MIDLAND, Texas — Christmas is around the corner. Many parents are getting there shopping done. Those shopping lists probably include anything from video games and toys to the latest model cell phones, but have you ever thought about giving books as gifts?
News West 9 spoke to Nicole B. Roberts, a local author and stay-at-home mom, who encourages the power of literacy this holiday season as a way to enhance the learning experience of the little ones.
"The people that I knew who made reading and education a priority really are the ones who have become leaders in our world today," said Roberts. "It's important for me as a mom that my kids are exposed at a young age to books because I feel that will make them into leaders some day."
Ginamarie Soto, the owner of The Little Gym of Midland, has seen firsthand how reading at a young age makes a difference for the child.
"Literacy is truly a full focus point idea in education that it really emphasizes on every single element of our classes," said Soto. "Again, reading is the groundwork for anything you do in life."
Roberts believes that reading has an impact in more ways than one.
"I think it is important that we create books with a positive mindset," said Roberts. "This is so we can perpetuate through the reading to other things like home to the kids and the parents.
Roberts told NewsWest 9 a focus of her books are topics like inclusivity and respect.
"Its encourages people to be themselves and to just do what makes them happy," said Roberts. "I always try to encourage my children to do that and I thought this is just a simple way and say its okay to be different."
This holiday season, Roberts hopes more people decide to put books in their shopping carts no matter how old the person is.
"Especially in this technology driven age, kids need to have an actual physical book in there hands where they can flip the pages the can smell the paper," said Roberts. "They can really experience the book and not just see a screen to develop readers that can last a life time."