Literacy Council Contest

It was on a road trip. That’s when I read my favorite book. Maybe it was the magic of traveling, the hum of the road or something else. The book was Walk Two Moons, by Sharon Creech. It’s a children’s book, a Newberry Award winner, and a wonderful tale about a young traveler. Salamanca travels from Ohio to Idaho in search of her lost mother. The story is deep, funny, and touching for any age. That’s not why it’s my favorite book though. It’s my favorite because I read it with my family. Walk Two Moons was a family read-aloud when my children were 10 and 4. My husband was driving so I became the designated narrator. When it got too dark to read one evening, the kids begged me to keep reading.  As Salamanca traveled, so did we. As Salamanca learned and changed, so did we. We talked about the book during the day and the kids asked me questions about it before bed. Reading it during our own journey made it the perfect situation for teaching my kids to love reading. Towards the end of the book, I was reading along and I just stopped, barely able to keep my voice steady as I read Salamanca’s final realization. Tears ran down my cheek, I looked over to my husband in the driver’s seat and just barely caught him “wiping something out of his eye.” The kids in the back, confused by my pause, started chanting “One more chapter!”

Reading changes people. It connects them. It enables them to learn and see new perspectives. The message behind my favorite book embodies that last idea. “Don’t judge a person until you’ve walked two moons in his moccasins.” At the Literacy Council, our goal is to change lives, one student at a time. Watch the video we made a couple years ago about our mission. 

So what can you do today to support literacy in Lima? Do what I did. Tell us about your favorite book. For Adult Education and Family Literacy week we’ve come up with a contest for anyone in the community to enter. Enter “What is your favorite book?” for a chance to win a $25 Amazon gift card. Word count should be around 250 words. Deadline is October 21. We’ll announce the winner, and share their story Oct. 31. Enter the contest by emailing me, Becky, at [email protected] with the subject line: “My favorite book.”

I can’t wait to hear from you!