"Reading For Our Lives" by Maya Payne Smart

In an effort to boost literacy, Maya Payne Smart has written a book to help parents get children started on the reading road."Reading For Our Lives" is a guide book for parents, particularly helpful since the brain architecture for reading develops rapidly during infancy. Early language experiences are critical to building it, she told Steve Tarter. "Many people believe that at some point everyone learns to read but the reality is that for many people it requires additional instruction to get there," said Smart."When people struggle, schools aren't equipped to help them catch up. There aren't people in a high school building whose job it is to help kids read before they graduate," she said.Reading aloud to our kids is good but it's not enough to ensure school readiness, said Smart, who offers personal stories, historical accounts, scholarly research, and practical tips to help parents develop young readers.Smart noted that Frederick Douglass, the former slave who became the great advocate of civil rights, made a special effort to learn to read and, as a result, became one of the 19th century's greatest orators.Douglass said the ability to read translated to a need for freedom, she said.