What are you reading?

I walked into one of the Reading Labs at school this afternoon--a place where students who are two or more years below grade level in reading receive an extra dose of literacy instruction four days a week. The teacher was at a table in the corner listening to a student read aloud to her quietly, while the other students were scattered around the room in comfortable chairs or on shaggy rugs on the floor independently reading books of their choice. As I tip-toed over to the assessment materials I needed, I noticed a girl slouched against the book shelf with two books sitting next to her, neither of which she was reading. And she did NOT look happy. Since I have never met this girl, I smiled as I stepped past her, but did not approach her. A few minutes later, when I had what I needed from the room, I could not resist any longer. I kneeled down to her, smiled again, and said, "What are you reading?" Now, this question was meant to be a non-threatening entrance point into a conversation during which I fully intended to hear something like, "Nothing. I hate reading. All the books in this room are boring." This is the point where I usually put on my superhero costume and rescue the student from a life without reading.
However, to my suprise, she smiled back and said, "Summer of Secrets. But I forgot it at home today." Knowing this book is one of an extremely popular series among teens at my school, I promptly found a copy in the library and brought it back to the room for the girl. I explained that we could keep the library copy at school for her, so she didn't have to remember to bring her only copy back and forth.
If you work with struggling readers, you know that a lot of the time it is quite the elaborate process getting students to engage in reading for enjoyment, but have faith that, sometimes, it can be as simple as asking, "What are you reading?"