It shouldn’t be a surprise that childhood readers tend to grow into adults with busy, successful brains. According to the National Education Association, stuffing your child’s environment full of books, reading as a family activity and independent childhood reading all help build vocabulary, curiosity, insight, motivation and a strong sense of self. And early readers go on to greater socioeconomic success than early non-readers.
Those are the facts. The softer truth, according to Scholastic, the purveyor of affordable books for students, is that childhood reading is “a crucial component in the development in a curious mind, a gentle spirit and a loving and empathetic heart.” Meanwhile, there’s been a recent buzz in literary circles about banishing the guilt grown-ups feel when enjoying — really, really enjoying — books aimed at their children. (Raise your hand if you know your Harry Potter trivia just as well as your kids do. See all those hands?)
Grown-ups who want to pass their love of books to their children should hurry over to the Cascade Park Community Library on Saturday for the second annual Words & Pictures Festival, a gathering of 25 local authors and illustrators who write and create for children — and adults, too. (The emphasis is on literature aimed at young people, but some of the presenters are the creators of grown-up graphic novels, detective mysteries, sci-fi and fantasy adventures.)
The event is free, with readings and art demonstrations ongoing throughout the day. Books will be available for purchase through Barnes & Noble. Here’s the whole schedule:
