D.E.A.R.

Today is national Drop Everything and Read Day (D.E.A.R.).

(Now personally, I don't need an excuse to pick up a book, but it's always nice to have one :)

D.E.A.R. officially began in 2006 and is a national celebration to remind people, especially children and families, to take time out each day to read. D.E.A.R. is celebrated on April 12th to honor one of the best children's authors around - Beverly Cleary - on her birthday. (If you don't know who Ramona Quimby is, get thee to the library immediately.)

Apparently there are activities planned in schools, libraries and bookstores across the country, but the most important thing for you to do is take some time out of your busy day, find a quiet place and read for at least 30 minutes. (If you have children, read an extra book at bed time or make reading a special activity in the afternoon; have your children read to you, etc.) And then make reading part of your daily life.

It could be that I'm just getting old and grumpy, but sometimes I feel like books are losing out to things like the internet and video game systems; there's just so much visual stimulation out there kids don't get to use their imaginations very much anymore. Yet, it's the imagination that makes everything possible.

And reading a book is the greatest way to stimulate those brain cells (not to mention spark your curiosity, improve your vocabulary, teach you about other people and cultures, whisk you away to foreign lands, create such vivid colors and pictures in your mind's eye that no artist has ever been able to capture before . . .

I guess what I'm trying to say is - Drop Everything and Read today!!!