One of my earliest memories is of badgering my family to teach me to read. It started with a note on the kitchen table that one of my parents had left for the other. It was probably just a grocery list. And I think my mother looked at it and made some comment like “Oh, your father wants meatloaf for dinner” or something equally as mundane.

But to me it was magic. How could some squiggles on a piece of paper convey what you were thinking? Or better yet, what you desired? And you didn’t even have to be there! It had to be some secret code.

I wanted to learn this code right then and there. So my older sister, who already was in school, took it upon herself to teach me. Soon, my favorite place to go was the library. Through books I could be transported to places I didn’t even know existed. I’ve been hooked on the magic of reading and writing ever since.

It’s almost inconceivable to me to imagine trying to navigate through the world without comprehension of the written word. And yet millions do. This seems inexcusable given the length of time there have been compulsory education laws. And so for Literacy Month, we decided to concentrate on the illiteracy problem in North America and what Rotarians and others are doing to fix it. They include relatively unknown Rotarian John Corcoran to famous entertainer Dolly Parton. From her stage persona, you’d never guess that Dolly was an erudite closet librarian. In her interview, she reveals how her own family’s experience with illiteracy fueled her efforts to launch her Imagination Library. We were thrilled to talk to Dolly, not just because she’s famous but because it’s always exciting to meet someone who shares your passion. And so I’m pleased to introduce The Rotarian’s new features editor, Barbara Nellis, who consumes books more often than most of us eat dessert.

Barbara confesses to being old enough to “remember life before television” and growing up in a household where her father’s mantra was “You’re bored? Go read a book.” She adds, “There is a mobile phone company ad on TV now in which an employee reads an illiterate man his mail instead of teaching him to read it. That is not our message here.”