Home
Honorary Fellowship
In the summer of 2014, Margriet Ruurs, author of thirty books for children, received an Honorary Fellowship from Okanagan University College for her fifteen years of volunteer work with Kidswwwrite Magazine, an online site that publishes children's stories and poems and encourages children to be writers.
Here is the convocation address Ruurs delivered to graduands to stress the importance of books and libraries for children.
----
On this special day I would like to use the words of Dr. Seuss to say:
"Congratulations!
Today is your day.
You're off to Great Places!
You're off and away!
You have brains in your head.
You have feet in your shoes.
You can steer yourself any direction you choose. "
When I was little, in The Netherlands, my dad told me stories and my
mom read books to me. They bought me books and took me to the
public library.
The very foundation of my life was built on books.
As I grew older, I wanted to tell my own stories.
"Write them down," my mother said. She gave me a lined book with
empty pages and encouraged me to write down my stories and
poems.
My teachers encouraged me to write more. With encouragement and books, I had a good start in life. I was lucky.
This spring I conducted writing workshops in Israel where all the
signs where either in Hebrew or in Arabic. Then I spent two weeks in
China. Seeing nothing but Chinese characters on directional signs,
advertisements, on the packages in the stores, I suddenly felt what
it might be like to be illiterate. I had no idea what was in the
packages in the store, of ingredients or directions. I couldn't read
the newspaper, even warning signs. I felt helpless, powerless, clueless.
Reading is fundamental.
If a child is encourage to read, if he wants to read, then he will be
that much more successful in everything he attempts in life. Fluency
in reading and writing comes through the joy of discovering good
stories. Remember when suddenly the whole world wanted to read
Harry Potter? What a joy that was. A spellbinding story encouraged
people of all ages to curl up with a book and read.
I once met J.K. Rowling. Someone asked her "eight-year-olds like reading Harry Potter and 80-year-olds like reading Harry Potter, who did you write it for?" And you know what the answer was? She said "I wrote it for myself."
I write for myself, too. I just never stopped writing and now I have 30
books published.
I hope that you write for yourself. The stories of your childhood,
feelings and emotions expressed in a poem, a piece of information
to share with others or just for yourself.
When I travel to developing countries it strikes me that, the very
first thing they do, after providing for shelter, food and water, is try
and collect books.
All over the world, villages try to build libraries.
Mobile libraries in the most astounding shapes and sizes attempt to
bring books to people. There are book boats in Indonesia. A camel
library in Kenya, even an elephant library in Thailand. I have seen
libraries on motorbikes and donkey carts. I have helped to deliver
books to nomads in Mongolia's Gobi Desert, where the literacy rate
is 98%. This fall I hope to travel with a book bus, bringing books to
villages around Zambia.
Access to books is fundamental to our development, our well being
and our success in anything we achieve in life, a resource all children
have a right too.
And it should be the cornerstone of education in North America. It is
of grave concern to me that more and more of our school libraries
are closing. Budget cuts lead to reduced access to books for our
children, here in the developed world.
A school library open for half a day a week? Library closed because
no one can help the students to check out the books that are in the
shelf. I find this mind boggling when reading and writing are the very
foundation of everything we are teaching them.
I hope that, among the many things you will accomplish in your life,
you will put books in the hands of children, tell them stories and help
them to discover the joy of reading, of storytelling , and of writing
stories down.
Dr. Seuss said: The more that you read, the more things you will
know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go.";
I would like to leave you with a poem I wrote to tell you how I feel
about books:
Treasure Chest
Open the cover of the book in your hands,
bridge to unknown and wonderful lands.
Travel through countries of wisdom and fun,
nights full of darkness, days full of sun.
Turn each page full of wonder,
follow its road to up yonder
where mountain tops talk to the sky
whispering a wondering "why";?
Treasure chest of make-believe places,
meeting new and familiar faces. Reach
for a book on the shelf-
Discover the world, discover yourself.
Here is the convocation address Ruurs delivered to graduands to stress the importance of books and libraries for children.
----
On this special day I would like to use the words of Dr. Seuss to say:
"Congratulations!
Today is your day.
You're off to Great Places!
You're off and away!
You have brains in your head.
You have feet in your shoes.
You can steer yourself any direction you choose. "
When I was little, in The Netherlands, my dad told me stories and my
mom read books to me. They bought me books and took me to the
public library.
The very foundation of my life was built on books.
As I grew older, I wanted to tell my own stories.
"Write them down," my mother said. She gave me a lined book with
empty pages and encouraged me to write down my stories and
poems.
My teachers encouraged me to write more. With encouragement and books, I had a good start in life. I was lucky.
This spring I conducted writing workshops in Israel where all the
signs where either in Hebrew or in Arabic. Then I spent two weeks in
China. Seeing nothing but Chinese characters on directional signs,
advertisements, on the packages in the stores, I suddenly felt what
it might be like to be illiterate. I had no idea what was in the
packages in the store, of ingredients or directions. I couldn't read
the newspaper, even warning signs. I felt helpless, powerless, clueless.
Reading is fundamental.
If a child is encourage to read, if he wants to read, then he will be
that much more successful in everything he attempts in life. Fluency
in reading and writing comes through the joy of discovering good
stories. Remember when suddenly the whole world wanted to read
Harry Potter? What a joy that was. A spellbinding story encouraged
people of all ages to curl up with a book and read.
I once met J.K. Rowling. Someone asked her "eight-year-olds like reading Harry Potter and 80-year-olds like reading Harry Potter, who did you write it for?" And you know what the answer was? She said "I wrote it for myself."
I write for myself, too. I just never stopped writing and now I have 30
books published.
I hope that you write for yourself. The stories of your childhood,
feelings and emotions expressed in a poem, a piece of information
to share with others or just for yourself.
When I travel to developing countries it strikes me that, the very
first thing they do, after providing for shelter, food and water, is try
and collect books.
All over the world, villages try to build libraries.
Mobile libraries in the most astounding shapes and sizes attempt to
bring books to people. There are book boats in Indonesia. A camel
library in Kenya, even an elephant library in Thailand. I have seen
libraries on motorbikes and donkey carts. I have helped to deliver
books to nomads in Mongolia's Gobi Desert, where the literacy rate
is 98%. This fall I hope to travel with a book bus, bringing books to
villages around Zambia.
Access to books is fundamental to our development, our well being
and our success in anything we achieve in life, a resource all children
have a right too.
And it should be the cornerstone of education in North America. It is
of grave concern to me that more and more of our school libraries
are closing. Budget cuts lead to reduced access to books for our
children, here in the developed world.
A school library open for half a day a week? Library closed because
no one can help the students to check out the books that are in the
shelf. I find this mind boggling when reading and writing are the very
foundation of everything we are teaching them.
I hope that, among the many things you will accomplish in your life,
you will put books in the hands of children, tell them stories and help
them to discover the joy of reading, of storytelling , and of writing
stories down.
Dr. Seuss said: The more that you read, the more things you will
know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go.";
I would like to leave you with a poem I wrote to tell you how I feel
about books:
Treasure Chest
Open the cover of the book in your hands,
bridge to unknown and wonderful lands.
Travel through countries of wisdom and fun,
nights full of darkness, days full of sun.
Turn each page full of wonder,
follow its road to up yonder
where mountain tops talk to the sky
whispering a wondering "why";?
Treasure chest of make-believe places,
meeting new and familiar faces. Reach
for a book on the shelf-
Discover the world, discover yourself.
Submitted on February 23, 2015 in By David.
