If Derek acts up after school or doesn’t eat enough dinner, I won’t let him watch Peppa Pig. Nor will I let him have any desert, which is usually a minuscule Dum-Dum lollipop plucked from the ginormous bag my dad bought during a recent visit.

Rarely, if ever, do I take away his bedtime story.

I have always loved to read. Whether it was reading Newsday’s sports section or a being so blown away by Slaughterhouse-Five that I raced five chapters passed the rest of the class, having something to read always centered and relaxed me. I credit my parents, who encouraged me to read when I was very young and patiently waited around the local library while I picked out a handful of books.

Christina and I want Derek to follow a similar path. It has worked so far – he puts up the most fuss on the rare occasion when I do threaten to take a story away, and he lights up like Yankee Stadium whenever I line his shelves with a new purchase from the bookstore.

Derek is attentive during story time. He doesn’t fuss or play with his toys. He speaks up only when he has a question – and as I wrote last week there are tons of those – or if I have the book on such an angle that he can’t see it well enough.

He retains information, too. Sometimes Derek will get hung up on a particular book, asking me to read it a few times a week. With each reading, he becomes more and more familiar with the story and picks things up he may have missed the first time.

Bruce Springsteen’s memoir, Born To Run, came out Wednesday. I pre-ordered it about a month ago. When I did, I bought Derek a Springsteen book, too, one that introduces the Boss to children.

I showed it to Derek this morning. He beamed, snatched it out of my hand and ran off to show Christina.

(Not surprised since I taught Derek to say “The Boss” before he turned 1.)

I can’t wait to read it to him. I’m sure Derek will enjoy it as much as he enjoys stories about Batman foiling The Joker, The Berenstain Bears touring an underwater aquarium and Curious George attending a Halloween party.

Reading will last forever. Maybe we’ll be entire paperless one day and bookstores and libraries will, sadly, go the way of the pet rock. But reading will never die. It will live one in one form or another.

I learned that at an early age. It’s a pleasure to see that Derek’s learning it, too.