This article is aimed at everyone, but the easiest thing is for the person reading it to be an adult who already has a certain predisposition to reading and is today one of the regular buyers of one or more copies on Sant Jordi's Day. Women and men who have grown up in the pre-digital age have become accustomed to reading books, they have enjoyed the pleasure it gives, they have been moved by their pages and they have become better people with them. Yes, it's true... surely today they read much less than a few years ago because the influence of the mobile phone and the rise of audiovisual culture takes up part of the free time that they previously dedicated to books. But they know how to appreciate them and admit all the value they treasure.
The problem is not adults, but young people and especially children, who have grown up in a digital world and who have had many fewer opportunities to enjoy the joy of reading because screens take up everything. Let us not be fooled by saying that young people have never read so much thanks to the Internet. Reading messages or small texts in search engines is not reading. It's quite the opposite. There is no possible comparison with picking up a good book and devoting all your attention to it, getting into it and forgetting about smartphone alerts for a while.
This is a parent's job. School is important, but it will always be a subsidiary role. The key is at home. In encouraging reading to the little ones in every home. When you go to the stores today to look for the latest novelty from your favorite author, think about your children, your grandchildren, your nephews. Remember when you were children, how you enjoyed The Five, Emilio Salgari, Jules Verne or even Tintin or Asterix.
As a preamble to today's Diada, La Vanguardia brought together a good part of the book sector again last night at the Alma Hotel in a party that has already become a tradition. It is a pride for this house to continue caring for and pampering the culture that is part of our DNA. Happy Sant Jordi Day.
