Shel Silverstein wrote a book just for me

Ursula Adams Director of Digital Engagement United Way for Southeastern Michigan

One of my most treasured early memories is reading Go, Dog. Go! to my little brother. I was probably only six at the time – he was three – and he would beg me to read that book to him, night after night. Scientifically, the book introduces concepts such as color and relative position with simple language and humor, but I didn’t know that at the time. I just knew that I loved the admiration in my little brother’s face as I read to him nightly.

By the time I was in third grade I lived for book fairs like most kids lived for recess. If it was written by Laura Ingalls Wilder, Carolyn Keene, Judy Blume or S.E. Hinton, I had to have it. I loved being lost in a story told by someone else and could spend hours just sitting still in my favorite spot, reading.

In fact, to this day, my bedside table is always stacked with at least a dozen books that I’m in the process of reading. And one of the best birthday presents I received last year was an electronic book reader. No longer do I have to lug 12 books with me on every vacation – I just load them up on the Nook. And you know what that means, right? More room in the suitcase for shoes!

But, I digress…

Until I started working at United Way years ago, it never really dawned on me that other children’s homes weren’t filled with every book Dr. Seuss had ever written or that weekly trips to the library weren’t standard operating procedure for every family. It’s a hard pill to swallow because, aside from the lost memories and the missed stories, what does it really mean if a love of reading isn’t instilled in a child at a very young age?

What is means is this – children who don’t read at grade level by the time they enter school will spend a lifetime trying to catch up. Their self-image will be damaged and their viability as an adult in the workplace threatened in today’s competitive market.

There’s no reason to let that happen when easy, and inexpensive, solutions are so readily available like the Imagination Library. But we’ll talk about that next time. For now, I’m just curious… what book touched you when you were little?

Click here to tell me about your favorite childhood book: www.LiveUnitedSEM.org/FavoriteBook.

Of the hundreds of books I remember from my childhood, my favorite was Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein.

The whole thing was utter nonsense. It didn’t attempt to teach a grand lesson or even tell a story. I loved it because it was simply a lot of fun to read and allowed my imagination to run wild.

Of course, I also loved the dedication written on the third page: "For Ursula." As a young girl I was convinced that he had written the book just for me.

And I’ll let you in on a secret… a little part of me still does.