My 9 year old son is sitting next to me reading “The Speaker’s Desk Book”. It has “5000 Sparkling Epigrams” and “1187 Anecdotes” in addition to “Jewels of Thought…Oft-quoted Masterpieces of all time…” The reason he’s reading it is because he loves to read.  His mother and I have read to him since he was far too young to know what we were saying.  Now, instead of watching TV or playing video games, or texting his buddies, or surfing the net, he reads. And he DOES get to visit far away places and times and people and use his imagination, and build his vocabulary and become a more mature person.  Who knows? With resources like “The Speakers Desk Book” he may very well become a sought after speaker, or an eloquent statesman. Celebrate National Children’s Book Week ( www.bookweekonline.com )  by reading to your little ones.