let's get that clear: this isn't about monetary disadvantage it's about a read- aloud disadvantage) -- do we want children whose backgrounds have lacked books to be resurrected into literacy in our classrooms or crucified on the cross of phonics? I certainly know which I'd choose. [In my second presentation tomorrow I'll be explaining in detail your vital role in making this happen.] The funds currently directed into the miracle cures and quick fixes in reading -- out of which publishers make billions of dollars -- would be better used in schools by providing children with a class library of appropriate classics that have been adored for years, instead of the mind-numbing 'readers' currently in vogue. With this kind of action -- who knows? -- we might even wipe out illiteracy in a single generation. How about it? We could at least try.