Celebrate the season with the gift of literacy
Reading is a beautiful liberation
As a literacy advocate (and huge fan of libraries), I am inspired by the career and legacy of the U.S. Librarian of Congress, Carla Hayden, Ph.D., who is the first woman and the first African American to hold this august post.
Hayden emphasizes how important it is for young readers to identify with and be inspired by characters, as she was as a child: "Literacy is the ticket to learning, opportunity and empowerment. It's important that children see themselves in the books they read. It has become commonplace to say that books are windows to a world of imagination and creativity, but books should also be a mirror to their readers.
Marguerite de Angeli's 'Bright April' allowed me to see myself in a book -- a young girl who was a brownie with pigtails -- and it inspired me that anything was possible."
Closing the literacy gap in childhood starts with having books in households, and with children being read to.
Writer and illustrator Peter Reynolds says, "Picture books are wisdom dipped in art and words." His book, "The Word Collector" (2018, Orchard Books), is a great read-along book for an early reader. The book's engaging and lively young hero, Jerome, finds and collects words everywhere he goes.
Spread and share literacy in your own way
Parents and caregivers can put a book on every bed in their own households; you can also help to spread the cause of literacy by generously sharing this idea in your own community. For families who celebrate through service projects, I suggest adopting a local classroom or day care center and providing a book for each child.
To learn more, and to share your own literacy story, go to childrensreadingconnection.org or my own Facebook page: facebook.com/ADickinsonDaily.
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(You can contact Amy Dickinson via email: askamy@amydickinson.com. Readers may send postal mail to Ask Amy, P.O. Box 194, Freeville, NY 13068. You can also follow her on Twitter @askingamy or "like" her on Facebook.)
