In the digital era in which people’s attention is often distracted by fragmented, eye-catching information, the annual World Book and Copyright Day is probably one of the few moments     1     remind people of the irreplaceable importance of reading.

The Wenjin Book Awards, which are granted by the National Library of China every year for this special occasion, was organized as a key event ahead of the day — and as a guide for readers. The list of winners of the 19th Wenjin Book Awards     2     (release) in the national library in Beijing on Friday. Among China’s highest honors in the publishing industry, the awards are     3     (main) given in non-literature genres. Twenty titles in three categories — children’s books, pop science, and social sciences — stood out from the nearly 2,500     4     (submission) across the country     5     (gain) the top awards, and an extra 41 were honored by making     6     to the final round. From themes that seem to be far removed from today’s reality, like astronomy and archaeology,     7     subjects that are deeply influencing our everyday life like artificial intelligence and silicon chips, the awardees cover a wide range. Individual stories are equally     8     (power) at awakening collective memory, as To Approach the Dearest People indicates.

The Wenjin Book Awards,     9     (launch) in 2004, are named after Wenjin Ge,     10     former Qing Dynasty royal library in present-day Chengde, Hebei province, which contributed key collections to the national library.

2 . As a mother who had three kids in public schools, it always bothered me that the elementary school had a voluntary “reading club” in which students received prizes based on how much reading for pleasure they did each week. The message seems all wrong: We have to bribe (贿赂) you to read for fun.

A survey by the National Assessment for Educational Progress found that the numbers of 9- and 13-year-olds who say they read for enjoyment almost every day dropped from slightly more than half in 1984, to 42% during the 2019-20 school year. The trend among middle schoolers is worse. The percentage who frequently read for fun dropped by more than half, to 17%, while the percentage who seldom or never do more than tripled (增至三倍).

Meanwhile, a British study found that reading for pleasure had much wider benefits, resulting in better vocabulary, spelling and mathematical abilities. According to the nonprofit reading-advocacy group Kids Read Now, readers also learn better empathy (同理心), decision-making and social skills.

One contributor to this disappointing trend seems obvious: Social media and other digital activities are heavy draws and can consume hours of time. But some librarians and students point to other reasons as well: As students advance in school, required reading of textbooks and classroom-assigned literature increases. They may be reading more, but often enjoying it less.

Reading for pleasure isn’t the same as assigned reading because kids need to be able to relax with the reading material of their choice. As a child, my son used to finish his reading for school and then sigh (叹息) with pleasure, saying, “Now I can read.”

Parents play a key role in changing this situation, but many may not realize how important it is to expose their kids to books, magazines and the like. Giving older students more choices in what they read for class would help encourage pleasure reading too. The class could make group choices or students could pick from a menu of options instead of being assigned a single book. When there are just a few choices and we spoon-feed them to kids, we just deprive them of the experience of realizing there’s a bigger world of books out there for them to explore.

3 . Earlier this month, Bob Dylan released The Philosophy of Modern Song, a collection of 66 songs, detailing their status in music and, sometimes, explaining what a given track might mean or do. The book reminded me of the Harry Smith’s Anthology of American Folk Music, in which Smith intelligently summarizes each song's narrative arc as if it were a newspaper headline. Dylan is less direct and more tends to allegorical (讽喻的) long speeches.

Dylan has always had a slightly tense relationship with the writers and journalists who grammatically analyze his songs for meaning, and, while reading The Philosophy of Modern Song, there were moments when I grew slightly red-faced, worried that the book might be an purposeful joke, making fun of all the drooling (垂涎) critics who have gone thrilled trying to illustrate the greatness and beauty of his work. Yet the pattern and rhythm of his descriptions will be quite familiar to anyone who listened to “Theme Time Radio Hour”, the Sirius XM show that Dylan hosted from 2006 to 2009.

Ultimately, both projects repeat, in a serious way, just how difficult it is to study, investigate, and evaluate something as indescribable and brain-scrambling (烧脑) as popular music.

The Philosophy of Modern Song picked a limited number of songs, for Dylan to define the masterpieces that defined him, and he did so determinedly. Much like Smith’s Anthology, Dylan’s book is deeply personal, despite its sweeping title. It’s obvious that Dylan did not adjust his preferences to suit a cultural narrative or to play down his age. Yet that the book contains only four songs performed by women is both depressing and astonishing. This might lead readers to question Dylan’s character and, more worrying, to wonder about the limits of his musical knowledge.