Reading is Fundamental (and Fun)

Long before the organization, Reading is Fundamental, came along, my mother knew that reading would be of central importance to the successful futures of her children. She provided access to books and also read to us from the time we were very young. She continued to make reading a regular family activity during our grade school years.

Recently, my brother sent a very old photograph of Mama reading to us. I was in my pajamas, so I know it was evening and probably close to bedtime. I don’t know if it was true of the evening pictured, but for many of our evenings of reading we had popcorn or homemade fudge as treats.

What is now pictured for today’s children in movies and TV shows was created in our imaginations as we read after wonderful authors of the past: Louisa May Alcott, Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain), Gene Stratton-Porter, Robert McCloskey, Ruth Sawyer, Beatrix Potter, Charles Dickens, Eleanor Porter, and many others.

I will be forever grateful to my mother for her commitment to our education.

Mama reading. I probably should have this special picture professionally restored.