Literacy is the power to be great in the world,” storyteller Gcina Mhlophe assured the audience on August 19 during the opening ceremony of the 73rd World Library Congress and Information from the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions in Durban, South Africa (AL, October, pp. 36-38). Parents and librarians witness the magic that happens when young people are. connected with books from kindergarten to 5th grade, I joined my son Owen Hunter for lunch at his school two or more times a week, reading aloud to him and his class and completing hundreds of. books over these six years. Today, as a high school student, Owen reads titles such as Collapse, An Inconvenient Truth and any book by Orson Scott Card. We fell in love with the books and as a result. , have created a generation of readers connected through characters and stories - evidenced by the remarkable success of the Harry Potter series. I can come home to Minnesota thanks to the writings of. Louise Erdrich, Tim O'Brien and LaVyrle Spencer. I communicate with my indigenous colleagues around the world via the...