the thing a book cannot tell
"I’m not forgetting it. We'll call the Literacy Council and get started today."
"It's too embarrassing."
"It's not."
"For Victoria it is."
"No. It would become embarrassing if, now that your secret is known, we didn't do anything about it."
"I didn't think of that." Mary wondered whether she should tell Ginnie the second of her secrets, the one she considered the most important of the two. Given a choice between reading and knowing her roots, she would rather know where she came from. Who she came from.
"Did you hear what I said, Mary?"
"Sorry. I was daydreaming."
" It's all right. We'll have you telling stories in no time."
"Oh, Ginnie, you don't have to read to tell stories. Those come from the imagination."
"Well, yes, but imagine the imagination you're going to have when you know how to read."