When people often think of reading, they think of books they read for fun, for work or books they read because a teacher forced them. But reading is more than a book with pages. Learning to read opens doors to new worlds.

Or at least Carolyn Burrier thinks so. She wants people to get involved this February with the Fifth Annual Family Reading Festival Feb. 4 and the Ninth Annual Day of Reading Feb. 8.

Burrier, youth services coordinator at Akron-Summit County Public Library, maintains the This City Reads! program. The concept started 12 years ago as a discussion of community engagement for people of all backgrounds, and eventually the concept focused on reading.

The news site MSN Real Estate recently cited Akron, Ohio, as one of the five “most promising” real estate markets in the nation, defined by those markets expected to suffer the smallest slides. The forecasting firm Local Market Monitor made the picks.

The MSN report notes that Akron’s average home price of $148,508 fell by 4 percent in the last year, and that the local market should hit bottom this year followed by a modest 2 percent gain in 2013. “Jobs — especially manufacturing jobs — are coming back to Akron,’’ the report said. “Like many Midwest cities, there was no housing boom here to speak of. Values are down just 13 percent from the peak, about a third of the hit the U.S. as a whole suffered.”

On its face, the fact that Akron’s real estate market is to drop less than most others across the country may seem nothing to feel good about. A city doesn’t grow with a soft real estate market. But if you look beneath the surface, there is reason for those of us in Akron to see opportunity ahead. The ranking also is affirmation of our economic recovery as we separate ourselves from the pack of traditional manufacturing cities stuck in the doldrums.

Production runs through Jan. 28

Weathervane Playhouse ushers in 2012 with the Pulitzer Prize-nominated play "Yellowman" – a thought-provoking drama that explores the complicated dimensions of racial distinction.

Directed by Jennifer Jeter and underwritten by Margaret J. Dietz, "Yellowman" is presented live on stage in Weathervane Playhouse’s intimate Dietz Theater through Jan. 28.

Dael Orlandersmith’s play features one man and one woman, each of whom plays multiple characters. From black to white and to all shades in between, "Yellowman" delves into the persistence of both racial prejudice and the impact of internalized racism. The play also explores the negative associations surrounding male blackness as well as the effect these racial stereotypes have on black women.