Editorial: Rider is a real page-turner

Wednesday, Nov. 22, 2006 | 7:13 a.m.

A program designed to get children interested in reading has books for the borrowing popping up in some unlikely places: city buses.

According to a recent Scripps Howard News Service story, transit companies in Albuquerque; Anchorage, Alaska; and Rochester, N.Y., have launched programs in which children's books are placed in seat pockets on public buses in hopes children will become curious and start reading.

Not only does the distraction provide parents with a brief respite, but it also gives children the chance to pick up a good habit. Albuquerque's Discover a Book program, which was started a year ago, uses donated books. Approximately 75,000 volumes have been donated, about 50,000 of which are suitable for children.

It would be nice to assume that all children have access to a library and have parents who have the time to take them there for a weekly visit in which they spend the afternoon exploring bookshelves for just the right story.

But many parents struggle just to earn a living and make homes for their children. For these families, the only "down" time in a day may happen on the bus ride home. It is a perfect place to spend time with a book. It might not hurt for Las Vegas' Citizens Area Transit to consider such a program.

In Albuquerque, big red stickers encourage children to put the books back when they get off of the bus. But, of course, that doesn't always happen. After all, "Charlotte's Web" is kind of hard to put down once readers get started.

And if the book is taken home to be read all the way through before returning it, then this program is writing its own happy endings.