Today, screens scatter sparks across endless feeds, tempting us to skim rather than kindle. Maryanne Wolf’s Reader, Come Home (2018) warns that deep reading requires deliberate conditions: sustained attention, print or screen settings that reduce distraction, and habits like note-taking or read-alouds. Media literacy extends the flame’s reach, teaching readers to test claims, trace sources, and recognize manipulative heat without light. By designing daily rituals—device-free reading windows, shared family chapters, community book circles—we tend the flame that Hugo praised. In doing so, every syllable still glows, and the world stays lit. [...]
