Books teach words

Re “Flexing their word power,” Opinion, Nov. 26

I applaud the enthusiasm of the young teacher at Wilmington Middle School trying to improve children’s literacy by way of T-shirts. Unhappily, however, children don’t acquire much vocabulary through such methods. Vocabulary comes primarily from one source: voluminous reading. This is true for all children, both rich and poor. Studying word lists is a common practice in test prep, but studies have shown it is also ineffective and inefficient. You need books to read. Let’s give kids a real chance at increasing their vocabulary by putting more money into school libraries.

Jeff McQuillan

Los Angeles

The writer is the author of “The Literacy Crisis.”