On one occasion, for winning a math prize I was given a book voucher worth $20 and I bought my first novel, Adventures Of Tom Sawyer, by Mark Twain which I devoured within a week. This kindled in me a lifelong habit of reading and it has since then been a pleasure to me until today.

April 23 has been designated by Unesco as World Book Day. The idea is simple. By setting aside one day, Unesco seeks to promote reading and publishing and the choice of date is most appropriate.

On April 23 in 1616, Cervantes and Shakespeare both died. But World Book Day could have another purpose. There would appear to be no better day to emphasise the importance of reading, particularly for children.

I hope the Government, the mass media, the National Library Board, schools and book publishers would organise activities to promote reading on April 23 and drive home the message in a powerful way to our schoolchildren that reading is part and parcel of life and it should be a lifelong process.

I have enjoyed reading books like Can Asians Think? and Beyond The Age Of Innocence by Mr Mahbubani, The Bondmaid and Little Ironies by Dr Catherine Lim, A Candle Or The Sun by Gopal Baratham and First Love by Philip Jayaretnam. These are local classics which no undergrads should miss out in university nor our school kids during their teenage days.

When I visit Johor each week, I would visit the newsstands and bookshops to browse around for some English and Chinese novels and, more often than not, I would come home laden with some books and Malaysian newspapers. The currency exchange rate enables me to buy more books than what I could have bought in Singapore.

Our young parents now usually bring their kids overseas for trips during the school vacation and they would not mind spending a fortune on buying the latest Ipods, mobile phones and computer games to ensure that their kids are not left behind by their peers. In homes you can see the latest computers, hi-fi sets and plasma TVs but, sad to say, there is seldom a bookshelf to cultivate in our kids a habit of reading.

For those with young kids, what better way to end the day but to read some bedtime stories to your child in his formative years before you tuck him in bed.

Heng Cho Choon