Thank you Superintendent Kenneth Burnley. And thank you Principal Elaine Attaway for your hospitality.

Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen. Thank you all for coming. I especially want to thank the students who came today. You made a sacrifice. For many of you, this is your summer vacation. I thank you for supporting school reading efforts, because reading is an act of liberation. It breaks the bonds of ignorance, frees the mind, enlarges our intellectual horizons, and enhances our personal growth. It transmits ideas and transports us to other places. Reading is a conversation with our greatest thinkers, helping to shape our culture, our world, and ourselves.

As students, you probably already realize the power of reading. The late Librarian of Congress, Daniel Boorstin, once said that "mankind's greatest invention" is the book. I agree; reading is the single most powerful initiation to education. And every parent here can testify to the power of books and reading in their and your own lives. Each of us can look back on our encounters with particular books or certain authors. These were life-altering, positive steps.

But what happens when this invention sits unused behind locked doors, or remains elusive because library shelves are empty? What happens when a book sits idle, unread? What happens when we fail to read?

Well, we know the answer: the mind remains enslaved to ignorance. The great thoughts of the past are undiscovered. Our horizons remain fixed, limited, surrounded by unknown territory. Our imagination is unengaged. Life itself remains narrow and possibilities remain diminished. And we don't have as much fun, because reading is so pleasurable.

One hundred and thirty-five years ago, Fannie Richards knew this and said so right here in Detroit. She was a young African-American teacher who fought to open Michigan's schools to all students. Thanks to her efforts, in 1869, the Michigan State Supreme Court overturned segregation.

And as schools and libraries were opened, Fannie saw the profound results. She found that African-American children were avid readers, because they knew the power and importance of the words others tried to hide from them.

Well, schools can be open, but they must have books and other materials to fully educate students. So today I am pleased to join Superintendent Burnley in announcing a grant from the U.S. Department of Education for over $322,000 to the Detroit Public Schools. This grant, part of the Improving Literacy Through School Libraries program, will be used to help reopen 10 public school libraries. It will also help to buy books for those libraries.

I brought a few books myself. I hope these books are the beginning of similar donations and the start of lifelong reading for your students.

I agree with the president and Mrs. Bush: we need to develop a nation of passionate readers. That is why the president and first lady have been so supportive of the Reading First Program, which provides training for educators to teach reading more successfully. If our children are to compete in a global marketplace, they must have outstanding basic skills in reading. We must give our children every opportunity for future opportunities, economic security, and personal fulfillment.

And that effort begins right here, in elementary schools like Horace Mann. It starts with works by Dr. Seuss, tales from the Land of Oz, the adventures of Wishbone or Sherlock Holmes, or biographies about Abraham Lincoln or Frederick Douglass or Fannie Richards.

And it starts because we have a professional and personal commitment to reading.

So Mr. Superintendent, on behalf of President Bush and the American people, I am pleased to present this check to you and the Detroit Public Schools. Congratulations.

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