I've always loved to read.
As I've shared before, my father was illiterate and my mother only went to the third grade, but they both valued education, and my brothers and I benefited greatly from that mindset.
We lived in a really rural area - China, Texas, population 1100, then and now - and depended heavily on the postal service for things that we needed because Momma couldn't drive.
Somehow, she was turned on to Readers' Digest, and order magazines and books from them, religiously. This she did for me. Mom knew that reading was the escape I needed from the loneliness of life in China.
It thrills me to no end that both Ben and Frankie are avid readers. They weren't growing up, so seeing them devouring books now, and hearing them discussing recent reads, warms my heart.
There is a statewide initiative to promote reading here. This is interesting because - I'm about to paint with a broad brush, which I should never do, but . . . , this is not a particularly literate country. Remember, it's a young country, only 41 years old, as of December 2nd, and I think that is part of the issue.
So, we're trying to impress upon the kids that reading is important, but they rarely see adults reading, for pleasure or for information.
Libraries are non-existent.
It's rare to see any locals reading the paper or magazines, at Starbucks or other coffee shops.
So, how do get a nation to read?
One book at a time, I suppose.
Anyway, I was thinking about this as I was reading the following article on why we take books on vacation.
I enjoyed it. I hope you do, too.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/andrew-losowsky/why-do-we-always-take-books-vacation_b_2089999.html#slide=1620672
As I've shared before, my father was illiterate and my mother only went to the third grade, but they both valued education, and my brothers and I benefited greatly from that mindset.
We lived in a really rural area - China, Texas, population 1100, then and now - and depended heavily on the postal service for things that we needed because Momma couldn't drive.
Somehow, she was turned on to Readers' Digest, and order magazines and books from them, religiously. This she did for me. Mom knew that reading was the escape I needed from the loneliness of life in China.
It thrills me to no end that both Ben and Frankie are avid readers. They weren't growing up, so seeing them devouring books now, and hearing them discussing recent reads, warms my heart.
There is a statewide initiative to promote reading here. This is interesting because - I'm about to paint with a broad brush, which I should never do, but . . . , this is not a particularly literate country. Remember, it's a young country, only 41 years old, as of December 2nd, and I think that is part of the issue.
So, we're trying to impress upon the kids that reading is important, but they rarely see adults reading, for pleasure or for information.
Libraries are non-existent.
It's rare to see any locals reading the paper or magazines, at Starbucks or other coffee shops.
So, how do get a nation to read?
One book at a time, I suppose.
Anyway, I was thinking about this as I was reading the following article on why we take books on vacation.
I enjoyed it. I hope you do, too.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/andrew-losowsky/why-do-we-always-take-books-vacation_b_2089999.html#slide=1620672
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