BufferedReader cant read char

Question

The reader object below is a BufferedReader and I initialized it like this
                                                               String fileName = "abc.txt"
               FileReader fr = new FileReader(fileName);
               BufferedReader reader = new BufferedReader(fr);The code below throws exception null... I dont know why .....
try{
               String s;
               int charValue;
                                                         System.out.println("******"); //PRINTS THIS
                                                            while ((charValue = reader.read()) != -1)// HERE IT THROWS                                                       {
                    System.out.println("--"); // DOESNT PRINT
                    boolean streamReady = reader.ready();
                    System.out.println(streamReady);
                    s=reader.readLine();
                    System.out.println(s);
               }//try
               catch(EOFException e){System.out.println("EOF excption");}
               catch(IOException e){System.out.println("IO exception");}
               catch(Exception e){System.out.println("Exception "+e.getMessage());}

Answer 1

Okay... e.printStackTrace worked.....
It gives
java.lang.NullPointerException
at LanguageRecognizer.getTransitionTable(LanguageRecognizer.java:59)
at LanguageRecognizer.promptUser(LanguageRecognizer.java:44)
at LanguageRecognizer.getFileName(LanguageRecognizer.java:23)
at Menu.show(Menu.java:42)
at RecognizerLauncher.main(RecognizerLauncher.java:6)
Its giving errors where I am calling other methods like for example:
I am calling from
public void promptUser()
{//blah blah
getTransitionTable(); // HERE
}