“I intend to put up with nothing that I can put down.” – Edgar Allan Poe
“A children’s story that can only be enjoyed by children is not a good children’s story in the slightest.” – C.S. Lewis
“It is a great thing to start life with a small number of really good books which are your very own.” – Arthur Conan Doyle
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Children aren’t reading for pleasure according to new research
The National Literacy Trust’s annual literacy survey 2025 reveals that one in three children and young people do not enjoy reading, with only 35% of eight to 18-year-olds stating that they enjoy reading in their spare time. This is the lowest figure recorded since 2005 when the National Literacy Trust started to gather this data. This
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Developers Offered a Texas Family Millions for Their Land. They Chose to Make It a Park Instead.
Daniel Kozmetsky wades through a sea of lemon-yellow wildflowers growing along a ridge and looks over a wide valley that stretches in front of him, part of the sprawling RGK Ranch his grandparents founded half a century ago. “This is the spot,” he says, sweeping
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The ‘Toolbelt Generation’: Gen Z skipping college for trades
Gen Z has earned a new nickname for taking on more skilled trade positions as more young people are reportedly skipping college in favor of trade schools. Vocational training programs surged 16%, the highest level since 2018, with some calling Gen Z the “Toolbelt Generation.”
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WELLINGTON — Cellphones will be banned in schools across New Zealand, conservative Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said Friday (Dec 1), as his fledgling government looks to turn around the country’s plummeting literacy rates.
New Zealand’s schools once boasted some of the world’s best literacy scores, but levels of reading and writing have declined to the point that
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Jobs, Not Jail: A Judge Was Sick of Sending Kids to Prison, So He Found a Better Way
By the year 2000, Judge John Phillips had long since lost count of the number of minors he had sent through the California penitentiary system for crimes committed during a violent, unguided, and hopeless adolescence. “You send these young people to prison, and
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Well, bless their hearts — Gen Z is killing the Southern drawl, y’all.
That’s according to a new study published in Language Variation and Change, which claims the classic Southern American accent has been slowly fading over time — with the younger generation now helping to hammer the final nail into the proverbial pine box.
“Today’s college students don’t
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In a Monday tweet, Elon Musk wrote “humankind,” followed by the 1,800-year-old classical Chinese poem The Quatrain of Seven Steps.
Here is the poem translated into English by Moss Roberts:
Beans a simmer on a beanstalk flame
From inside the pot expressed their ire:
“Alive we sprouted on a single root—
What’s your rush to cook us on the fire?”
The verses were
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“Let us protect our children; and let us not allow them to grow up into emptiness and nothingness, to the avoidance of good hard work, to introspection and analysis without deeds, or to mechanical actions without thought and consideration. Let us steer them away from the harmful chase after material things and the damaging passion for distractions… Let us educate them to stand with their feet rooted in God’s earth, but with their heads reaching even into heaven,
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They may be digital natives, but young workers were raised on user-friendly apps – and office devices are far less intuitive
Garrett Bemiller, a 25-year-old New Yorker, has spent his entire life online. He grew up in front of screens, swiping from one app to the next. But there’s one skill set Bemiller admits he’s less comfortable with: the humble office printer.
“Things
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We love books, and our friends at UNESCO agree. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization proposed World Book Day as a day of celebrating the joy of reading for enjoyment.
One hundred countries observe World Book Day, and why not? Children who regularly read for enjoyment have higher test scores, develop a broader vocabulary, increased general knowledge and a better understanding of other
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At 96, Giuseppe Paterno has faced many tests in life – childhood poverty, war and, more recently, the coronavirus pandemic. Now he has sailed through an exam that makes him Italy’s oldest university graduate.
This week, the former railway worker stepped forward to receive his diploma and the
One pound of learning requires ten pounds of common sense to apply it.
Proverb
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The Chicago Public Library system has recently gotten rid of its late fees.
The number of book returns has since increased 240%, a library official says. It’s a big piece of evidence countering a major argument used by those arguing against ditching overdue fines for library books.
“The
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Britain’s first plastic-free nursery has been unveiled, as artificial toys are swapped with wooden alternatives and food with unrecyclable packaging is banned.
New World Nursery in Washington, Tyne and Wear, has spent two years and £400 making its rooms eco-friendly to help stimulate children’s