1. Defining Literacy

2. Firstly, in my view, literacy is not a single entity or definite physical reality like the amount of water in a container or the amount of gas in a cylinder. Nor is it a single ability or skill like typing or using a calculator.

3. To me, literacy is a word which describes a whole collection of behaviours, skills, knowledge, processes, and attitudes. It has something to do with our ability to use language in our negotiations with the world. Often these negotiations are motivated by our desires to manipulate the worlds for our own benefit. Reading and writing are two linguistic ways of conducting these negotiations. So are talking, listening, thinking, reflecting, and a host of other behaviours related to cognition and critical thinking.

4. Whatever literacy is, it has something to do with reading. And reading is always reading something. Further, if one has not understood [made meaning from] what one has read then one has not read it. So reading is always reading something with understanding. This is something that one reads with understanding is always of text of a certain type which is read in a certain way. The text might be a comic book, a novel, a poem, a legal brief, a technical manual, a textbook in physics, a newspaper article, an essay in the social sciences or philosophy, a “self-help” book, a recipe, and so forth through many different types of text. Each of these different types of text requires somewhat different background knowledge and somewhat different skills. (Gee, Hull, and Lankshear 1996)

5. It is not enough to simply teach children to read; we have to give them something worth reading. Something that will stretch their imaginations— something that will help them make sense of their own lives and encourage them to reach out toward people whose lives are quite different from their own. —Katherine Patterson

6. 1. A book is a gift you can open again and again. —Garrison Keillor 2. Literacy is a bridge from misery to hope. —Kofi Annan 3. Once you learn to read, you will be forever free. — Frederick Douglass 4. Any book that helps a child to form a habit of reading, to make reading one of his needs, is good for him. —Maya Angelou

7. 5. There is no such thing as a child who hates to read; there are only children who have not found the right book. — Frank Serafini 6. Children are made readers on the laps of their parents. —Emilie Buchwald 7. One of the greatest gifts adults can give— to their offspring and to their society—is to read to children. — Carl Sagan

8. 8. You may have tangible wealth untold; caskets of jewels and coffers of gold. Richer than I you can never be. I had a mother who read to me. —Strickland Gillian 9. Whenever you read a good book, somewhere in the world a door opens to allow in more light. — Vera Nazarian 10. Outside of a dog, a book is a man’s best friend. Inside of a dog, it’s too dark to read. —Groucho Marx

9. 12. There is no substitute for books in the life of a child. — May Ellen Chase 13. To learn to read is to light a fire; every syllable that is spelled out is a spark. —Victor Hugo 14. When you learn to read you will be born again…and you will never be quite so alone again. —Rumer Godden 15. We read to know we are not alone. — C.S. Lewis

10. Reading should not be presented to children as a chore or duty. It should be offered to them as a precious gift. —Kate DiCamillo