ABSTRACT
This chapter investigates the physicality of reading, particularly in childhood. It explores how humans invest their bodies in the mystery of what goes on in the heads as they scrutinize and decode the black marks and then vivify them mentally to the satisfaction or frustration. Reading is an abstract process, but one that also acknowledges the concrete particularities of the material vehicle supplying the text to be interpreted. Today's children meet texts via paper, dedicated e-readers, smart-screen apps, and transmedia compilations, and also through what might be called the outlier format of audiobook. A century ago Edmund Huey recognized this complexity, commenting that "reading itself, as a psycho-physiological process, is almost as good as a miracle". The chapter addresses this "miraculous" process through a brief consideration of the eyes' role, and then explores the role of hands, ears, and whole body as represented in the mind.
