FAYETTE COUNTY, WV (WOAY) – From language development to cognitive skills and emotional well-being, there are many benefits to getting kids reading.
With school starting soon, making books a part of the family routine can also help parents teach important values.
“There’s all kinds of things here, and it’s very important to read,” said Fayette County Public Library director Becky Kellum. “You need it if you want to write, if you want to text. If you can’t travel, books are the next best thing.”
Reading is crucial for children’s development, as it cultivates a lifelong love of learning.
‘I think a lot of it has to do with not being read to at home or encouraged to read, then it’s kind of an uphill battle,” Kellum said.
Fayette County Public Library has five branches, and there’s something going on at all the branches when it comes to reading.
“If you live in Montgomery, we have a library down there. We have one in Ansted, Mount Hope, Fayetteville, and Oak Hill,” the library director said, adding that the bookmobile goes all over the county.
The family nucleus of today is not the same as it was 20 or 30 years ago, when families did more together, including reading books with their kids.
“We still see families coming into the library, taking lots of books out, going home, reading them, and bringing them back,” said Kellum. “But we’d like to see a lot more. I mean, we got 39,000 people in the county, and we may serve only a fourth of them.”
In this digital, AI world, there’s one thing that hasn’t changed, and it’s finding a quiet space to sit down with a good book and read.
“There’s nothing like holding a book; it’s just a great feeling,” Kellum said. “Digital is fine, but books are just great.”
TO LEARN MORE
304-469-9890
https://oakhillwv.gov/community/page/oak-hill-library
