Many of us grew up learning to read by reading the daily newspaper. First, we’d start with the comics, and then special pages for kids. Later, we’d take in that entire grouping plus the sports pages. Eventually, we’d move to news as well.

Newspapers help us learn. This is a fact.

It’s also a fact that most people have pets and love them.

Experts say caring for and loving a pet lengthens life.

The Selma Times-Journal is offering its readers a way to show off their pets and to help put newspapers in the hands of schoolchildren.

Here’s how it works: Get the entry form in the newspaper and deliver it along with the entry fee to the Times-Journal office by 5 p.m., Tuesday, Feb. 1.

The contest for the cutest pet will provide money through entry fees and voting rounds to put newspapers in classrooms through Newspapers in Education.

The newspaper’s goal is to have 75 classrooms sponsored before the beginning of the 2012 school year, which begins in August.

So, take a picture of Fido and deliver it to the newspaper with a $10 fee.

By doing so, you’ll put literacy at a child’s fingertips.