Literacy and limitations

Over at Lolly's Classroom, they're talking about the importance of a literacy-rich environment to developing a child's love of reading.

One passage in particular struck me: "Many students in the inner-city do not grow up in literacy-rich environments. They may not have been read to regularly as children. Their houses might not have contained several shelves of books. They might not take regular trips to the library or a store that only sells books."

Replace the phrase 'the inner-city' with 'rural areas' and the same could apply to kids in the North Country.  Apart from the handful of college bookstores in our four-county library system, the stores that sell only books are few and far between. (Especially since Borders left the Salmon Run Mall, leaving me with a gaping hole in my heart and no reason to go there, ever.)

As an adult living in the North Country, I get books from my current library, my childhood library (over an hour away and an annual fee of $35 for borrowing privileges), order them from Amazon, or drive 60 miles to the nearest Barnes & Noble. 

As a younger person living here, my options would be more limited.

Which is an important reality check for me, and a reminder of how important libraries are to this area.