Dear Readers,

Today I noticed a quote on Facebook — saying that every book you read is composed of only twenty-six letters.   Well, of course.  And if your book is in English!

But, think about it!  Twenty-six little symbols make magic.

I love to read. I’m crazy about the alphabet!  I can sing the song, too, and my daughter and I sing it to her baby all the time.  I can’t wait until my granddaughter gets a bit older and I can teach her to read.  In this “old” photo, she’s four months old, not yet reading, but loving to touch books and to snuggle and to listen to her mom or dad or me read to her.

How grateful I am that my mom read to us on our porch on Grant Street Street in North Camden and that I was able to take books from the Cooper Library, the Broadway Library and the Dudley Grange Library as a kid and teen-ager in Camden!  My Aunt Vera bought bags of second-hand books from Leary’s in Philadelphia and shared them with me.  Mom and Aunt Vera were my reading mentors because they liked to read and they provided me with books and the idea that reading was important and pleasurable.

So, today I ask all of you to read to someone. If you can’t do that today, promote a bit of reading.

Take your bank card and donate ten or twenty dollars to an organization that promotes literacy.  My favorite mini-literacy donation? This is fun.  Surprise someone.  Choose a book or a magazine subscription on Amazon.com and send it to a child.  Send it to a teen-aged niece or nephew! How about a sister or brother or aunt or uncle, grandmom or grandpop?  A good friend, near or far?

Share the magic!  Share some literacy love today!  It’s fun.

Best wishes to all my dear readers who love the alphabet, too.

Marguerite (Wunsch) Ferra, Camden resident

Retired Camden City Public Schools ESL Teacher

Wife, Mom, Grandmom and Booklover