I Read

Washington. -- I am astounded daily by the rape stories that blare forth from the eight newspapers that I read.Last week in The Baltimore Sun there was a report of two young women accusing a priest of sexually assaulting them more than 20 years ago at the Archbishop Keough High School. In a lawsuit seeking $40 million in damages, one woman claimed she was sexually abused on the Keough chapel altar, in the chapel sacristy and in rectories, and the priest's private office.In the Chicago Sun-Times I read of the indictment of Congressman Mel Reynolds, a Chicago Democrat, on 20 counts, including statutory rape.

Looking back at a year of reading, I noticed that many of my choices were older books. When I headed to Colorado on vacation, I read Willa Cather's My Antonia. I also filled some glaring holes in my reading list; that led me (at last) to Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird. Other favorites from my 2008 list: * Deadwood by Pete Dexter. The fictional tale of an aging Wild Bill Hickok offers a warts-and-all view of the West. There's little heroism - just mud and blood and early death. And motley characters, including a gunslinger who carries around a human head in hopes of collecting a bounty.

MEAT VS. VEGETABLESEditor: I was very upset when I read the letter to the editor from Marcia Raffel, referring to "Rob's Ribs" [July 4].Why is it that a small percentage of the public continues to try to force their views on the masses?I am sure there are many more thousands of Marylanders who view having a barbecue as part of the tradition of celebrating the Fourth of July. Parades to celebrate our country's birth, fireworks and a barbecue, that's the 4th!I personally was amazed to find out that one of the barbecue places in the article was around a mile away from my home and yet I was unaware of its existence until I read the article.

"You have to feed your brain and your body," said Danny Weaver, a sixth-grader at Sykesville Middle School.For Danny, books are "brain food.""Reading gives me something to do," he said."Sometimes, I pretend I am a character in my book."To share his enjoyment, Danny drew his favorite literary character on one side of a grocery bag and wrote a book review on the other.The bag will be on display at Martin's supermarket in Eldersburg until a clerk sends it home filled with a customer's purchases.

THE OLDER WE GET, the easier it becomes to travel in time -- if only in reverse.We can be doing almost anything -- working, having a picnic, shopping, watching TV, driving the car -- when suddenly and unexpectedly we are jerked back through the years by a scent, a sound, a word, or a song that conjures up vivid pictures of days gone by.I took such a trip recently when I read the obituary of movie cowboy Lash LaRue.If you're under 40, you might never have heard of him. But LaRue was one of a group of "good guy" cowboy stars whose low-budget movies dominated Saturday morning TV during the '50s.

This summer, 8-year-old Daniel Steciak and his twin brother, Eric, became outer space detectives.As participants in Howard County Library's summer reading program: "Go Undercover With A Book!" the boys devoured 40 mystery and space adventure books, putting the program a few volumes closer to its pledged total of 30,000 books by Aug. 27."I read 'Star Trek' books and mystery books," said Daniel, who will be a fourth-grader at Glenelg Country School in the fall. "I read some adventure books."

I read those articles about "nutritious school lunches your kids will love." Such articles regularly show up in magazines and newspapers at the beginning of the school year.I read these tales of children joyfully eating fistfuls of carrot sticks for the same reason I follow the theories about creatures on Mars: I enjoy reading about alien lifestyles.Down in our kitchen, the big concern about school lunches is that the peanut butter and marshmallow cream sandwich not get squashed. To this end my wife and I have acquired industrial strength plastic sandwich boxes guaranteed to survive blows of up to 5 megatons, or fourth grade recess, whichever is greater.

Larry Silver, a clinical professor of psychiatry at Georgetown University Medical School and in private practice in Rockville, answers two questions he often hears from parents.jTC Question: My son is in second grade and still not reading well. He has to struggle to get many words and does not always understand what he has read. Yet, if I read to him, he enjoys it and understands everything. Should I be concerned?Response: By second grade, most students are reading with more ease than your son. I would discuss your concern with his teacher.

"You should read There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly by Pam Adams. I feel this is a sad story because she dies. It's also funny because animals eats each other. Read it, it will make you laugh!" Molly Hobson Charles Carroll Elementary "Sunset of the Sabertooth by Mary Pope Osborne is from the Magic Tree House series. In this book, Jack and Annie go to the ice age. While they are there, they see a sabertooth and a woolly mammoth. This book is so good!" Mon Spring Garden Elementary "I read the book Through My Eyes, an autobiography by Ruby Bridges.

"You should read 'Monsters Don't Scuba Dive' by Debbie Dadey and Marcia Thornton Jones because it is a mystery. The kids try to see if the swimming coach is a monster." -- Stephen Williams Longfellow Elementary "I read 'Nate the Great Goes Down in the Dumps' by Marjorie Weinman Sharmot. In this book, Nate was looking for Rosamond's lost money box. I believe that third- and fourth - graders would enjoy this mystery because it is funny to read about Nate's new cases." -- Darlene Brulinski Harford Hills Elementary "My favorite book is 'The Creepy Computer Mystery' by Elizabeth Levy.