It's Official: Emily Doesn't Like To Read

This is the book that caused Emily (and her parents) a lot of headache this month. Sure, it looks harmless. It's even a paperback. And, at 184 pages, it should be a pretty quick read.

For everyone but Emily, that is.

For some reason, Emily is having all kinds of problems with reading. Reading books, reading magazines, reading her textbooks, reading the back of cereal boxes (OK, we're kidding on that last one) - whatever there is to read, Emily won't have any of it. Reading comprehension was something Dad had trouble with until fourth grade. That year he was given a series of little blue paper books (stapled in the middle, in fact) that contained stories and accompanying comprehension tests. They seemed to do the trick.

So when Emily is assigned a book to read - and has the entire month to do it - it becomes an ongoing headache. In the case of "The Face on the Milk Carton," she had to choose a mystery and then make a diorama about it.

Here is how it played out:

> Emily complained for weeks about having to read the book
> Mom and Dad bugged Emily for weeks about reading the book
> Mom helped Emily read the book for several nights this week
> Thursday night, Emily freaks out because she's not finished with the book

We'll spare you all the excuses we heard and share two of the best:

"I don't feel good. My stomach hurts."
"You didn't help me. I need help."

Even Lauren felt sorry for Emily and tried to come up with a few ideas (actually about a half-dozen ideas) for the diorama. But Emily spurned her, too, and suddenly found herself crying about it while everyone else went to bed.

Six hours later (at 4 a.m.), Emily woke up Dad, asking for his help. Since she took the initiative to wake up and gather the items she needed, he decided to help. An hour later, she had a beautiful diorama (not pictured, sorry).

Mom and Dad have already decided that we will not be going through this again next month.