Why We Still Need Books

This is a portion of an older post I wrote when I was still working as a school librarian. I may not work as one now, but I think a piece of my heart is still there among the stacks and I think what I have to say is still relevant. It kills me to witness what's been happening to school librarians and their budgets. No matter what they say, volunteers are not trained to manage a library nor do they read book reviews or know all the technology involved. Anyhow, the foundation of a good library is still books, especially when it comes to children. If we want to nurture a literate nation, we cannot slash school library budgets or the professionals involved in running them .

I've always maintained that there's a picture book for every person and every occasion and that's one of the reasons why we need good book budgets. I recently bought an old copy of The Blind Men and the Elephant which I read to my first graders. They got it! Maybe Laura Bush should read it to her husband. Mem Fox wrote a great little story called Feathers and Fools which every soldier and general embroiled in a long, ongoing war should be required to read. And I really think every urban planner and developer needs to study Virginia Lee Burton's book, The Little House or Jeanne Baker's wordless book, Window. When I have a painfully shy student, I often pull out Rosemary Well's book, Shy Charles. And Patricia Polacco's Thank You, Mr. Falkner or Lauren Mill's story, The Rag Coat, are two wonderful books that gently show children the emotional impact of bullying. Living in a diverse society in this day and age, children enter school with more baggage than ever and we need books that will address the broad range of their backgrounds, experiences and problems as well books that still make them laugh. Picture books cut to the chase and get their points across more succinctly than just about every other form of writing .

A lot of school administrators are of the opinion that with the internet and databases so readily available, we really don't need as many books as in years past. What they don't know is that we need books more desperately than ever. Like human beings, books have spines. They have stories to tell. When we open them, they speak to us from the depths of the author's heart and soul. One of the hallmarks of a great civilization is a strong storytelling tradition. Stories give us heroes to emulate, problems to consider, lessons to ponder. Books represent lives, both real and imagined. The internet is fun but, like a slide show, the images flit past us rapidly -- so rapidly that we don't really have time to absorb them. A good story slows down time and gives the reader a chance to absorb the meaning, to soak up the poetry of the language. So, I ask, why not more books?