Today is National Book Lover's Day, and it is a great opportunity to read an old classic or something totally new. It is also a great time to encourage children to turn off the television and pick up a book to read.

With the increase in electronic books and digital content, some have argued that it is taking away from the essence of reading. Electronics can hindering the joy that comes with picking up a book, embracing the feeling and scent of it, and it also takes away the ability to turn the pages, making the physical book your own.

Whether you prefer to read online, on an electronic reader or still enjoy turning your own pages in a book, today is a great opportunity to not only exercise your imagination, but also that of a child's. This is also a great day to volunteer at library or even spend an hour reading to children- the point is to pick up a book and read.

Libraries and book stores across the nation are inviting children to pick up a book and read and encouraging them to take a break from the television, computer, tablet and smartphone.

Historians will tell you that he first books were written on papyrus rolls, the earliest of which dates back to around 2,900 B.C. As literacy advanced, so too did the medium for which it was expressed. The natural progression of book development led to stone tablets and the first known dictionary to be recorded was on a cuneiform tablet around 2,300 BC.

While the origins of this annual holiday are unknown, today is the perfect opportunity to start that new novel or that classic you have read countless times before. Whichever you prefer, it is important to remember the good reading has done and also embrace reading because it is just so much fun.

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