Reading Is a Superpower

Like so many millions of other people out there, I’ve always loved reading. Books were a lifeline that I clung to when I was little. My mom and dad divorced when I was a toddler, so every time I was shuffled back and forth between my parents' houses and their drastically different worlds, my books were what comforted me and felt familiar. I hid in stories; my best friends were characters in novels, and I’d rather sit in the closet and read than go to the park or out to eat. I learned how to read very early on thanks to my very dedicated mother who would read to me for hours and hours and hours, and I continued to love books so much that I decided to study them.

After graduating college with a degree in English, I took a job as a reading interventionist in a Title 1 school in my hometown of Richmond, Virginia. It’s a job I had wanted so badly since first stumbling across it, and I waited four months to finally get hired. I would be working with K-3rd graders in small groups, helping the kids who were below grade level in literacy catch up. I would be in charge of leading those kids, many of whom didn’t know all of the letters and sounds of the alphabet yet, to become full-blown readers by the end of the school year. I remember my mother excitedly telling me the night before my first day, “You’re going to give those kids their superpower.”

I laughed and shrugged it aside at the time, but looking back on that first year, my mother was right. These were kids whose home lives were filled with uncertainty and disruption. Many of them didn’t have a single book at home, or anyone to read it to them if they did. So I sat on the floors of those classrooms and got to work teaching each child how to string sounds together until they became words.

I’ve always loved reading, but you don’t become an avid reader if you aren’t taught the skills to read in the first place. Even if you don’t read books for pleasure, reading is a required skill to make it in society. Whether you’re reading signs, browsing a menu, filling out a job application, sending a text….it’s unavoidable. The knowledge that there are so many children (and adults!) who don’t have this skill simply because they didn’t have someone to teach them was an unsolved problem that constantly lingered in the back of my mind. And up until a few years ago, I didn’t know how to help fix it.

Picture this: you walk into a used bookstore. It’s bright and quirky and filled with all of the best books, but at a fraction of the cost. And each time you purchase one of these books, the money goes to a program that teaches kids how to read. But this isn’t some obscure program that happens in a faraway land - this program is happening right in the next room. There are cozy tutoring areas filled with children working on phonics and comprehension, right in this bookstore, surrounded by books and a community that supports them.

This is the goal. In my dream world, I’ll create a nonprofit bookstore whose mission is to teach kids (and eventually adults) who don’t have the necessary resources how to read, free of cost. Used books in great condition, as well as new books by the authors themselves, will be donated, and the book sales will go towards this literacy program and running the bookstore. Each child will be taught how to read by a trained tutor, either in the bookstore’s tutoring center or directly in schools themselves. It will be a community space, with art from local artists covering the walls, rooms available for book clubs or other get togethers, and a host of events filling up the calendar. Pet adoptions! Bake sales! Small concerts! Story time! Comfortable and creative places for kids to read in every corner, from treehouse hideaways to sunny garden spots. And when a child completes the program and is a full-fledged reader, they will open the door to a bright and colorful closet full of books, books full of diverse people from all walks of life, free to choose any story they desire to call their very own.

While this goal really does feel like a dream, I’m working hard to make it a reality. I have years of tutoring kids in reading under my belt. I plan to begin working in my local bookstore this fall to learn the ins and outs of a business I've always been fascinated by. And I’m currently getting a personalized master’s in Literacy Education so I can learn not just the complexities of literacy instruction, but additional skills that will help me reach my goal such as grant writing, selecting diverse children’s books, and becoming an educator who works towards social change.

It’s a daunting dream, and I know the path to accomplish it won't be storybook perfect. But with so many little kids out there who don’t have their superpower yet, I'll do everything I can to make it happen.