Recently, my iTeen editor posed a question that really made me think. He asked, “What was the last book you read?”

The question caught me off guard, but I now I have a reply. It goes like this:

I used to read all the time, but I slacked off a little during the school year because I just never had time. I had so much schoolwork to do that I never had any time to relax. The last book I read was one that I just recently finished called “Street Chronicles: Christmas in the Hood” by Nikki Turner. Before that, I read “The Color Purple” by Alice Walker for school. Outside of the Nikki Turner book I just completed, I can’t remember the last time I read a book just for pleasure.

I was curious about how others would respond to the question, so I put it to several of my friends.

Ashley (Williams) said she last read one of the “Twilight” series books by Stephenie Meyer. Like me, she had to think about the question. And because she can’t be like some people and just read the same book over and over again, new books are on her need-to buy list.

For Markesha (Dunlap), the last book read was “A Raisin In the Sun” by Lorraine Hansberry. It was required reading, but at the same time she read it for pleasure because she had seen the movie. As for the comparison – book to movie – it’s a tie, she says.

Wyneiceia (Daley) last read “Cry, the Beloved Country” by Alan Paton. She enjoyed the book, which she had to read for her eleventh grade English class.

Dexter Alexander’s last book was “Stupid White Men” by Michael Moore. He didn’t like the book, but he had to read it for his eleventh grade English class. He said it was about politics, a subject that does not holds his interest.

Codeci (Bee) said he had to read Betsy James’ “Dark Heart” for his eleventh grade English class. He didn’t care much for it and said that he really doesn’t like to read.

Kelsea Hawkins’s last book read was “Black Like Me” by John Howard Griffin. She called it “straight,” which for my editor’s sake means it wasn’t boring but it wasn’t interesting. And it was an English class assignment.

Felicia (Smith) likes drama and said she got plenty to enjoy in the last book she read, “A Hustler’s Wife” by Nikki Turner.

So with the survey over, the common denominator is clear: the last book read by most of the people I asked was one they had to read for school.

(Brittany is a senior at Middle College High School. If you have a story idea or note for Brittany, email her at iteen@tri-statedefender.com)