They can be identified by their independent-bookstore tote bags, their "Book Lover" mugs, or-most reliably-by the bound, printed stacks of paper they flip through on their lap. They are, for lack of a more specific term, readers.
Joining their tribe seems simple enough: Get a book, read it, and voilà! You're a reader-no tote bag necessary. But behind that simple process is a question of motivation-of why some people grow up to derive great pleasure from reading, while others don't. That why is consequential-leisure reading has been linked to a range of good academic and professional outcomes-as well as difficult to fully explain. But a chief factor seems to be the household one is born into, and the culture of reading that parents create within it.
