Get Caught Reading!

Disclosure: I'm a BzzAgent and BzzAgent.com, a word-of-mouth marketing company, is launching a Kindle campaign. As part of a new selection process, BzzAgents can now express direct interest in specific campaigns and enter for a chance to join them by posting pictures, videos, or blogs. This post serves as my entry, however; this doesn't lessen what I've stated, all of which remains true: 

A lot of kids dream/ed of being sports stars, but I always wanted to 'star' in the academic universe. Oh, I like sports just fine -- I play several -- but my abiding passion is books. Always books. I get hives from books.... literally sometimes, as I'm allergic to book mold. I've even had to be hospitalized for my allergy before, but it hasn't stopped me from reading or searching for that next read or that next item for my collection. (A nice thing about e-text is no book mold -- and it saves trees! GREEN!)

I got my first library card at age 5. I couldn't even see over the check-out desk. The librarians chuckled that a "wee one" wanted to check out such weighty tomes, but my mother let them know that I could read whatever I wanted (with her approval). And I was off... 

Over the years, I got to know my hometown librarians by first name, and they'd still tease me over my reading choices. I remember once during my senior year in high school, going to check out a book that some would consider risque (it was banned in a few Southern states, apparently) and having Ms. Smith at the library desk ask if my mother knew I was checking out such things. I laughed. My mother had long since given up trying to curtail my reading habits. She'd satisfied herself with teaching me right from wrong, and allowing me to exercise my better judgement. I know what you're thinking but taking the 'personal responsibility' tack worked like a charm. 

Reading is something that has stayed with me through all else, long after I've moved away from my hometown. And because of the Book, my world has always been as large as the universe and as deep as the ocean. I've  grown to read things in other languages and varied formats. Being a geek, I'm transitioning to e-texts and I'm really lusting after an ereader these days. (Oh, I still read traditional books, as well. I doubt that will change, as I collect antiquarian books.) I read on my laptop, my palm pilot, my iPod, why not on a dedicated handheld gadget with a purpose only for reading? The thought of being able to carry an entire library in my pocket gives me goose bumps. The tech behind the gadget makes me want to fiddle with all the specs.

I might have ereader envy. I've always wanted to 'star' in one of those "Get Caught Reading" PSAs. I have a friend (an educator) who made it onto a local poster for the program. An ereader is anyone's chance to 'get caught reading' on the plane, on the train, waiting in the doctor's office, standing in line at the grocer's.... oh my, I can can see it now in my mind: No more lugging around numerous texts in a heavy backpack just to have something to read at hand. No more wasted time waiting on others when I can 'crack open a book' with a simple click. 

It sounds like a dream come true to me, an inveterate lifetime reader, so I truly hope I get to try out an Amazon Kindle via BzzAgent. This is one campaign I can get behind wholeheartedly! (Excuse any typos, I can't type worth jack, especially when I'm in a hurry, as now in this lunchtime post.)

• Image Credit: Amazon Kindle via BzzAgent