I must have always known reading was very important because the first memories I have as a child deal with books. There was not one night that I don’t remember mom reading me a storybook by my bedside. I was extremely inspired by the elegant way the words sounded.

I always wanted to know what my mom was reading. Hearing mom say, “I can’t believe what’s printed in the newspaper this morning,” made me want to grab it out of her hands and read it myself. I wanted to be like my mom and know all of the things she knew. So I carried around a book, and each night, just to be like her, I would pretend to be reading.

This is how everyone learned to read. We would start off with sentences, then paragraphs, and then stories. It seemed an unending journey, but even as a six-year-old girl I realized that knowing how to read could open many doors. When mom said, “The C-A-N-D-Y is hidden on the top shelf,” I knew where the candy was. My progress in reading raised my curiosity, and I wanted to know everything. I often found myself telling my mom to drive more slowly, so that I could read all of the road signs we passed.

Most of my reading through primary, middle and high school was factual reading. I read for knowledge, and to make A’s on my tests. Occasionally, I would read a novel that was assigned, but I didn’t enjoy this type of reading. I liked facts, things that are concrete. I thought anything abstract left too much room for argument.

Yet, now that I’m growing and the world I once knew as being so simple is becoming more complex, I find myself needing a way to escape. By opening a novel, I can leave behind my burdens and enter into a wonderful and mysterious world where I am now a new character. In these worlds I can become anyone. I don’t have to write down what happened or what technique the author was using when he or she wrote this. I just read to relax.

We’re taught to read because it’s necessary for much of human understanding. Reading is a vital part of my life. Reading satisfies my desire to keep learning. And I’ve found that the possibilities that lie within books are limitless.

From the time he was a young boy, Jim Haskins always had a book in his hand. While other kids were outside playing ball, Jim was usually reading. He could be found in one of his favorite places: curled up underneath the kitchen table or up in the tree that grew in his front yard.

Jim was born in Demopolis, Alabama, during the time of segregation (隔离). Because Jim was Black, he was not allowed to check out a single book at the public library. Libraries were for whites only. The laws of segregation separated Jim from all the books he longed to read. But Jim was determined. He convinced a teacher at school to lend him books of her own. He even managed to get some public library books through a white woman whom his mom worked for doing laundry.

When Jim was a teenager, Black Americans’ struggle for equal rights was becoming the civil rights movement. Many brave people were taking risks by refusing to follow unfair segregation laws. Jim went to Montgomery, Alabama, and joined a civil rights group. The group was headed by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Jim believed in King’s nonviolent approach to change. Once, during a peaceful march, Jim was arrested. Because of that, his college expelled him.

He did graduate from another college. Afterward, he went on to teach school in Harlem, a part of New York City. As a teacher, he had trouble finding books that interested his Black students. So he decided to write his own books about successful Black Americans. Through his writing, he met and interviewed many of the people he admired, including Rosa Parks.

Today, libraries have more than one hundred books written by Jim Haskins, the boy who loved to read, and today, children of all races can walk through the doors of any public library and find interesting books that inform, entertain, and inspire them.

The following books support kids in understanding different kinds of emotions and noticing when they are feeling them.

The Heard and the Bottle

As this wise story shows, we lose access to all our feelings, even the good ones, when we bottle them up. The bottle metaphor (隐喻) is drawn out for children to see. It might be helpful to use this in your family as you each choose to feel any emotion.

A Little Emotional

From the illustrator of the Ordinary People Change the World series comes a humorous and heartfelt story about a boy struggling with uncomfortable emotions. Tommy’s favorite toy has gone missing, and he works through a lot of emotions while he searches for it, from worry to anger.

Breathing Makes It Better

Part guide, part sweet story, Breathing Makes It Better shows children how breath can be their bridge from controlling emotions to a state of calm. Through easy practices like imagining yourself outside in the wind, each story shows children how to use breath as a to deal with challenging situations.

My Mixed Emotions

My Mired Emotions is an interactive handbook that helps teens identify and handle different emotions. Focusing on the four basic emotions—happiness, anger, fear, and sadness—it’s filled with examples, the science behind each, and advice for dealing with feelings. It’s a good way to help kids grow their emotional intelligence.