For more than 40 years UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) has been celebrating International Literacy Day on the 8th of September to remind everybody in the world that “literacy is a human right and it is the foundation of all learning”.
So true – if you can read you can just about do anything. Reading sets you free!
Many of us take reading for granted and forget that there are still millions of people in this world who cannot read. I’m not talking about babies or young kids either. I’m talking about adults who just never had the chance to learn.
The sad thing today is that many kids have plenty of opportunities but just can’t be bothered to read. My friend Ginny had a stand selling books at the mall last year and some kids sauntered over to check them out. One dude picked up a book and leafed through it. His friend took it out of his hand and said “No ways! It’s a chapter book. We don’t like chapter books.” Then they ran away laughing before Ginny had a chance to ask them what they meant by not liking chapter books?
Books are great. They open up so many different worlds. You can get lost in them and imagine that you are the heroine or the villain in the story. You can learn about new places and different countries. You can find out about different animals and how they live – ones that you will maybe never see in real life either (except in a zoo).
Of course the more you read the cleverer you get too!
Kindles and electronic readers are all the range these days – they are useful if you are going away because then you can take plenty of books with you in one neat little package instead of lugging a suitcase!
Reading makes me happy when I feel sad. If I’m bored, I grab a book to read.
Even if I don’t really feel like reading a story – I can still read something that shows me how to make things – like the nifty beads I told you about last week.
Of course it’s not just books that we read; there are newspapers, magazines and comics as well. You can watch subtitles on the TV too.
If you’ve got a computer you can go to www.sibo.co.za and read some books on-line free.
Read more!
Sibo