Something worth reading...

Image courtesy of NYPL Digital Gallery

"It is not enough to simply 

teach children to read; 

we have to give them 

something worth reading. 

Something that will 

stretch their imaginations -- 

something that will help them 

make sense of their own lives 

and encourage them to reach out

 toward people whose lives 

are quite different from their own."

~ Katherine Paterson

It is probably not a surprise that I strongly agree with this quote from author Katherine Paterson.  Yes, it is very important to teach children how to read.  It is equally important to give them things that are worth reading -- to help cultivate a love of reading, to help children learn more about themselves and others, and to open wide that door of imagination.

On a side note, you will notice that I am using an image from the New York Public Library's digital gallery today.  I read about the gallery in a magazine I was flipping through the other day, when my boys were getting their hair cut, and I wrote down the address so I could check it out when I got home. I'm so glad I did!  The NYPL digital gallery provides free access to thousands and thousands of images from their vast collections.  It's an amazing site to look through!  (There's a link to the site in the image caption above, if you're interested.)  Anyway, you'll be seeing more images from their digital gallery here in the future....

(Psst... if you haven't read about the Big Blue Birthday Contest yet, please check out this post.)