How to Read Books A number of recent books have reworked subjects, forms and writing techniques. Today's children read stories about divorce, death, drugs, air pollution, political extremism and violence. Relying on the magic of the illustrator, all kinds of books are being published. Before they know how to read, babies can play with books made of cloth or books made to take in the bath. Later on, they are given picture books that may be cubical(立方形的) or triangular, outsized or very small. They also like work-books which come with water colours and paintbrushes, and comic books(漫画册) filled with details where they have to spot a figure hidden among thousands of others. Not that the traditional children's books are being neglected. There are still storybooks where the pages pop up(跳起) when they are opened, to make a forest or a castle. Among the latest ideas are interactive stories where readers choose the plot(情节) or ending they want, and books on CD, which are very popular in rich industrialized countries. The public has enthusiastically greeted the wealth of creativity displayed by publishers. 'Previously, giving a child a book was often seen as improper, 'says Canadian author Marie France Hebert. Her books, published by a French-language publisher, sell like not cakes in hundreds of thousands of copies. 'There's real appetite for reading these days and I try to get across to children the passion for reading which is food for the mind and the passion for reading which is food for the mind and the heart, like a medicine or a vitamin.' 'Reworked' as used in Paragraph 1 means '______'.