The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

library. I had passed my ll-Plus, an exam that existed in Britain until the early 1970's and which divided pre-teenagers into intellectual successes and failures. Such a bifurcation certainly-caused problems but it also liberated generations of working-class youth such as myself whose parents could never have afforded a private education for their children and who lived in areas where most of the state schools were soiled by crime, violence and poverty. Such a realization came later, of course; all I knew at eleven was that I was suddenly standing in an enormous room lined with oak shelves and thousands of vol- umes of novels, biographies, history books, travel writing, humour, everything, anything. If there was such a thing as a secret magic door, a new world whose only entrance was through the back of a closet, a journey of adventure that could be made without leaving an arm-chair, it was here. I was overwhelmed. I was delighted. I was content. ' Iremember the first time I was exposed to a real Although my parents were and are intelligent peo- ple who read voraciously, they lacked formal educa- tion and were unable to provide me with reading rec- ommendations or a guide to what was good, less good, bad. Hence I was obliged not to take swimming lessons with an experienced coach but to dive into the deep end of the pool and splash for my life. I tried a Take 5 Read is part of a program sponsored by Frontier College in‘Toronto, the Oakville Beaver and corporate citizens concerned about the literacy of our young people. Over the next few months, the Beaver will publish stories by Canadian authors that can be read in 5 minutes. We urge all parents to sit down with their children and read these articles as they appear. By HOWARD MOZEL Oakville Beaver Staff New Brunswick premier says reading of utmost importance Frank McKenna knows benefits of literacy It’s not every day a provincial premier drops by to read you a story so it was no surprise last week that the kids from Chisholm School were all In town for a lunch in support of a local federal candidate, New Brunswick’s Frank McKenna took time out to promote Frontier College’s “Read Canada” campaign by reading from Roch Carrier’s “The Hockey Sweater and Other Stories." At his feet were nine Grade 3 students picked from the Chisholm School classes of teachers Beth Mitchell, Tanya Cole and Susan Reddon. As the media crowded close popping flash pictures and reps from Frontier College beamed with pride, McKenna drew the youngsters into his tale. (See 'Reading' page 38) The Discovery CHISHOLM EDUCATIONAL CENTRES ° ASSESSMENTS ° TUTORING ° REMEDIATION ° ENRICHMENT FOR CHILDREN, ADOLESCENTS ADULTS 440 INGLEHART STREET, OAKVILLE, 844-3240 front-crawl, reading Charles Dickens, Jonathan Swift and Daniel Dafoe; attempted the back-stroke with lives of Plato, James Joyce and TS. Elliot; and then settled for the Butterfly, with Hilaire Belloc, G.K. acclaimed biographies include Gilbert: The Man Who Was GK. Chesterton (Random House 1987) and this year's controversial Invisible Man: the Life and Liberties of HG. Wells (Random House 1993). He is also a regular contributor to Frank Magazine. Coren lives in Toronto with his wife and two children and is currently at work on a major biography of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. BY MICHAEL COREN' New Brunswick Premier Frank McKenna reading to children from Chisholm School on recent visit to Oakville. (Photo by Barrie Erskine) Born‘and educated in the UK, Michael Coren came to Canada in 1987, already a well-estab- lished journalist, broad- caster and critic in London. He regularly contributes to the Toronto Star, London Sunday Times, Books in Canada, The Globe , Mail, Toronto Life and Saturday Night, as well at TVO's lmprint and CJFtT Radio. His critically About the Author An now, I write thereforI am. Although my life is composed of many aspects-self, family, beliefs-one of the fundamentals of my existence is my writing. Partly as a debt to the books and the authors of the past who had done so much to me and for me and partly because I need rather than want to write, I am a professional author. I am one of those privileged few who are permitted to work at their hobby. Yet beyond the pleasures of the job, there is something more pro- found and something that means far more to me. It is that by my writing I might, just might, perhaps liber- ate a few people like myself twenty-five years ago had not yet been initiated into the wondrous delights of literature. It is my prayer that somebody out there will attempt the breast-stroke with a book by Michael Coren. And once I could swim, I could go anywhere. The oceans were merely ponds, the great lakes puddles for my play. Never in my life had I been given a toy, a weapon, a friend as pristine, pure and pleasing as the ability and the desire to read. Language, vocabulary, grammar and punctuation were not, I now knew, obstacles but aids, devices to enlighten rather than annoy. I read, therefore I am. Chesterton and Evelyn Waugh. I may have swallowed a great deal of water but I didn't drown. In fact I learnt to swim quite beautifully.