I was lucky enough to have a mother who took me to the library - the public library - twice a week, Wednesdays and Saturdays. And also bought me books. And also read aloud to me.
Interpretation
The quote highlights the importance of parental support in fostering a love for reading and learning.
Kate DiCamillo reflects on her fortunate upbringing, where her mother played a crucial role in her literary development by taking her to the library regularly, purchasing books, and reading to her. This nurturing environment not only instilled a passion for reading but also emphasizes the transformative power of access to literature and parental involvement in education.
In practice
In a speech about the importance of education, I quoted Kate DiCamillo to illustrate how vital parental involvement is in developing a love for reading.
If you sit down and read with your kid, either having your child read to you or you reading to your child at a regular time each day, it deepens the relationship. You don't have to talk about stuff; the story will do that work for you.
I want to remind people of the great and profound joy that can be found in stories, and that stories can connect us to each other, and that reading together changes everybody involved.
If you want to be a writer, write a little bit every day. Pay attention to the world around you. Stories are hiding, waiting everywhere. You just have to open your eyes and your heart.
There is no right or wrong way to tell a story. You have to find your own way. You can get your idea from listening, looking, or imagining. Stories are everywhere. All you have to do is pay attention.
Reading should not be presented to children as a chore, a duty. It should be offered as a gift.
I have no talents. But I do have hope. And wonder. And love. Maybe those are talents?
Math education has changed over the years. In the 19th century, they taught spherical trigonometry because one of the biggest applications of mathematics was navigating the ocean. This is no longer so relevant.
In our time, the curse is monetary illiteracy, just as inability to read plain print was the curse of earlier centuries.
Profound changes to how children access vast information is yielding new forms of peer-to-peer and individual-guided learning.
Today we read books 'extensively,' often without sustained focus, and with rare exceptions we read each book only once. We value quantity of reading over quality of reading. We have no choice, if we want to keep up with the broader culture.
To read is to have experiences; every book changes my life at least a little bit. The first time I can remember this happening was when I was 10, with a biography of Thomas Edison.
Many people want to send their children to faith schools because they get good exam results, but they're not foolish enough to believe that it's because of faith that they get good exam results.
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