"Snappsy's ordinary day is interrupted by a meddling narrator"--

Join William and his friends as they discover why reading is important for learning-and fun, too!

Essays by popular children's authors reveal the books that shaped their personal and literary lives, explaining how the stories they loved influenced them creatively, politically, and intellectually.

"THIS BOOK IS BANNED! PLEASE DON'T EVEN TRY TO READ IT. IF YOU DO, YOU'LL FIND OUT WHY WE DON'T WANT ANYONE TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS AT THE END... With each page, characters are erased from the story, cut out, and taped over. This book playfully discourages readers from turning the page, even to throw the book away, but when readers finally get to the end they find an absurd surprise ending--one that shows the importance of free speech"--

Illustrations and text describe how the Mixtecs create painted manuscripts, or codices, that reflect their way of life and document their history, science, land tenure, tribute, and sacred rituals. A young Aztec girl tells her little brother how their parents create beautiful painted manuscripts, or codices. She explains to him how paper is made from local plants and how the long paper is folded into a book. Her parents and others paint the codices...

In these pages, some of today's most wonderful culture-makers-writers, artists, scientists, entrepreneurs, and philosophers-reflect on the joys of reading, how books broaden and deepen human experience, and the ways in which the written word has formed their own character. On the page facing each letter, an illustration by a celebrated illustrator or graphic artist presents that artist's visual response. Among the diverse contributions are letters...