"Who gave you the love of language?" I was asked while driving along the Ohio highways with Bill Martin, Jr.

"Oh," I answered, "It just happened, I've always liked to read and mess around with words."

Bill replied, "No, it doesn't just happen. The love of language is a gift that one person gives to another. Let me ask you another question. You have your choice of anyone you have ever known to read to you who would it be?"

I immediately knew the answer to the first question and told him, "My mother! My mother gave me the love of language. She always read to me and listened to me read to her. When I complained about having to write my first poem she said, 'Don't think of it as an assignment, think of it as something you are going to do and enjoy.' She kick-started my language life."

He asked, "And who is reading to your children?"

My daughter was six at the time. Last week she was talking of the wonderful time we had reading all those books over the years. After Bill's comments I read to my daughter every night that I was home, if she went to bed on time. Guess what she always went to bed on time. It was one of the greatest joys of my "Daddy Days."

That's why I believe that the most important reading being done anywhere in the world is when an adult reads to a child. I believe children will leave Nintendo or stop roller blading for a few minutes to share the closeness of sharing a story.

I'm writing things that I hope my son and daughter will read to my grandchildren. This page is to share with you and hope these rhymes and tales will bring your children to your side for some fun.

Incidentally, thirty years have passed since Bill Martin asked the question, a question that changed my life. Perhaps you might wish to answer it for yourself.

I hope you enjoy my rhymes and tales.

Bob Tucker
September 1996