Cup O’ Joe: Read to your children

The John Millar Civic Center was buzzing with activity Saturday as the Bess the Book Bus event returned to the Shiretown for the second straight year. The Book Bus is a mobile outreach program that travels across the country giving free books to children as a way to promote increased literacy.
    Coinciding with the book bus were numerous educational booths, as well as several games for children to enjoy and snacks to partake. Rebecca Emberley, an author and illustrator from Kittery was on hand explaining her new book “Adventure Girl,” which were available for children free of charge. She also conducted a craft activity that coincided with her book.
According to Danette Ellis of the Aid For Kids program, First Book is a group who generously donates approximately 6,000 books to our organization,” Ellis said. “The books have been distributed across the state through schools and other nonprofit groups. They have donated more than 80 million books and educational resources to low-income families across the United States and Canada since their beginning,” she said.
Encouraging children to read during the summer months is vital to continuing their education, and at the same time fostering their imagination. That is something that is slowly disappearing from today’s youth, who are more in tune to technology that gives them instant gratification in the form of electronic images.
Sometimes it’s the simple things that are often overlooked. Coloring with crayons, drawing pictures in the driveway with chalk or finger painting. All of these activities push a child to express their creativity, and yet fewer and fewer seem to be doing these types of things.
For many, it seems, it is far easier to turn on a computer; portable DVD player; or hand-held video game to entertain your child, when all they really need is to pick up a good book.
The American Academy of Pediatrics encourages reading to children every day starting from the day they are born. It sounds simple enough, and yet there are many children who have never known the enjoyment of having a book read to them. So the next time your child says he/she is bored or doesn’t know what to do this summer, hand them a book. If they can’t yet read, sit down with them and read a story you remember fondly from your childhood. A little effort can go a long way.
Joseph Cyr is a staff writer for the Houlton Pioneer Times. He can be reached at 532-2281 or pioneertimes@nepublish.com.