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?
Literature - novels, plays, and poems - can have an uncanny dual life, where they simultaneously represent something eternal and something historical, and this is often how they are taught in school.
If you are teaching Muslim sixth formers in a school, and you tell them they can't have their God and Darwin, there is a risk they will choose their God and be lost to science.
I had an American journalist say to me, "Is it true you wrote the whole of the first novel on napkins?" I was tempted to say, "On teabags, I used to save them.
Education is the single-most important civil rights issue that we face today.
Women and girls should be able to determine their own future, no matter where they're born.
In the end, what makes a book valuable is not the paper it's printed on, but the thousands of hours of work by dozens of people who are dedicated to creating the best possible reading experience for you.
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