When 13-year-old bookworm Jack Vella heard his parents were planning to buy him a Kindle for his birthday he immed-iately set the record straight.

“I told them I don’t really want one. I prefer to have a book. The feel of the paper, the smell... it’s much more real to have a book, to have the actual paper. Books started out on paper and it’s not very good that they changed it all into one collection of data,” said the avid reader, who officially became a teenager on December 11.

“Besides, a book has value because if, for example, you drop coffee on it, you can look back at the stain as a memory,” he said, adding that the Kindle, an electronic e-reader, had nothing of that.

Jack has had a passion for reading ever since he could hold a book, his parents, Michaela and Malcolm, recalled. He seems to have inherited it from his maternal grandmother who has, however, converted to Kindle technology.

“Since he was little he was always quiet with a book. At the time he was crazy about dinosaurs and when he was three he knew all the names of the different types and looked them up in books. He used to spend hours just going through the pages,” his mother said.

Although Jack grew out of the dinosaur phase, the passion for books remained. His father recalled how when, as a child, they would take Jack to the doctor all the child-ren would be running around the clinic while he sat down, cross-legged, reading his book.

“Till today, when we get on the ferry to Gozo all the kids are playing and Jack is reading,” he said, raising both hands as though to hold a book close to his face, to mimic Jack reading attentively.

Jack, who wants to become a doctor and loves biology, likes reading science fiction and spy novels. He also reads film reviews on the newspaper.

“When I’m reading the paper he just sticks to me to look over my shoulder,” his mother said.

“There are times when we get angry at him because he’d be lost in his world... Like when we travelled overland... We’d be driving through the beautiful scenery and he’d be reading,” she laughed.

The teenager admitted he was very protective of his books and ensured he did not bend the pages or break their backs. He never lends any, although he sometimes does make concessions to his younger brother, Tom, because they remain in the house.

“I never take a book to the beach or anywhere it can get wet,” he said.

Jack mostly reads in the evening when his family is gathered in the living room.

“If I don’t like a programme on TV, I read ... If I like what’s on TV I read during breaks ... Sometimes, I’ll have more than one book stacked near me,” he said.

His 11-year-old brother is not so interested in reading. He is more inclined towards numbers than words and likes maths, watching football and sports. Tom recalled how when he was younger he would become frustrated when he wanted to play with his brother who was only interested in finishing his book.

Now things have changed and he does not mind so much when his brother is lost in a story.

Apart from reading, Jack also likes playing computer games and baseball. In fact, for Christmas he would like something connected with baseball... so long as it’s not a Kindle.