A former reluctant reader tells how he got turned around

[An interview excerpted from my book, Jump-Starting Boys] 
I read some as a boy, mostly the Hardy Boys novels.But as I got a wee bit older, I wasn’t interested in readinganymore. I was more into running outside and playing. Mysister embraced reading, but I was more fidgety and restless.          My family didn’t watch much television and my parentscertainly read a lot. There were always books around, andI remember my dad reading spy novels. But I figured I readenough at school, which was a challenge for me. I had ahard time concentrating. I didn’t have a learning disability; Iwas just averse to school. I did have one teacher who wasa role model to me. He took me under his wing in gradefour or five and paid me the extra attention I needed. Thatprobably wouldn’t have worked if he hadn’t been a male.When I was nine or ten years old, I got interested inhockey, and my mom and dad bought me books on hockey.I started reading short stories and rule books and that ishow I got back into reading for a while. But I dropped offagain until I became a Big Brother (mentor) in my thirties.I’d just gone through a nasty divorce, and after I’dmoved out and started living on my own again, I decided Ihad an opportunity to make some changes and give backto my community. When I met my ‘Little Brother,’ he hadjust turned nine. The first time we went for a walk, I askedhim what kind of things he enjoyed. It turned out readingwas one of his interests, and so we talked about readingas a conversation icebreaker. He talked about the books hewas reading, so I started picking up books and reading aswell. That way I could talk about the books I was reading.And given that I was going through so much personalchange, I found I needed that chance to get lost in a book.Meanwhile, I found that being a Big Brother removed all ofthe ugliness from my divorce experience.Sometime not long after I’d become a Big Brother, Iwas at my parents’ home, but not downstairs visiting withthem. My younger brother came up, saw me engrossedin a book, and returned downstairs to tell my parents,"Something’s wrong with Kieran."          My mom and dad came upstairs, concerned; they hadn’t seen me engrossed in books for so long. I was thirty-eight. They didn’t know thatthese days, I always have a book with me as I travel forwork. Nowadays I try to encourage reading, including withmy nephew. I see a lot of me in him. I buy him books whenI can, and we have a book exchange program.If I’d read more during my school days, I’d have appliedmyself there better. What I believe is that boys take longerthan girls to read, and you can’t put too much pressure onthem. Get them comfortable and make it fun.—Kieran, age forty-two  Excerpted from Jump-Starting Boys: Help Your Reluctant Learner Find Success in School and Life, by Pam Withers and Cynthia Gill (Viva Editions). http://www.amazon.com/Jump-Starting-Boys-Reluctant-Learner-Success-ebook/dp/B00BAHA0Y8/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1421455869&sr=1-1&keywords=jump+starting+boys