Books were the window from which I looked out of a rather meager and decidedly narrow room onto a rich and wonderful universe. I loved the look and feel of books, even the smell... Libraries were treasure houses. I always entered them with a slight thrill of disbelief that all their endless riches were mine for the borrowing.
Interpretation
Books open up new worlds and opportunities for learning and exploration.
In this quote, Zilpha Keatley Snyder expresses how books serve as portals to vast experiences and knowledge, transcending the limitations of one's immediate environment. The imagery of libraries as treasure houses emphasizes the value of literature and the excitement of discovery found within the pages of books, inviting readers to immerse themselves in the wealth of stories and information they contain.
In practice
During a school speech on the importance of reading, this quote can be used to highlight the transformative power of books.
Schools across India do not have teachers, libraries, playing grounds and even toilets. I do not want to see empty classrooms, empty libraries. I do not want to see cattle grazing on fields meant to be cricket or football grounds.
I regularly take my entrepreneurship students out walking because I want to get them in the habit of noticing and thinking about what they notice. They have to leave their phones behind to learn the basic lesson: Be where you are.
In school, many of us procrastinate and then successfully cram for tests. We get the grades and degrees we need to get the jobs we want, even if we fail to get a good general education.
Tis the good reader that makes the good book; a good head cannot read amiss: in every book he finds passages which seem confidences or asides hidden from all else and unmistakeably meant for his ear.
What is the use of merely listening to lectures? The real thing is practice.
I can write anywhere. I made up the names of the characters on a sick bag while I was on an airplane. I told this to a group of kids and a boy said, "Ah, no, that's disgusting." And I said, "Well, I hadn't used the sick bag."
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