The Screenwise Reader: Raise Kids Who Choose Books Over Screens

Gonzalo Villa is a writer, former classroom teacher, and father of two. He spent more than a decade teaching middle-school language arts in public schools, where he watched the reading gap and the screen gap widen side by side — and where he first learned that reluctant readers are almost never the problem; the wrong book is. After leaving the classroom, he worked as a literacy consultant for school districts and public libraries, and he now writes about the intersection of parenting, reading, and technology. His essays and practical guides have appeared in parenting and education publications across the United States, and he has led workshops for schools, libraries, and parent groups on building family reading cultures and setting sane screen boundaries.

*The Screenwise Reader* grew out of a question he heard at nearly every workshop — and out of his own evenings at home, where the family reading hour has survived the arrival of three phones and two tablets. He lives in Austin, Texas, with his wife and two children, and is currently — inevitably — in the middle of a book.