READ TO THEM
by Steven L. Layne


Read to them.
Before the time is gone and stillness fills the room again.
Read to them.

What if it were meant to be that you were the one, the only one
Who could unlock the doors and share the magic with them?
What if others have been daunted by scheduling demands,
District objectives, or one hundred other obstacles?

Read to them.
Be confident Charlotte has been able to teach them about friendship,
And Horton about self worth.

Be sure the Skin Horse has been able to deliver his message.

Read to them.
Let them meet Tigger, Homer Price, Aslan, and Corduroy.
Take them to Oz, Prydain, and Comazotz.

Show them a Truffula Tree.

Read to them.
Laugh with them at Soup and Rob.
And cry with them when the Queen of Terabithia is forever lost.

Allow the Meeker Family to turn loyalty, injustice, and war
Into something much more than a vocabulary lesson.

What if you are the one, the only one, with the chance to do it?
What if this is the critical year for even one child?

Read to them.
Before the chance is gone.