Laura Bush's Visit to Moscow (September 30 - October 01, 2003)
Laura Bush traveled to Moscow September 30 to take part in Russian first lady Ludmila Putina's first School Libraries Festival -- and last year, Mrs. Putina visited the United States to join Mrs. Bush at the second annual National Book Festival.
The first ladies of the United States and Russia believe strongly in the importance of children's literacy and would like to remind adults and children about the joy of reading. Laura Bush spoke during a discussion in the Kremlin on children's literature with Lyudmila Putina and their counterparts from Armenia and Bulgaria.
"American children's literature...is a way to teach values that people in our country share, and people around the world share -- values that have to do with living a good life and being a good person," Mrs. Bush said.
She passed around books at the Kremlin discussion that she said were important to her and her family. They included "Hop on Pop," which she said her twin daughters used to act out by bouncing on their father, now President Bush.
The discussion was held in the presidential library, a circular, wood-paneled room lined with bookcases and memorabilia from Russian history. It was a prelude to an appearance by Mrs. Bush Wednesday at a book festival hosted by Mrs. Putina.
During the book festival Mrs. Bush, Mrs. Putina, the first lady of Armenia Bella Kocharian, and the first lady of Bulgaria Zorka Purvanova spoke at roundtable about the challenge of getting children in their countries to like reading.
"We all said that all children today watch a lot of television," Mrs. Bush said. "There's a lot of competition to books with computers and video games, and television, and all of us want to figure out ways to get children to read more."
The consensus, she added, was that if "parents would read in front of their children and read to their children, that was really the most important way to get them to love reading." She counseled parents "to turn the television off for some time every afternoon and evening and spend that time with their arm around their child, reading with them or playing games with them or playing outside with them; really monitor how much time your children watch TV."
In an interview during the festival the U.S. first lady spoke of her delight in bringing three noted American authors of children's books to the Russian capital. "The Russian children really love seeing Marc Brown with his 'Arthur the Aardvark' [books], and R.L. Stine with his scary and creepy stories" -- the "Goose Bumps" series -- "and Peter Lerangis with his books 'The Watchers,'" she said. "It was a real thrill today to see the communication between those three American authors and the Russian children."
Mrs. Bush, a former teacher and librarian, is the United Nations' Honorary Ambassador for the Decade of Literacy. Addressing the General Conference of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) September 29 in Paris, as the United States prepared to rejoin the organization, she identified four educational priorities the United States views as important for UNESCO to pursue. The first of these is literacy and "providing a basic primary education for every person in every remote corner of the world," she said. "A lot of girls around the world aren't in school, and that's a huge issue for all of us," she added. "I truly believe that if we can make sure children are educated around the world that we'll have a safer and a more peaceful world."
Mrs. Bush will be hosting the third annual National Book Festival on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. October 4, which is sponsored by the Library of Congress.