Even better, have an adventure with friends, classmates and even people you don't yet know.

Mayor Rocky Anderson calls it "Salt Lake City Reads," a communitywide book club.

"What would it be like if everybody in our city read the same book?" the mayor asked 600 students Monday at North Star Elementary.

"We can gain a lot from the experiences we can have through books," he said. "When you get a chance, read and interact with people. It adds so much to your life."

This is the third year for the city's book club, which urges residents to read selected books in hopes that they can bridge gaps by having common topics for discussion.

This time, four books present compelling stories of immigrants. The Web site, http://www .slcreads.com, also lists established book clubs that invite discussion of the Salt Lake City Reads selections.

North Star six-grader Samantha Gonzales told her classmates that she already had read one of the books on Salt Lake City Reads' newly unveiled list. She reported on the poignant story in Esperanza Rising by Pam Mu oz Ryan about a Mexican girl who must abandon the ranch she loves for a life of tough labor in the United States.

"This is one of the best books I've read in sixth grade," said the 11-year-old, who someday wants to be an author. "If you like books that can break your heart and then put it back together, then Esperanza Rising is a good book for you."

Anderson told his attentive audience that reading also would strengthen their minds, while watching too much TV would make their brains "flabby."

He cited statistics showing that, on average, Americans watch 19 hours of TV but read only 5.7 hours a week.

"The sad thing is, around this country there are a lot of people not reading," the mayor said. "But the more you read, the more you'll love it."

Ten-year-old Sierra Raso, a North Star fourth-grader, concurred. "Reading keeps your mind going and keeps you entertained," she said.

Her favorite book is J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. "It's really adventurous and when someone dies, it makes me want to cry."

North Star Principal Roseanne Henderson told her students that if they read, they can access any information they need to succeed.

"If you read, you can go to college and become anything you want," she said. "You can even become mayor of Salt Lake City."

Plenty of good reading

* The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini (fiction) - A native Afghan returns to his changed country after many years to face his past.

* The Devil's Highway by Luis Alberto Urrea (nonfiction) - The true story of men who crossed the Mexican border illegally and got lost in the desert.

* Grandfather's Journey by Allen Say (children/young adult) - A young man who leaves his native Japan for America longs for his homeland.

* Esperanza Rising by Pam Mu oz Ryan (children/young adult) - A 14-year-old girl is forced out of a privileged life in Mexico to follow her mother to labor in America.