You can lead people to books but can you make them read?

That’s a question I was asking while the opening ceremonies were held for the city’s new bookmobile at the Woodland Public Library. I visited many bookmobiles while growing up because the library was miles away from the rural area where I lived, and that bookmobile opened new worlds.

In any respect, my daughter and I were driving to the opening ceremonies last Saturday and I joked that my “practice lead” for any story I might write was about how the “wind wasn’t blowing in the willows so much as the palm trees” because the day was windy.

I remember saying something like, “See what I did there?” She responded that no one would know about the book “The Wind in the Willows.”

By the way, for younger readers “The Wind in the Willows” is a classic children’s novel by the British novelist Kenneth Grahame, first published in 1908.

The story is about Mole, Ratty, and Badger as they try to help Mr. Toad when he becomes obsessed with motorcars and gets into constant trouble. It’s No. 16 in the BBC’s survey “The Big Read.”

After we arrived and just before the ceremonies were scheduled to begin, who should walk out of the library but two people dressed in “frog” costumes.

“Vindicated,” I thought, and then it dawned on me these might be characters from another “classic” book.

They were “frog and toad,” who are characters in the children’s picture book “Frog and Toad Are Friends,” which was written and illustrated by Arnold Lobel. There were also two other people dressed as a pig and an elephant. I later learned from my daughter they were from the series “Elephant and Piggie,” created by Mo Willems.

There was also a costumed cat-like creature but I was fearful it would just be another children’s book I’d never heard of. So, I didn’t look him up.

But now, I was curious about what kids are reading today. I checked out the “Top 15 books” every young person is reading and found the No. 1 book was “A Court of Thorns and Roses” by Sarah J. Maas, which I’d never heard of.

It wasn’t until I reached No. 3, “A Series of Unfortunate Events” by Lemony Snicket that a title looked familiar. Not that I’ve read any books by Lemony Snicket.

And it wasn’t until I reached book No. 5, “A Wrinkle in Time” by Madeleine L’Engle, that I found something I’ve read.

All this self-recrimination aside, I feel it’s important for Woodland to have a bookmobile. It’s a good $650,000 investment because it brings books, or other media such as DVDs (and even audio books), directly to those who may not be able to access the community library or a school library.

A report to the City Council, which authorized the bookmobile, found three-quarters of 4th-grade students reading below grade level are economically disadvantaged and over 20% of Woodland adults do not have a high school (or equivalent) education.”

There are also more English speakers than Spanish speakers who attend the library’s story times.

But fundamentally, more people from all walks of life need to read and we should be delighted that people like Librarian Greta Galindo pushed to bring books to the public. I look forward to seeing bookmobile librarian Casey Wilson driving through my neighborhood.

Jim Smith is the former editor of The Daily Democrat, retiring in 2021 after a 27-year career at the paper.