Library Services

There are some ideas Americans hold dear. This book describes one such idea in action: all people should have the opportunity to learn to read. From time to time, public attention focuses on adult literacy and experience of volunteering to teach someone, yet there is not much information available from people directly involved. As I have talked with adult learners and volunteer tutors, many times I have thought that their words add a needed dimension to the public picture of who does or doesn't read, what is involved in helping an adult learn to read and what the lives of nonreaders are like. So many times I have received the rich gift of a personal story told by a person learning to read. In one I learned of two middle-aged sisters, one teaching the other how to drive at 3 a.m. in a dimly lit, deserted parking lot, during their lunch break from the third shift in a factory. That image remains with me, as vivid as the first day I heard the story. There is no better metaphor for the experience of an adult learning to read than that of the new driver in the 3 a.m. parking lot, maneuvering into the unknown and developing a vital new skill without fanfare, without witnesses. In Me, Too many people have been generous enough to share their experiences, so that we can witness and learn.