than once. She loaned them to her friends and they caught the reading bug, too. So when I say think red for vampire I'm sure you can guess why (bl**d is another word on my no-no list); and black and white is for the pages of a book. (Remember that old riddle: What's black and white and read all over? A newspaper.)


My grand-daughter doesn't know it, but she has inspired me to write an article for Buzzing Kids World about catching the reading bug. It can make big changes in a kid's life. Some of the older girls are chatting in Instant Messenger that they're "dumping" their boyfriends saying they're looking for someone more like Edward, the gentle vampire, if you can imagine that! Did I mention fantasy? Not my grand-daughter, of course, she's still into sports, not boys, and is on the Honor Roll at school. Did I hear someone say, "Sure, KidsGranny, not your grand-daughter!" Let me be, please, with my own fantasies – all my grandkids are angels. But aren't everybody's!

Here's a tip: Read to your kids. Have them read to you. It helps them dream of the possibilities – now and later!