Revel In The Success Of Others – Well Done Marissa – Turn All Of Those Children On To Reading

My dear friend, legal colleague and fellow author, Marissa Bañez, gave a reading of her wonderful children’s book, Hope and Fortune, at a local Manhattan library on Saturday.

Given that Marissa is an excellent writer, I’ll let her describe the highlights:

“So much fun. One 7-year-old boy followed me around to tell me how much he loved the book and that he now wants to write a book someday too. Then he made his dad buy the book. I will love that kid forever!!! So great to be able to touch a kid like that – warms the cockles of my heart. (Did you know “cockles” refer to the Latin term for ventricles? I had to Google what that saying meant right after I typed it. LOL.)” 

I am thrilled for Marissa, right to the ventricles of my heart, and for that seven year old, for his father, and for the rest of us.

If you take a look around at what is happening in education, you will find the frightening statistic about the reading levels of our students.

If we do not capture a child’s love for reading at the earliest opportunity, it will become harder and harder to spark that interest as they grow older.

It is through the works of writers like Marissa that we can try and reverse this rapid trend towards an illiterate populace.

And parents, please read to your young children. They will take their cues from the emotions you share during the reading process. They will start to follow the words as you read them. Soon they will be racing to read the word ahead of you, if only from rote memory. And then there will come that moment when they actually can read those words. It is magical. And then they will have the most important tool they will need to succeed in life.

So, take your children to physical bookstores, and to readings by authors like Marissa. Let them fall in love with the written word, with wandering those aisles, scanning the shelves, the tactile feel and smell of physical books. Kindle is great, but, if you are not cramped for time and space, you just can’t beat the real thing. It slows you down, and it allows you to develop the joy of anticipation as you lick the tip of that finger before you turn the page (but don’t dog-ear those pages, find a cool bookmark).

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/blog/ask-a-literary-lady-why-do-people-smell-books/

So well done Marissa, keep turning those young ones onto reading. Society will thank you.

And I pray that, when they get old enough, some of your acolytes will be able to enjoy the adventures of Claire the Mule and her motley crew.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B094DLS4JD?ref_=dbs_p_mng_rwt_ser_shvlr&storeType=ebooks

Just saying.

Well, it’s Monday of Christmas week. A great time to place those last minute, on-line orders for Christmas gifts you know your friends and family will thank you for.

May I suggest a good book. Great for reading around a Christmas fireplace.

Well, I still have a week to get through, but first a kitty cuddle. my rounds and some torture.

You fine, five readers give Monday a head fake and blow past it to Tuesday.

But no matter what, make today a great one.