Hit the Library: Books Are Good for You
Once a week -- that's all we ask.
by Sara Bernard
Credit: Getty Images/Taxi
A lifetime of reading starts with the encouragement (and the desire) to spend some quality time with the printed word -- and we're not talking textbooks, vocabulary lists, or worksheets. While the No Child Left Behind Act's "Put Reading First" initiative and its emphasis on phonics and phonemes may bolster a few test scores, it's a far cry from making reading enjoyable.
Want to make reading fun? Take your kids to a library or log on to your local branch's Web site. You're likely to find that today's public libraries are active community centers, providing everything from after-school tutoring in Glendale, California, to lessons in cookie decorating in Troy, New York. It could very well take building a worm farm -- like kids at the Boone County Public Library, in Kentucky, did this April -- to grow a bookworm.
Sara Bernard is a former staff writer and multimedia producer for Edutopia.
This article was also published in the June 2005 issue of Edutopia magazine .
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