This cycle we discovered what the illiteracy rate is around the world, what Africa is doing to help more of its children in learning to read, a children’s author who is writing books to make her town’s next generation wonderful and what good can reading tragic fiction can do us:
- Dink NeSmith writes that although 2013 is here and it is quite possible to download hundreds of book on his iPad to read whenever he wants, he still prefers picking up a real book from his shelf and feeling those 12 ounces of weight while leafing through the pages reading.
- The ability to read opens up so many opportunities for learning, growing and feeling good, doesn’t it? There are a lot of underprivileged people around the globe who cannot enjoy a good read by the fire with a cup of coffee simply because they cannot read. The Lubuto Library Project is working to change the lives of such children in Zambia.
- Are your kids’ bookshelves filled with the usual selection of cheery, colorful books? Howard A. Ludwig gives a list of gloomy children’s books that you may want to consider getting for your young ones. He also tells why you should.
- Doctors all over will be prescribing positive, feel-good books to people with depression. While that may be a good idea, Martin Chilton writes how reading tragic tales by Thomas Hardy could probably do an equally good job of curing depression.
- Mary Bailey writes about a Texas-native teacher and children’s author, Terri Kelley, who is writing books to bring positive changes in the lives of her community’s children. She aims to educate, inform and entertain kids through stories that rhyme.
- Should kids read bleak stories? Should adults have a few depressing volumes on their bookshelf? We answer these questions in “When Dark Words Can Brighten Your World.”