By Pastor Leah Fintel Krotz
Lots of people have been writing and speaking about Dolly Parton since her death a couple of weeks ago. She was definitely an icon in the music world and a larger-than-life personality. I enjoyed her music, but my greatest admiration has to do with her generous heart, particularly in founding the Imagination Library.
She gave away millions of books to children from birth through age five because she realized the value of reading to young children and what a difference it makes in their education and success in life. Her own father never learned to read and this spurred her on to begin this amazing program which now reaches children all over the world.
Before becoming a pastor, I was a librarian for 27 years, so I am a huge advocate for reading to kids. Study after study shows that this is the one thing you can do that makes the biggest difference in your children's ability to learn to read and to do well in school and life. Even reading to a baby who can't understand the words still helps, because the baby's brain is developing and learning to recognize rhythm and patterns and sounds that will help her learn to talk–and eventually to read.
We are blessed in this country to have absolutely amazing libraries and opportunities to read as much as we want for free. There's no excuse not to take your children or grandchildren to the library and check out a pile of books and then read them at home. And children’s books now are so bright and colorful and fun! Snuggling together in a chair or before bed will become a treasured memory, and they will learn to associate reading with happiness and closeness. By the time they get to school they'll be excited about books and learning to read on their own–nothing could be easier to get them started on the right path.
One of the reasons Martin Luther was so concerned about the education of both boys and girls is that he wanted them to be able to read the Bible. And now, 500 years later, I’ve seen concerns that kids growing up doing all their reading in the short bursts of text messages or Google results won’t have the ability to focus on the scriptures, or the desire to read them. Let’s pray that all generations will hear and know the good news of Jesus—and be excited to read it for themselves!
"Let the wise hear and increase in learning, and the one who understands obtain guidance." -Proverbs 1:5
