beans tomato soup rice BREAKING THE CODE Loops and lines in long neat rows but what do they mean Mother reads she knows He likes to turn the pages feel the lightness of paper Look here Freddy she says pointing to labels His eyes follow her finger to the shelf his mouth sounding them out soup tomato rice beans He is smart curious He is four One morning on the way out the door he spies Sister’s schoolbook open on the floor
jam butter wheat cereal The sun’s light brings the leaves out and suddenly the loops and lines begin to mean Each day after he practices textbooks newspapers street signs clothing labels drinking the words in faster and faster By the time he turns five he even reads breakfast Golden Yellow and ready to spread Parkay Strawberry Jam Smucker Company the brand you can trust Post’s Grape-Nuts Flakes it’s Hopalong Cassidy’s favorite whole-wheat cereal Mother stops her washing She looks at the table then back at her word-loving son Get your coat Freddy We’re going out
WYLIE AVENUE BRANCH CARNEGIE LIBRARY OF PITTSBURGH Tall walls Big windows People sitting at long tables whispering Rows and rows and rows of shelves One moment please says the blue sweater behind the counter Mother squeezes his hand I’ll wait You go on and pick out a book Running over to the shelf his fingers glide along the cool spines He slides one out brings it to Mother who shows him a small card printed with his name This means you can borrow any book in this room Is that the one you want It is Later his eyes move across the page following each line into a bright new world
