Congratulations to a new Ambassador for KidLit!

The newly named Ambassador for Young People’s Literature is none other than Katherine Paterson, one of my favorite writers and a long-time crusader for children’s literacy and encouraging reading.  She wrote two of my favorite and often reread books during my childhood (Bridge to Terabithia and Jacob Have I Loved) and has always been an advocate for children’s lit and libraries.

It’s so important these days to have books out there that kids want to read, rather than having to be forced to read for school assignments. I was never without some book or another as a child (even developing the habit of trailing along behind my mom at the grocery, walking and reading, until I’d bump into her when she stopped).  Being a devoted reader as a child only developed into becoming a rather obsessive bibliophile as an adult.  The best books are those that I can read repeatedly, until the bindings are almost falling apart and the words are so much a part of me that I barely require the book to remember them at all.

People in general are reading less and less. Is it any wonder that children spend too much time in front of various screens rather than reading if their parents do the same?  The best way for any child to learn written language skills is through the application of a great deal of reading – without it, we can’t be surprised if in the future we find an entire generation of children who are convinced that “please” is spelled “plz” and that commas are entirely unnecessary decorations.

I am glad that we have someone named as Ambassador who understands all of this and understands that the only way to get kids to read is to offer books that are just as entertaining, or even more entertaining, than anything they can find anywhere else.

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Books, Education Books, Children's Lit