The Reading Zone Morning routines usually entail repeated tasks such as driving my children to school. One such morning my son casually mentioned something about a 'reading zone'. 'What's a Reading Zone?' the words escaped my lips almost involuntarily. Images of children listening to story time flooded my mind. 'Not a reading zone!' 'The Reading Zone!' my son thundered back. 'OK, whats The Reading Zone?!' I asked. The place you go when you read – what do you think! My sons smart remark made me chuckle. 'Our teacher asked us if any of us had ever been there' my son continued. This last comment took me by surprise. It must have been the way he said it. 'Been where?' I inquired. 'The Reading Zone! - aren't you listening?' he laughed. I smiled. In a more interested voice, I persisted, 'Tell me about this Reading Zone'. 'Its when you read something – or listen – and then your in there.' he replied. I stopped. My son climbed out of the truck and raced down the side walk to school. The reading zone.. I had been there – once. An experience that was so shocking to myself that I hadn't repeated it to anyone. It was evening time and I was alone in my room. I must not have been any older than 11 or 12 that time. There I sat, reading. The same thing I had done many evenings before. Only this time it was different. My eyes darted across the lines of printed text. And then they didn't. At least I don't think they did. Almost at an instant, I found myself looking around. My room was gone! People in strange clothing – yet somehow familiar to me walked around me without noticing me. Before I consciously considered what was happening, I realized I was in an entirely different place and time. Hot sunbaked buildings... What I saw was real! I could even feel the sun on my back! Then just as suddenly as I regained control of my thoughts, I found my self skimming rapidly over a page in a book. I stopped. Looking around my room in amazement, I wondered to my self what had just happened. It couldn't have been real – or was it?