‘The world needs books’: Watch the world’s most adorable 8-year-old reading ambassador, Washington Post, November 26, 2014

So while the Fairfax County Public Library system has reduced Juvenile book collection County-wide by more than 100,000 books in the last decade according to its own Collection Inventory, it seems that kids still read books according to this article by Elahe Izadi at WaPo.

Here's the lede:

Books seem like such a quaint relic of a bygone age. Written word that lives on a physical piece of paper? In a time of snapchats and emojis?

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

But fear not, book lovers! Because the children are our future — and the children love books.

Especially Madison Reid, an 8-year-old Cleveland girl who delivered a moving and enthusiastic ode to books in a recent interview with NBC affiliate WKYC about Little Free Libraries. . . .

A couple of thoughts from this insightful 8-year old:

Q: “What do you like about the library?”

Madison breaks it down: “I like that we can get a book, and in the same token, we can give a book back. So the environment isn’t without a book. We have a book but we also give a book, so we both win.”

“The world needs books. What would the world be like, without books? They fuel our mind like cars and gas. The cars can’t go without gas. Our brains can’t go without books. The world, needs books! We — need books.”

 “It would break my heart if one book was lost,” Madison says. “Just a page. Just a word. Just a letter was gone. I would be heartbroken.”

Who’s stealing this kid’s books?!

Again, Madison imagines a world without books. “The world would be empty. Like a bucket without water. Like a brain without knowledge. Like a filing cabinet without papers.”

Click on this link and read and see Madison's response to questions about her love of books. 

Apparently County officials believe our children and grandchildren don't need books even if the rest of the world does.