The Children's Hour is a literacy organization committed to increasing public awareness of outstanding children's literature and encouraging children to read and parents to read aloud. We believe that children, who listen to and read appropriate age level stories, learn about the written language, experience a richer, wider vocabulary, and become acquainted with fascinating people, places, and things. Children need to hear and read stories that are guaranteed to teach and reinforce good morals, ethics, and values. They also need stories for pleasure, laughter, and fun; imaginative and nonsensical stories that may not contain any useful information or lesson, only cheerful and delightful fun. Our culture's survival depends on the children of today. If they are to make a difference in this world, children should be taught love, justice, courage, and compassion. Through literature, children learn about people who contribute something of value to others' lives, who make hard decisions, and who have the courage to overcome adversity. We believe that reading is at the heart of literacy, but the love of reading begins by reading to children during their formative years and is developed over time when quality children's literature is available for their reading and listening enjoyment.