BOOKS AND LIBRARIES: Open up a universe of opportunities

My students asked me, “Why should we read books?” My answer was that books open up the universe to them. Will you ever be a ship’s captain? Will you ever be a soldier in a trench in World War I? Will you ever be a young orphan who is adopted by two elderly people in Canada to grow up and have many adventures along the way? A great book of my childhood was “Augustus and the River” about a boy on the Mississippi. A wonderful book was about a true hero with some interesting idiosyncrasies, “The Last Lion,” a biography of Winston Churchill by William Manchester. Churchill was a man for his time. His contribution was monumental to his country and to Europe and to the U.S.

As to library programs: These programs get kids out from in front of their phones, out from in front of all screens and out into the world. Will one of these star-gazing children become an astronaut? Maybe. Opening opportunities is what libraries do. Limiting a child to just his home does not produce an achiever. Somewhere, they have to find inspiration. Many people’s lives have been changed by a book they picked up at their local library.

Banning books is un-American. Read about Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson, great believers in literacy and education. They were instrumental in building this country. We cannot allow it to be torn down. Banning books is useless because in today’s digital world, any book can be found online.

DONNA HARVEY

Hayden