Read It Yourself

Hello, readers! In addition to today being FridayReads, it’s also the 30th anniversary of Reading Rainbow! Yes, you really are that old. In addition to some serious nostalgia, Reading Rainbow’s anniversary is a great time to reflect on literacy, lifelong readership, and passing a love of books and knowledge onto the next generation (who will one day be in charge, so, even if you don’t have kids, education and literacy should matter to you).

Dandelion Wine

I can’t find the original source for this to give it credit. Thank you, unknown internet anti-censorship crusader.

So, as you may or may not know, Ray Bradbury died exactly one year ago today. In addition to being a personal hero of mine, Bradbury is intimately associated with banned books, both because of his many works that have been banned and the themes of his perennial classic, Fahrenheit 451. Taking Fahrenheit 451 out of my local library was a day that changed my life, as no book has ever made me so afraid. Clarisse’s death and the woman who went up in flames with her books rather than live without them had a particular impact on my teenage self.