MARION - Students across the country will celebrate Read Across America Day on Thursday by opening a book and learning about the importance of reading.
Created by the National Education Association in 1998, the day-long event is intended to get students at all grade levels excited about reading, to build a habit that can last for the rest of their lives. In a fitting gesture, Read Across America Day is celebrated on March 2, the birthday of Theodor Seuss Geisel (Dr. Seuss).
The importance of reading has grown in recent years in the face of an increasing amount of technological tools that are available to younger children.
Longfellow Elementary School media aide Donna Hill said that despite the increase in technology, she still sees a steady stream of students who come to the library to read and check out paperback and hardback books.
"They love to read," Hill said. Students come in for 30 minutes, once a week, during which they may do activities, read and check out books, or Hill might read to them.
Fostering the desire to read, according to Hill, starts at home with a child's parents or guardians.
"It starts at a very young age, and if you can instill it in them when they're young, then it will stay with them," she said.
Outside of the school library, children and teenagers can take advantage of the Marion Carnegie Library, and its vast collection of books.
Sheila Fredman, coordinator of children's services, said that membership has grown in recent years.
"At about 3 p.m., we'll always have people in here," Fredman said. The children's department services at the library includes readers ranging in age from 1 to 12-years-old. Patrons eventually age out to head upstairs to Young Adult Services.
Katie Stotlar is coordinator of Young Adult Services at Carnegie. She said enrollment the last two years has "more than quadrupled."
Stotlar said she regularly sees 30-40 children in addition to teens.
Some visitors, Stotlar said, come in to play games or use the library's Chromebooks for their homework, while many simply come in to read.
While technology may be a draw for some students, the necessity of reading and the desire to learn to read will always be present.
"Reading in general is extremely important for education, for everything," Stotlar said. "You'll learn so much more if you're reading than if you're playing games on your PlayStation 4."
"You can't get away from reading. To do anything, you must read," Fredman added.
