America was once a nation of readers, but now experts warn that reading is in decline as our cultural life moves online. An hour in praise and defense of the book.
Stories of people who believe a book changed their life. It's a romantic notion, and one reason we believe it is because we want to believe our lives can be changed by something so simple as an idea — or a set of ideas contained in a book.
The approach Ms. McNeill uses, in which students choose their own books & discuss them individually with their teacher, is part of a movement to revolutionize the way literature is taught in America’s schools.
Reading Rainbow comes to the end of its 26-year run on Friday; it has won more than two-dozen Emmys, and is the third longest-running children's show in PBS history — outlasted only by Sesame Street and Mister Rogers.