Lainey finished third grade. She had good grades and could read ______       grade level, but she did not like to read. On a family car trip, her Aunt Dede pulled out a copy of Harry Potter, as a surprise for her     ______. But Lainey took one look at it,       ______   her eyes, and said, “Borrrring！”

Aunt Dede, a teacher, had read the book to her students, and they loved it.     ______     the youngest children in the class were       ______   by the story. They     ______     with great interest, and then     ______     joined in grand conversations about Harry's adventures.

“How can you say it's     ______？Have you read it？” asked Aunt Dede.

“No, it's too long and it doesn't have any     ______，” complained Lainey.

“Oh, that's where you are       ______； there are lots of pictures. Every page is full of pictures; you just have to read the words to       ______     them. It's like magic.”

“Nice try, Aunt Dede，” Lainey replied     ______     from the back seat.

Another ______ was in order. “Well, if you don't want to read it, give it ______. Maybe your mum would ______ hearing the story.” The book sailed through the air to Aunt Dede and she began to read it aloud. By the end of the first chapter，______ were coming from the back seat: “Please read a little ______．”

Lainey is an example of an   ______ reader. As shown here, Lainey can become ______ about reading when ______ with literature on topics that interest her, and when the people around her model involvement in the reading process.

Jennifer’s mother, a librarian, read to her three children every day. She got them ________ to books. When Jennifer had the ________ to be an elementary school teacher in Danville, Virginia, she had the ________ that her students loved reading just as she had. But early on, she realized that some kids were left with limited ________ to books.

“It’s ________ to teachers of young children at the end of the first day of school which kids are ________ to or are not,” she said. To Jennifer, the ________ was simple: give kids books. In 2017, as part of an event called Engage Danville she ________ 900 used children’s books over three days. Most people would be ________ with that.

“Anybody could do that,” she said. “I wanted to do something to ________ my faith.” So she raised the goal ________ by setting a new goal for herself: give away one million books. It sounds like a number beyond her ________ but she got to work, first by ________ friends to donate books or money to buy books. Before long, as news of Jennifer’s project ________ strangers started leaving books by her front door. As the books come in, Jennifer gives them to local schools free of charge, and also ________ books to little free libraries around the city of 41, 000. She also ________a book club in the local prison.

In the four years she’s been doing all this. The Book Lady, as Jennifer has come to be ________ has given away more than 78, 000 books! And she has no ________ to slow down. It’s too important for kids with few ________

“Reading can take you ________” she said. “If you can read, you can learn almost anything.”

I had a bad habit of skipping to the last pages of a book. I just wanted to see how it ended ______ I was still in the middle of it. This habit ______ first my mom, then my friends, and ______ even my own daughter. Often my ______ wouldn’t be limited just to the books I read but also to what others were ______ as well. Then one day my daughter told me in anger, “Dad, please just read a book one ______ at a time like everyone else!”

At times I didn’t ______ this bad habit to just books either. I also tried to skip ahead in my own life and ______ out what to do months and even years from now ______ enjoy each day at present. Although I knew that the ______ of my life wasn’t done yet and that I had many pages ______ to go. I still couldn’t control my burning desire to write the ______ of it half-way through. Time and again, I would ______ jump ahead and try to solve every potential problem before it happened. Life, ______, doesn’t work like that. It loves to ______ us, and you never know what new problems, changes or opportunities each new day will ______.

Recently when I found myself living in the ______ again, I felt a voice that gently told me I needed to “live one day at a time.” When I heard those words, I ______, turned the book of my life back to the ______ page, and thanked God for today.

Each of us has to ______ the book of life line by line, moment by moment and trust that our story will be brought to its perfect end.