Seen in Blockbuster: books!

Get your kids reading by telling them about the movie or TV show.

I don't visit Blockbuster very often. So it was a revelation to to me that they had a book rack filled with the book versions of about a dozen popular movies.

That is great.

I'm a big advocate of what I call "reading extensions." That's a book that has been made into a movie or a TV show.

I think reading extensions can get kids reading. For instance, while they're waiting for the new Alice in Wonderland movie to come out, I bet a lot of kids are picking up the book for the first time.

Or let's say they've seen all the Twilight movies. It takes a long time for those movies to be made. In the meantime, they buy the buttons and the reversible Jacob/Edward posters... and then they see the book stand at Blockbusters. And maybe they buy the books.

Harry Potter. Julie and Julia. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. Up in the Air (betchya didn't know there was a book). The movies can be portals into the joys of reading, that's what I think.

My 18-year-old niece is, by her own admission, not a big reader. But she did read all the Twilight books. The other day, I gave her The Host, by the same author. I'm hoping that her interest in Twilight will spark her to read The Host. If not, the book may sit on a shelf in her room until the movie comes out and then I'm almost certain she'll read it.

Wait - I just Googled it - yes, they are making a movie of The Host. So now I've just texted my niece, saying "you'd better hurry up and read the book!"

See, that's how it works.

So - good on ya, Blockbuster, for selling books and helping to get kids reading.

That last line had a bit of an Aussie accent, didn't it? Consider it an homage to all our readers down under (undah).