Like the chicken pox, getting infected by the desire to read is best when it hits us early. As a child I was so committed to "Charlotte's Web" that I pleaded for, and received, a pig for my ninth birthday, a gift that segued nicely into my "Little House on the Prairie" obsession. Was I, with my American classics, more noble than today's middle-schooler who reads and rereads his copy of "Diary of a Wimpy Kid"? Was I less noble than my straight-A sister who read "Le Petit Prince" in French? No on both counts. I am a firm believer in the fact that it isn't so much what you read, it's that you read. Reading fiction not only develops our imagination and creativity, it gives us the skills to be alone. It gives us the ability to feel empathy for people we've never met, living lives we couldn't possibly experience for ourselves, because the book puts us inside the character's skin. Whether you're in the life of Wilbur the pig, or Greg Heffley, the wimpy kid, or that little blonde prince in the desert, you've stepped outside of yourself for awhile, something that is beneficial to every child. Even if you're stepping into "Valley of the Dolls," it's better than nothing. I'm all for reading bad books because I consider them to be a gateway drug. People who read bad books now may or may not read better books in the future. People who read nothing now will read nothing in the future.

--Ann Patchett, The Triumph of the Readers