if you can read

Do you know those bumperstickers that say “If you can read this, thank a teacher?”

Reading has been one of the joys of my life since age 4. I started reading on my mother’s knee, sounding out the words in Dr. Seuss books.

I can read, and I thank my mother.

I can read, and I thank Theodore Geisel.

When I was in first grade, my teacher turned me loose in the school library where I found Maurice Sendak’s Chicken Soup With Rice.

I thank my first grade teacher Miss Starbuck (later Mrs. Lewis and my third grade teacher) for telling the librarian I was ready to tackle any book in the school library.

I thank Maurice Sendak for the poetry that pulled me deeper into reading.

I thank the school librarian for continually pointing me towards shelves where I could up my reading game.

I thank my grandmother for enthusiastically listening to me extol the virtues of my favorite books.

I thank my mother for taking me to the public library every two weeks so I could take out as many books as I could carry balanced under my chin.

I thank the public librarians for supporting my reading habit and helping find new worlds to explore and never ever discouraging me from reading books from any section of the library.

I thank all of the people who created all of the books I read: authors, editors, publishers, printers, distributors.

I thank Gutenberg for inventing the printing press.

I thank the people who invented writing systems, writing instruments, and writing surfaces.