It's Still About Books

Last Friday, Leah Wagner and I gave dictionaries to third graders under a Rotary initiative.
Many years we've been sitting at social services in New Brunswick giving out books to children through the Books to Keep project. The good feeling you get when a child lights up in response to a book that is theirs to keep never gets old.
We often hear, as we go about the business of our profession, that books are a thing of the past. Who needs books when we have the Internet? For one, not every child has access to the Internet at home. For two, there is a mystique about the printed word on a page. There is a connectedness as a child replicates reading a book, even before the words make sense, that an adult has read to them time and time again. Why else do parents tote ten picture books home every week, just to have something new to read. And how wonderful it is to see children selecting books from countless titles to choose from. And for three, the Internet cannot substitute for the feelings this activity evokes.
It's not just children who value their books. We know adults who would rather own a book than borrow it from the library. We know others who just want a good read, and are happier to return the book when done. For every book discussion group we form, there is a need for another. Today, we're not just in the book business, but it is still the major component of what we do. We're an organization of readers, who are only too happy to help connect our public with just the right good read. The return we get is that feeling of sharing that joy that comes with the written word.