Open a World of Possible by Lois Bridges. Library section 8I: Learning K-12. This book contains vignettes by authors, psychologists, teachers, professors and reading researchers about how they became readers and what joy and power reading provides. Some came from homes where books abounded and parents read aloud to them from a very early age. Many can’t remember a time when they didn’t know how to read. Others came from homes where there were few if any books and where friendly neighborhood librarians coaxed them to read books about their particular interests. It is amazing how many of them became elementary and secondary school teachers, and how many of those teachers became reading specialists researching how our brains actually develop as they learn to read. One person discussed how she specializes in bringing books to disadvantaged children. Another revealed that despite being dyslexic, she learned to read and love books.
While many parents discourage comic books, more than a few of these authors say they served as portals for learning to read. My own son, aged four, would retrieve the morning paper from the driveway so he could read the funnies. He cut out “Calvin and Hobbes” comics and soon had a tall stack of them! Both our children entered kindergarten already reading because I read to them a great deal at home. These authors say that early reading is not a sign that a child is necessarily gifted, but is the result of being read aloud to a lot at home.
These authors recall particular book characters that influenced them. Reading gives us a voice. One writer says, “When Atticus Finch (in To Kill a Mockingbird) stands up for Tom Robinson, we learn what it means to have courage to stand up for unpopular beliefs in our community.” This gives us the courage to do what is right but sometimes unpopular. Books can link us to others who have similar or very different life experiences, which helps us make sense of, and find our place in, the world. For those raised in dysfunctional or spare environments, or who are in pain or suffering, books can be a solace, a comfort, safe spaces we can inhabit in our minds; where we are free to dream, imagine and plan our futures, hopeful for better times ahead. ( )

Celebrate the love of reading with literacy advocates, poets, and authors in an anthology of true stories that celebrate books and reading as they address the power and joy of stories. More than one hundred personal commentaries and essays illuminate a strong passion for the written word, gathered here to help instill a love of reading in children. Readers are sure to find these inspiring stories will touch their hearts, even if they are already staunch fans of the written word.

Highly recommended. ( )