CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Whether it’s from an actual book with covers or on a Kindle, First Lady Joanne Jaeger Tomblin said reading is key.
“No matter how you read, you still have to read to gain knowledge about the world,” First Lady Tomblin said Monday in Charleston. “To be successful in life you are still going to have to read.”
First Lady Tomblin took time out of her schedule Monday to share her passion for reading with students at Stonewall Jackson Middle School in Charleston.
Over the summer, First Lady Tomblin along with other area celebrities read books along with students as part of the Celebrity Summer Reading Program. It was a way to get kids reading more books.
Tomblin read the book Million Dollar Throw by Mike Lupica in hopes of learning more details about football, but as with most other books, she realized there was more to it than meets the eye.
“It went into some specifics about different plays and that kind of thing and also had some underlying information I think for middle school kids about their lives and where they’re going with their lives and how to become more successful and what things are more important in life as opposed to others,” she said.
In addition to giving kids knowledge, Tomblin said books also take you places.
“It takes you to far away places as people have always said about reading,” said First Lady Tomblin. “It takes you to places that you’ll never get to.”
Tomblin has had a passion for reading since an early age and her goal is to share that passion to students throughout West Virginia in hopes of them getting that same passion for reading.
First Lady Tomblin told the students that no matter what career they wanted to get into, reading was going to be key to their success in that field.
Monday’s visit is one of several First Lady Tomblin plans to make at schools across the Mountain State in order to stress the importance of reading.