Teachers as Readers: Interest before reading

Currently, I am reading For One More Day by Mitch Albom.  I read another book by Mitch Albom not too long ago, titled The Five People You Meet in Heaven.  One of my aunts and I were discussing books we both read recently, and she highly recommended The Five People You Meet in Heaven to me.  She told me just a little bit about the book, but it was enough to motivate me to want to read the book.  I thoroughly enjoyed the first book I read by Albom, and decided to look to see if he had written any other books of interest to me.  I noticed two that I felt would be worth getting on my nook and reading as time allowed, For One More Day and Tuesdays with Morrie.  I read the overviews for several of his books and also read several of the reviews.  Doing so motivated me to buy the books.  I also purchased another book just tonight titled I Will Carry You: The Sacred Dance of Grief and Joy by Angie Smith.  What motivated me to get this particular book was that I heard the author on a radio show tonight.  She talked about her book and the topic was of interest for me, but also of interest was her style of talking (which I'm hoping carries over into her writing).  Creating interest very often leads to motivation (Vacca, Vacca, & Mraz, 2011).  This statement is true whether we are students in fourth grade or adults just looking for a book to read in our spare time.

References 

Vacca, R.T., Vacca, J. L. & Mraz, M.  (2011). Content area reading: literacy and learning across

the  curriculum. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.