Published April 1996 — Download PDF of the original newspaper column
Byrd's-Eye View By U.S. Senator Robert C. Byrd "Read To Me" Day
From the time I was a young lad growing up in the coalfields of Southern West Virginia, I was a lover of books and learning. I coveted books the way some children might covet a friend's new toy. Looking back on those early years, I recall that one day when I was in the third grade, attending a two-room school, I noticed a geography book which belonged to a student in a higher grade. That very night I went home and told my dad that I wanted this fourth-grade geography book. I can still clearly remember that book --Frye's Geography-- with its pretty-colored maps. My dad was a poor coal miner with little schooling, but he understood the value of a good education. So, on the very next Saturday he took me to town, where he bought me a brand-new Frye's Geography book. The following Monday, I proudly carried my new book to school, showed it to my teacher, and insisted on studying from it. In that way, I advanced myself to the fourth-grade geography class before I had actually achieved that higher station. I was fortunate that my parents recognized the value of books and that they supported and encouraged my interest in them. I have carried that fascination with books and their mysteries throughout my entire life. Reading is a key to success. Books can open up new worlds. They can transport the reader through time and space. They can introduce new and different ideas and empower their readers with knowledge. As my parents did, all parents have the ability to stimulate a lifelong interest in reading and to nurture a love of books. They can do so simply by reading aloud to their children. It was in recognition of the connection between reading to a child, and the development by that child of an attachment to books, that Governor Gaston Caperton recently declared April17, "Read to Me" Day in West Virginia, an event promoted by West Virginia Public Television. I commend Governor Caperton on his declaration. A one-day observance of this kind is valuable in directing the public's attention to the issue of reading. But this message is so important that I believe that it deserves year-round recognition. Therefore, I urge parents to make every day "Read to Me" Day by reading to their children. It will be one of the greatest gifts that a child will ever receive April 3, 1996