Celebrate Young Reader’s Day!

If you are reading this then I can probably safely assume you enjoy reading. You probably have a favorite book, a favorite author, a favorite literary quote even. Maybe it's tattooed on your ankle or written above your doorway or maybe you are like me, the words are so engrained in who you are they've written themselves across your heart. For me it's always been "the mad ones,  the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars." Jack Kerouac, the first boy I ever loved.   The truth is, though, we start young. Yes, I love Kerouac, but before him it was Cummings and Rowling. Before them, Louis Lowry had me reading by flashlight (Man, kids today have it easy! What I wouldn’t have given for a back-lit eReader back in the day!). I'm not sure who started it; maybe it was E.B. White and Wilbur and Charlotte. I didn’t know it was possible to cry that hard; luckily for me, Charlotte was the first friend I ever lost. Reading changes you. Books are sometimes the only maps we have to navigate growing up and we need books now, more than ever. Books strengthen your heart. Books allow you to confront hardship, love and adolescence all from the safety of your bedroom (hopefully under the covers, warmed by the light of your eReader or smartphone). We need them!   Yes, the world is different now, but the way in which we fall in love with reading is still the same. We start young which brings me to today. Today is Young Reader's Day. Celebrate the young readers in your life and library by browsing our YA and Children's content in Marketplace; we have a wide variety to choose from, including classics and popular chart-toppers.   Help them start young and help them grow. White said it best, "Children almost always hang onto things tighter than [we] think they will."   Christina Samek is a School Account Specialist for OverDrive.

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