Why Reading is Magic

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=110 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="040f0f21egerdp.jpg"> <div> <B><IMG SRC="041203c0.jpg" border=0 width="32" height="60" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B><FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#66334C" FACE="Arial" ><B>The Magic of Reading</B></FONT><B>      |     </B><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Magic of Reading"><U><B>home</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id35.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE=" Bens Travel Journal "><U>  Ben's Travel Journal  </U></A>   |   <B>Why Reading is Magic  </B>   |   <A HREF="id32.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Magic of Reading Challenge"><U>The Magic of Reading Challenge</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id33.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="How to Become a Learning Genius"><U>How to Become a Learning Genius</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id127.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Ben Franklin University"><U>Ben Franklin University</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id54.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Elem Sch Flyer"><U>Elem Sch Flyer</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id125.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Mid Sch Flyer"><U>Mid Sch Flyer</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id124.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Library Flyer"><U>Library Flyer</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id34.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Ben Franklin Page "><U>Ben Franklin Page  </U></A>   |   <A HREF="id37.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Ben Franklin Resume"><U>Ben Franklin Resume</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id26.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Rich Davis Page "><U>Rich Davis Page  </U></A>   |   <A HREF="id126.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="FAQ"><U>FAQ</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id21.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Program Information "><U>Program Information  </U></A>   |   <A HREF="id112.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Travel Schedule "><U>Travel Schedule    </U></A></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=210 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="03ff2f02egerdp.jpg"> <div> <IMG SRC="109ad090.gif" border=0 width="173" height="265" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">  </div> <div> I went to work when I was about ten years old!  My first job was with my father, making soap and candles. </div> <div> What I really wanted to do was become a sailor, but my father did not like that idea.  </div> <div>  When I was 12, I was apprenticed to my brother James to learn the printing trade.  I worked six days a week, with Sundays off. </div> <div> A very smart little girl once asked me, "If you only went to school for two years, does that mean you never learned your multiplication tables?"</div> <div> Strangely enough, I learned advanced math, foreign languages, and everything else I needed to know by reading and studying in my spare time <I>without the benefit of school</I>! </div> <div> Here is an interesting excerpt from The <I>Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin</I>:</div> <div> "From my infancy I was passionately fond of reading, and all the little money that came into my hands was laid out in the purchasing of books.  I was very fond of voyages.  My first acquisition was Bunyan's works in separate little volumes.  I afterward sold them to enable me to buy R. Burton's <I>Historical Collections</I>."</div> <div> I also said, "An acquaintance with the apprentices of book-sellers enabled me sometimes to borrow a small one, which I was careful to return soon and clean.  Often I sat up in my chamber the greatest part of the night, when the book was borrowed in the evening to be returned in the morning, lest it should be found missing."</div> <div> To me reading and learning were truly magical. These were my favorite hobbies and the keys to my success.</div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> You </div> </td> <td valign="top" height=370 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="042f0f03.jpg"> <div> <I>Why Reading is Magic</I></div> <div> <B>I begin every school assembly program with the Three Reasons Reading is Magic.  I call them the Three E's.</B></div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B><IMG SRC="103fbf90.gif" border=0 width="251" height="249" ALIGN="RIGHT" HSPACE="10" VSPACE="0"></B></div> <div> <B>E</B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#6666FF" FACE="Arial" ><B>ducation</B></FONT><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#CC0000" FACE="Arial" ><B>   </B></FONT></div> <div> <B>   </B></div> <div> <B>Ben Franklin only had the chance to go to school for two years.  Abraham Lincoln went to school for one year.  Thomas Edison went to school just a few weeks.  </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>"</B><B>Because of hearing problems, Edison had difficulty following the lessons and his school attendance became sporadic. Nevertheless, Edison became a voracious reader and at age 10, he set up a laboratory in his basement."  </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Thus, a mighty secret is revealed:  We can educate ourselves by reading!  In fact, Rich Davis believes that the only way we become educated is by self-education.  Many people go all the way through elementary, middle and high school and don't know a thing when they get through.  Others become very smart while still in early grades of school.  </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Reading for knowledge, reading for information, reading for the love of learning is the key.  Get excited about reading and learning.  </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Emulate the young Franklin, the young Edison.  Love reading, love learning, and aim to be a great student in school . . . you will go far!</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>E</B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#6666FF" FACE="Arial" ><B>xplore</B></FONT></div> <div> <B>       </B></div> <div> <B>Reading is fun.  Reading leads to great adventures.  Go anywhere you want by reading!  Think of the possibilities.  With a little imagination and a stack of books from the library, you can go to remote parts of the world, live with strange people, do wonderful things.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>You can go under the ocean.</B></div> <div> <B>You can go into outer space.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>You can do like Rich Davis did years ago and get excited about World War I aviators.  Read their stories.  Follow their footsteps.  Become one of them!</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Everything you read about adds to your store of knowledge, your personal power.  </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Everything you read makes you smarter and better able to understand the world and other people. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Everything you read presents an opportunity for discovery and adventure.  New worlds, new possibilities await!  </B><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#CC0000" FACE="Arial" ><B>      </B></FONT></div> <bR> <div> <B>E</B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#6666FF" FACE="Arial" ><B>xpert </B></FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#CC0000" FACE="Arial" ><B>      </B></FONT></div> <bR> <div> <B>Did you ever think about what makes people successful?  Most folks want to be somebody when they grow up, somebody special.  What exactly makes people special?  Ben Franklin read and studied and thought about problems until he understood them better than anyone else.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Ben became a super expert in many areas, in addition to electricity.  Franklin's experiments with electricity made him world famous.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Believe it or not, you can become a famous expert </B><B><U>now!</U></B><B>  </B><B>You can select something you love, something you want to know more about, and read about it, and study it, and talk to people about it, until you know more than anyone else about the subject.  I tell you how to do this in the section called </B><A HREF="id32.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Magic of Reading Challenge"><U><B>The Magic of Reading Challenge</B></U></A><B>.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>I hope you see the magic in these Three E's.  You can prove the Three E's for yourself!  For example, you can </B><B><U>Educate</U></B><B> yourself on a topic (Ben Franklin's Inventions, Thomas Edison's life, World War I flying aces), and have fun </B><B><U>Exploring</U></B><B>, while you become an </B><B><U>Expert </U></B><B>on the topic.  Read about any of these subjects and in two weeks you will know more about them than anyone else in your class; in two months you will know more about them than anyone else in your school; in two years you will know more than anyone else in your state!</B></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id32.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Magic of Reading Challenge"><U><B>The Magic of Reading Challenge</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Magic of Reading"><U><B>The Magic of Reading</B></U></A></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>