For Immediate Release
Office of Mrs. Bush
October 4, 2003
Opening Remarks by Mrs. Bush at National Book Festival
National Book Festival Opening Ceremony - Opening Remarks
Welcome to the White House and to the National Book Festival.
Thanks to the bookworms here for celebrating reading and authors.
Thanks also to Dr. Billington and the Library of Congress for
sponsoring this celebration. And a special thanks to the authors,
poets, illustrators, and storytellers for giving us the reason to
celebrate. Without you, we wouldn't have tales of mystery, history, and
heroism. We wouldn't have characters to intrigue us or rhymes that
inspire. And we wouldn't have good books to devour - as Julia Glass
says, "...like a contestant in a pie-eating contest."
We have an extraordinary panel of authors to kick-off the festival.
Dr. Billington, Walter Isaacson, Catherine Coulter, Pat Conroy, and Bob
Lanier will discuss their love of books and the written word. Special
thanks to our sponsors and patrons this year. Your generosity and the
generosity of our contributors and friends have helped to make this
event possible.
By helping to make the National Book Festival a success, you've
also helped to inspire the first book festival in Russia. I just
returned from Moscow. There I joined Mrs. Putin for a celebration of
children's literature and school libraries. R.L. Stine, author of the
Goosebumps books, joined me. I wish you could have seen him weave a
scary story with the children about a boy and a haunted car.
Today, we celebrate our freedom and the power of books to bring
people together - in this case, bus loads of people. Excited readers
from across the country are coming today - from a family literacy
program in Virginia, to a library group from Pennsylvania, to seniors
from an online book group, and members of a mother-daughter book club.
Librarians in Nebraska are encouraging readers to check out the
festival - or at the very least - to check out books at the library by
authors we celebrate today.
And Kathy Thomas from Half Price Books is here with practically her
whole family from Texas. Last year Kathy brought her son and nephew
dressed as bookworms. This year, they're back in costume, along with
her mother, sister, and three more nephews. From Texas to Utah,
volunteers are here to help organize the event, including more than
three hundred from the Junior League of Washington. A school librarian
from Connecticut is thrilled to be here. She wrote to tell me, "This is
the third year I will be coming to attend. I always come away with lots
of information...to share with my students. Each year it gets better
and better."
Books and reading bring out the excitement in all of us. This
commonality connects us to one another - and so do the stories in a
good book. Our history as a people and a nation is one great story -
pieced together like a quilt bit by bit, generation by generation. By
reading together and sharing stories, we become part of the fabric of
the American community. This is the beauty of books - they are not just
for reading - but for sharing. Abraham Lincoln said, "My best friend is
a person who will give me a book I have not read." With your support
and enthusiasm, many new friends and new books will be found today.
I'd now like to introduce my friend and fellow book-lover, Dr.
James Billington, our Librarian of Congress. Dr. Billington was
instrumental in helping Mrs. Putin organize the first Russian Book
Festival. He has written several books on the history of Russian
culture, including The Face of Russia, which is a companion book to a
television series that he wrote for PBS. Ladies and gentlemen, please
welcome Dr. James Billington.
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