In his famous book “Oh, The Places You Will Go” Dr. Suess wrote “The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.”

The good doctor knew a thing or two about reading and, let’s face it, life.

Being able to read opens the doors to new worlds, new lives and just plain fun.

It can make you laugh, cry, worry and get the gears of your mind clicking.

Growing up I loved to dive into new books to learn and discover anything and everything.

While sports author Matt Christopher was a favorite, anything would do if it allowed me to soak up information.

Reading is the building block of everything we do and its the first thing we should encourage our children to get into.

Bats and balls are great for socialization and physical activity, but no one is well rounded without mental exercise either.

Books are what provides that.

It’s proven that the younger, and more often, a child reads, the better the test score on standardized tests later in life.

However, reading stats also show we stop reading after we have too.

One-third of high school graduates never read another book for the rest of their lives.

Forty two percent of college graduates never read another book after college.

Eighty percent of U.S. families did not buy or read a book last year.

Seventy percent of U.S. adults have not been in a bookstore in the last five years.

Fifty seven percent of new books are not read to completion.

In our fast paced, give me information now society, a good book can help us slow down.

Don’t give up on reading and encourage your children to read with you.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to get back to my new book.