If I was stranded on a desert island, I would hope it had one of those tiny libraries with a stash of books.
Preferably, it would be stocked with my favourite novels, the odd trashy paperback, or a few fun beach reads. And maybe a couple of journals and some pens with limitless ink so I could write my own creative tales, describing the highs and lows of my exiled existence - before I was eaten by a predator or fell into a pit of despair or mistakenly swallowed a poisonous berry.
There’s nothing I love more than a good read. As a kid, I always had my nose in a book or pen to paper, scrawling out characters in my own imaginative world. I could spend hours in an old bookstore, or trawling through historical newspaper archives, inhaling the musty scent of paper and ink as I explore that virtual treasure trove of tales.
It was easy, fun, cathartic - and something I still look forward to - whenever I have a night in or a day to myself in a new town. Losing myself in another world, written by someone else’s hand, is my guilty pleasure. But to countless others, reading and writing even their name is something akin to torture.
More than 700,000 British Columbians struggle to make sense of the written word, according to literacy figures from Decoda Literacy Solutions. Some 45 percent of British Columbians aged 16 to 65 may have difficulty understanding newspapers, following instruction manuals, reading health information. Those most affected include Canadians with fewer years of schooling, immigrants, Indigenous peoples and older Canadians.
It’s hard to imagine, especially in this digital age, where documents are relayed electronically over tablets and laptops, and people text, rather than talk, on their phones. With so much information - or misinformation - spinning out through different channels, now more than ever literacy matters.
As children head back to school this week and we celebrate Literacy Month in B.C. this September, it’s important that we find a way to promote literacy in all its forms. Read a book, write a poem - or better yet help someone learn their letters. Words matter.
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