If you’re able to read, and, hopefully, understand, this opinion, then you’ve got a skill that some people may never learn.

Possessing the ability to read is something many of us likely take for granted. It’s a skill we learned years ago as children back in school, when the scrapes on our knees we got from recess meant more than the lessons we were taught on the chalkboard.

But there’s a lifelong value in learning to read, particularly at a young age, that should not be overlooked, even in this day and age when some youngsters can’t write cursive or tell what time it is by looking at the face of an analog clock.

Reading can take you on an adventure with swashbuckling pirates around the world, or with aliens to other planets. It can help you learn new languages, teach you all you need to know about insects, help you discover new revelations about yourself or how to better understand love and building relationships with others. It can even help you read newspaper articles every day so that you can be an informed and engaged member of our community, like you, dear reader.

Reading is the key needed to unlock so much information in our world and it’s an exceptional way to learn and enjoy all sorts of different topics simply with the power of one’s brain and imagination.

That’s why it’s important we support summer reading programs held by local places like the Peter White Public Library in Marquette, the Negaunee Public Library in Irontown, the Ishpeming Carnegie Library farther west and the many other great libraries throughout our county and region.

It’s also why we at The Mining Journal are proud to partner with an organization like 8-18 Media, which engages area children in different projects that focus on improving their communication skills, like writing weekly columns that appear on The Mining Journal’s Morning, U.P. page.

The idea is to keep kids involved with reading during the summer months and it’s something we’re proud to support.

Yes, reading is taught in schools, but a lot of it starts at home, and that means parents and adult guardians need to engage their young charges in reading, especially during the summer when the school textbooks are shelved.

Libraries are outstanding resources for young readers, and programs like 8-18 Media help hone those communication skills we could all seek to improve.

Reading and writing all flow together to build good communicators, and that’s something this increasingly interconnected world could use more of.