Who's Watching the Books?

My daughter Elizabeth is a librarian--a children's librarian to be specific.  She works for the Cambridge (MA) Public Library in one of it's branches. 


Recently Elizabeth was walking down the street when she saw a class of children who she reads to regularly coming the opposite direction.  When the kids spotted her they were very excited.  "Oh I know you!"  "There's Miss Liz!"  and so on.  But one little one looked very concern.  "If you're out here, who's watching the books?"  Elizabeth assured the child that her colleagues had everything under control.




"Who's watching the books?"  It's a good question.  Who's promoting reading--who's making sure in our increasingly visual world we are still remembering to explore the world of literature?  Certainly librarians like Liz are--as are many teachers, I'm sure.  But it is a task that ultimately falls to all of us!  It is vital that we remain a literate nation--not just able to read, but well-rounded in our reading!