Inspiring Children’s Author Requests the Most Selfless Final Wish

In this day and age, growing up looks quite different from what any of us experienced. With all the technological advances, kids are entertaining themselves quite differently than we did.

Regardless of all the changes, one thing remains vital to the growth of a young person: reading. That is one thing best-selling children’s author Anna Dewdney believed to the core.

She felt so strongly about this that she made it her final wish before she passed away after a 15 month battle with brain cancer on September 3, 2016.

Instead of a funeral, Anna has requested that those wishing to honor her simply read to a child. That is all she wants.

Anna’s request is an honorable one that I would be happy to fulfill. It really is so important to take the time to read with your children and open their minds to the beauty of language. And Anna encourages adults to have fun with silly voices and discussion when reading to their children.

She told the Wall Street Journal:

We are doing something that I believe is just as powerful, and it is something that we are losing as a culture: by reading with a child, we are teaching that child to be human. When we open a book, and share our voice and imagination with a child, that child learns to see the world through someone else’s eyes. I will go further and say that that child then learns to feel the world more deeply, becoming more aware of himself and others in a way that he simply cannot experience except in our laps, or in our classrooms, or in our reading circles.

What an incredible woman. If you’d like to read some of what Anna is known for, check out her New York Times Best Seller “Llama Llama Red Pajama“.

Watch her read that story below:

Share this to remind others of the importance of children’s literacy and taking the time to read with your child.

H/T: Washington Post