def summarizeReads(file_handle, file_type):
    """
    open a fasta or fastq file, prints number of of reads,
    average length of read, total number of bases, longest,
    shortest and median read, total number and average of
    individual base (A, T, G, C, N).
    """
    base_counts = defaultdict(int)
    read_number = 0
    total_length = 0
    length_list = []

    records = SeqIO.parse(file_handle, file_type)

    for record in records:
        total_length += len(record)
        read_number += 1
        length_list.append(len(record))
        for base in record:
            base_counts[base] += 1

    result = {
        "read_number": read_number,
        "total_length": total_length,
        "average_length": total_length / read_number if read_number > 0 else 0,
        "max_length": max(length_list) if length_list else 0,
        "min_length": min(length_list) if length_list else 0,
        "median_length": median(length_list) if length_list else 0,
        "base_counts": base_counts
    }

    return result