Alva Review-Courier -

The most essential building block for success in school and throughout life is learning to read. But if a child has parents who cannot read, there is a much higher chance that child will also be unable to read.

The statistics are jarring. Two-thirds of students who can’t read well by the end of the fourth grade will wind up behind bars or on welfare. Eighty-five percent of all juveniles who wind up in the juvenile court system are functionally illiterate, and more than 60 percent of all prison inmates are functionally illiterate.

People who can’t read are more likely to live in poverty. Teenag...