The evidence is overwhelming. Introducing a child to reading gives them one of the most important personal habits they’ll need to have a successful career and a happy, productive life.

1. It’s difficult to overstate the importance of getting children off to an early successful start in reading. —What Reading Does for the Mind

2. 15 minutes a day of independent reading can equal one million or more words in a year.

3. Reading to a child in an interactive style raises his or her IQ by over six points.

4. Daily reading to children puts them almost one year ahead of those who are not being read to.

5. Children without basic literacy skills when they enter school are three to four times more likely to drop out later.

6. For the majority of young people, enthusiastic and habitual reading is the single most predictive personal habit for the ability to achieve desirable life outcomes. —After School Literacy Brief

7. The U.S. Dept. of Education maintains that avid readers promotes speech, confidence, memorization, better skills acquisition, superior grades, and a desirable life as measured by income, profession, and employment.

8. Good readers often have more financially rewarding jobs.

9. Children who read 3,000 words per day will be in the top 2% of standardized tests. Children who read 20 words per day will be in the bottom 2% of standardized tests.

Info graphic courtesy of harpercollins.com

Danielle Taylor was disappointed in the chosen theme for her prom “Sweet Dreams” (or Candy Land). Who wouldn’t be? So, being a self-confessed nerdy person—which is another way of saying creatively awesome individual, IMO—she conceptually designed her prom dress after the main character on the hit show Arrow, equip with a kickass bow. Her friend, Ashlyn picked out a Flash-inspired dress. (Note: they didn’t actually create the dresses; just found some to suite their purposes.)

Taylor was said to have received a lot of look from other students, and afterward people couldn’t stop talking about the girl in the hood.

Here’s to badass fearless geek girls! There is hope for our youth yet.

It is sometimes really difficult to think up nice, proper dedications that come from the heart. So it was refreshing to see these unorthodox dedications that actually got published.

I’d like to dedicate the last dedication to my Creatures of Darkness fans…

#8 – My Shit Life So Far by Frankie Boyle

#7 – Let’s Pretend This Never Happened by Jenny Lawson

#6 – An Introduction To Algebraic Topology by Joseph J. Rotman

#5 – Nothing Can Possibly Go Wrong by Prudence Shen and Faith Erin Hicks

#4 – Psychos: A White Girl Problems Book by Babe Walker

#3 – Ruins by Dan Wells

#2 – The Selection by Kiera Cass

#1 – The House of Hades by Rick Riordan

Whether it’s a villain, anti-hero, or the recently introduced anti-villain, there are just some characters you love to hate, while a part of you hates yourself for loving them.

14) Tom Hiddleston as Loki (The Avengers)

Loki has a fantastic back story that makes us instantly sympathetic towards him. The typical orphan, seeking approval and a place where he fits. But boy does he go about it in the worst way! We kind of love him for it too. Plus, he has some of the best lines in the movies. Humor is a powerful tool for bringing likability to a character that is otherwise wholly unlikable.

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13) Meryl Streep as Miranda Priestly (Devil Wears Prada)

Has Meryl Streep ever played a terrible character? The leading lady has a natural poise, limitless grace, and something indescribable that makes her one of the greatest actresses of our time. When she plays bad, she is oh so good.

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12) Rachel McAdams as Regina George (Mean Girls)

The character of Regina probably hits a little close to home for a lot of us. Unless you were your high school’s mean girl. God I hope not. But if you were, we can forgive you…after the bus scene. Rachel McAdams does the perfect rendition of the mean girl most of us remember, we hated her, yet on some weird twisted level, we still wanted to be her. What is up with that?

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11) Daryl Hannah, Vivica A. Fox, Michael Madsen, and Lucy Liu as The Deadly Viper Assassination Squad (Kill Bill)

The Deadly Viper Assassination Squad is by far the best group of cold, merciless, heartless murderers ever put on the big screen. Together they are brutal, callous, and cruel. Individually they are formidable in their own rights. And, hello, they fight with swords.

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10) Wallace Shawn as Vizzini (The Princess Bride)

Though his villain role was relatively short, Wallace Shawn left a big mark and became one of the most memorable characters of the princess bride. “Inconceivable!” Vizzini had what all villains need; a massive ego and the delusion that no one could ever get the best of him.

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9) Christoph Waltz as Colonel Hans Landa (Inglorious Bastards)

Okay, it feels really, really wrong to even remotely like this character. Christoph Waltz did way too good a job at making us giggle just before his character, Nazi commander Colonel Hans Landa, did unspeakable things. He plays the ultimate sociopath who loves his despicable job way too much. This is one those hate to love characters for sure.

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8) Bryan Cranston as Walter White ( Breaking Bad)

Speaking of sociopaths, I have to include Walter White. While binge-watching Breaking Bad, I flipped between loving this character and wishing someone would just slap him across his self-destructive stupid selfish face. Still, I think we all miss Heisenberg.

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7) Will Ferrell as Megamind (Megamind)

Yollo! Okay, this one might be a little silly, but this is the perfect anti-villain. A villain reluctantly turned hero. As Megamind bumbles through his efforts to be the best villain he can be, he is unexpectedly forced to be the hero. The one who saves the girl. And the relationship between Megamind and hard hitting reporter, Roxanne Ritchie, turns out to be incredibly sweet.

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6) Jane Lynch as Sue Sylvester (Glee)

This lady’s sense of humor and sense of timing is practically otherworld. Almost everything that comes out of her mouth is hilarious, even when she’s playing a hateful bitch. “I might buy a small diaper for your chin, because it looks like a baby’s ass.” And those friggin’ track suites. She had them in every color, am I right?

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5) Megan Mullally as Karen Walker (Will & Grace)

This self-indulgent, scandalous, entitled, pill-popping, drunk was one of the funniest bitches on the block. She said the worst things, did the worst things, represented extreme excess and had a general disregard for everyone around her. And we friggin’ loved it.

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4) Adam Baldwin as Jayne Cobb (Firefly)

Where are my Firefly fans? Brown coats unite! Jayne was an unexpected hate to love, love to hate character for me. He is totally selfish in the most ignorant way with just the right amount of “Fine we’ll do it your way, but next time I’m blowing someone’s head off.” Sure, he’d sell his grandmother for a tidy profit, but he’d also participate in her rescue.

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3) David Bowie as Jareth, The Goblin King (Labyrinth)

Big 80’s hair, make up, leather pants, and a horde of goblin minions. What’s not to love about this villain? Did I mention he sings? After all that, it’s not difficult to get past the fact that he kidnapped a little baby with the intention of turning it into one of his goblin followers.

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2) Hugh Laurie as Gregory House (House)

An egotistical, jaded, pill-popping doctor who tells it like it is, especially if people don’t want to hear it. He’s crude and crass and against everything that is good and proper. He’s the gold standard in assholeary, and everything he says is meant to cut to the bone—he’s good at what he does. Somehow, America fell in love with this jackass for eight seasons, three times as long as most other TV programs. This show went on even after we all discovered his patient would be cured in the last five minutes of every single show. We really did love to hate this one.

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1) Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lecter (Silence of the Lambs)

Probably the most chilling, terrifying, Instill-fear-into-the-hearts-of-children characters ever created. Anthony Hopkins portrayal of Hannibal Lecter is profoundly and horrifically brilliant. Devoid of sympathy, empathy, and basically any relatable human emotion, somehow we absolutely love this character.

Did I leave anyone out? What character would you have added to this list?