A couple of weeks ago I stepped into the kid's section of Barnes and Noble for the first time in years to find a Dr. Seuss book for the 5-year-old boy I was babysitting. Immediately, I felt a wave of nostalgia hit me. Here were classics like Eric Carle's The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Shel Silverstein's The Giving Tree, and Maurice Sendak's Caldecott winning Where The Wild Things Are, all sitting peacefully on their shelves as they had been fifteen years earlier during my own childhood. This was the world of colorful illustrations and playful rhymes I'd idealized into my own personal Eden as a kid, and it had hardly changed. I plopped down by the Dr. Seuss section and spent about twenty minutes flipping through the pages of my childhood favorites, nearly forgetting my original purpose of picking out a gift.

My trip to Barnes & Noble reminded me of a childhood in which a good book painted a picture better than any movie and a series was counted in chapters, not episodes. People love to talk about how something "was" their childhood. Sometimes that statement is a bit of an exaggeration, but in my case, my younger years truly were defined by the books I read. I spent hours deciding on what to order from the monthly Scholastic magazine, I forced my friends to act out favorite story scenes, and every night, my dad spent a good hour reading to me before bedtime.

Now, I'm not saying that every child should have the exact same experience. I full well know that every kid is different, and each deserves a personalized approach towards reading taken by parents and teachers alike. However, I would urge every parent, or even older sibling, that they work to make reading a part of a child's life.

Books are inspirational; they encourage an imagination that becomes crucial once the child is fully grown and making their own decisions. Books like One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish by Dr. Seuss teach more than just colors and counting; they also teach kids to be more accepting of one another and be more welcoming of diversity. Lessons like these are woven with care into every children's book, and they are valuable to learn in youth.

A lot of kids today aren't really "into" the whole book thing. I don't know if parents are busier than before or just lazy, but even through babysitting, I can see the allure of sitting your kid in front of an iPad. It's easier, and it gives you the time to finally relax and work on your own things. I'd urge any parent, older sibling, and babysitter not to do this. As I said, books are fundamental to the development of imagination. I fully attribute any creativity I have to my obsessive reading, but I didn't just read because I could. Kids need to be steered in the right direction.

If you don't see the difference between a fun, kid-oriented TV show and a short picture book, please reconsider. Pick up your favorite book from way back when. Look at it really closely, flip through its pages. It looks silly, right? It's so colorful, and the words are so short, everything seems like it's about the illustrations. But if you really pay attention, if you try to see it from a three-year-old point of view, maybe you'll notice how brilliant and beautiful it all is from their perspective. That's why books matter, and that's why kids need them now more than ever.