More than any other single skill, the ability to read — and read well — allows a child to succeed in school, learn about the world, function in society, and someday have good job options.
—from the National Children's Literacy Website
We Believe the Children Are Our Future
!["...This is a real paradox for me: My entire life I've been told I wasn't pretty enough. My entire life I was told by people that I was ugly, that I was too tall, that I was flat-chested, that I was this, that I was that. When I was a stripper I was never quite pretty enough. I was never one of the beautiful girls. I was never one of the top earners. Suddenly I achieve something in my life that is purely intellectual and purely creative, and I'm being told that it's because I'm pretty. To me that is the weirdest, most ironic thing ever. Like all of a sudden I'm attractive when it suits people's purposes. But in the past when I needed to be attractive I was ugly. So let's pick. Which is it?" — Juno screenwriter Diablo Cody [Minneapolis City Pages]](https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--ONS8aczB--/c_fill,fl_progressive,g_center,h_180,q_80,w_320/18s10utp0femfjpg.jpg)
