But comic book writers do increase a kid's vocabulary no end. They zap the reader with an occasional scintillating multisyllabic adjective just to establish that some brainiac villain really is a genius. Then the kid who knows that word feels like a genius, heads for the dictionary to write his own X-Men fan story and does a thousand words without stopping. You didn't ask how to encourage children to read. You asked why and the why is a heartbreaking reality.
Children live in a world of sudden violence and violent unfairness.
They are denied even the most basic human rights of self defense, free expression and fair trial for their wrongdoings. In this age, some go to violent extremes that would've been science fiction back in my youth. They go to schools where the bullies aren't just pounding with fists or showing off a forbidden knife. In my time just owning a knife made a boy the worst, nastiest villain of the school and he never had to use it. Now to reach that exalted criminal state he needs a gun and he might need an automatic weapon to win the arms race.