“Giving a child a book is an implicit act of faith in the child. When you give a kid a book, you're saying that you believe they have the means within them to understand it, even if at that moment they haven't yet learned the skill. Kids know this, you know, even if they don't always have the means to express it. They know what books are, and they know what they represent. When you give a kid a book and say this is for you, those four words encompass more than the paper-and-binding object you're pressing into their hands. They encompass everything we understand. Most of the time, kids get that on one level or another. And even when they don't you can still see them flip through the pages of a book, sucking up everything in them and imagining the world in the book that takes place off the edge of the paper. Book imply more -- more words, more pictures, more adventures, more understanding.”
John Scalzi
