My fondest memories of my son growing up are the thousands of hours we spent reading together. Of all the things I’ve done for my son, I’m proudest that I’ve been able to give him the gift of reading.
Children who are read to are more prepared to learn and succeed when they start school. They have larger vocabularies, more background knowledge, and better comprehension. They tend to be better writers as well. And, the more a child reads, the better he or she gets at reading.
This cycle is sometimes referred to as the Matthew Effect, or an accumulative advantage, because the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. In other words, children who read a lot get better, which makes them want to read more and so on. Conversely, those children who don’t read tend to fall behind and find reading difficult so they often avoid it, causing them to fall even further behind.
Reading is such an essential skill in school and in life that we need to work together to help all children get into the positive cycle of reading.
We can do this by supporting our public and school libraries; making books available in our community; being reading role models for the children in our lives; providing time for children to read what they want; and partnering with teachers in our schools to support reading.
Working together, we can give all children the gift of reading.
I’m Laurie Elish-Piper, and that’s my perspective.
