" This is the conclusion I reached when I was young, poor, and lacking in prospects. While some people [...] read to know they are not alone, the poor read to know that they are not condemned. It is often said that children are the wealth of the poor. This was not my experience. But books are without question the wealth of the poor's children. Books are a guiding light out of the underworld, a secret passageway, an escape hatch. To the affluent, books are ornaments. To the poor, books are siege weapons. "

― Joe Queenan