1 . When I learned that our community library was hosting a Book Nerd Challenge, I got excited. My granddaughter and I needed a little _______   to increase the quality of the books we read, so I suggested we _______ .

The goal was to read fifty books in a year. I’m an English teacher. This didn’t seem like much of a _______ . Then, I read the small _______   that there were fifty different categories ranging from historical non-fiction to a book with a red cover. Not so _______ after all.

The experience created a _______ between my granddaughter and me. We read a couple of the _______ novels, but we mostly read different titles. However, we had interesting _______ based on the similar themes in our books and we _______ the authors’ styles, different genres, and our favorites. With fifty categories to choose from, I ________ my all-time favorite I read once and several classics.

________ , inspired by a stubborn need to meet the goal, I ________ myself to make time to visit the worlds and characters of the novels. During the Book Nerd Challenge, sometimes I made excuses for ________ when I was unwilling to continue. But after a year, reading became a ________ I desired. My life became more ________ as I grew intellectually. Reading made me uninterested in TV programs. The realistic stories of life ________ the unrealistic dramas on the screen.

Now I find books can provide a better ________ . Perhaps the greatest benefit I ________ through my increased reading is the ________ it has on my writing. Reading improves my vocabulary, models unique styles, provides new insights, inspires new ideas, and stimulates a desire to ________ other authors’ successes.

6 . It's often said that you can judge a person by looking at what's on their bookshelves. Well, when I asked myself this question a few years ago, I made a(n) _______ discovery. Pretty much all the _______ on my bookshelves were written by British authors, and there was almost nothing in translation from other _______. What a shame! So, I decided to begin my _____________ reading project.

But how could I find books from much of the rest of the world? I had to ask for _______. So in October 2011, I started my blog, and I _______ a short appeal (呼吁) online. Within hours, people began to _______. At first, it was friends and colleagues. Then it was friends of friends. And soon, it was _______.

Four days later, I got a(n) _______ from a woman called Rafidah in Kuala Lumpur. She said she loved my project, ________ if she could go to her local English-language bookshop and choose my Malaysian book and post it to me. I ________ accepted, and a few weeks later, a package ________ containing nothing but two books — Rafidah's choice from Malaysia, and a book from Singapore that she had also ________ for me. At the time, I was ________ that a stranger more than 6,000 miles away would go to such lengths to help someone she would probably never ________.

But Rafidah's kindness ________ to be the pattern for that year. Time and again, people went out of their ________ to help me. And books often came from ________ sources. A writer even emailed me an unpublished translation of his novel to me, allowing me to become one of the ________ people ever to read that book in English.

That year, thanks to kind strangers from the four ________ of the world. I read books from over 100 countries.

7 . One day when I was 12, my mother gave me an order: walk to the public library, and borrow at least one book for the summer. This was one more weapon for her to ___my strange problem—____to read.

In the library, I sat down on the floor and ___a few books off the shelf ____. The cover of a book caught my eye. It ___a picture of a beagle. I had recently had a beagle, the first and only animal ___I ever had as a child. ___, one morning, he was gone, ___to someone who had the space and the money to care for him. I never forgot my beagle.

There on the book’s cover was a beagle which looked ___to my dog. I ___my fingers over the picture of the dog on the cover. My eyes ran across the title, Amos, the Beagle with a Plan. ____, I read the title. Without opening the book, I borrowed it.

I started to read about Amos very slowly with ____. Though pages were ___slowly, I got the main idea of the story. At the end of the story, the final scene of ___lingered on my mind until my own lost dog and I were running together.

My mother’s call ___me to the real world. I never told her about my “ ____” experience, but she saw a slow, yet remarkable ___in my school performance. Years later, she was ___that her son had read thousands of books, was awarded a PhD in literature, and authored his own books, articles, poetry and fiction. Books could be ___wonderful and the ___of the words has held.

8 . One day, when I was 12, my mother gave me________: I was to walk to the public library and borrow at least one book for the summer. This was one more weapon for her to________my strange problem-inability to read.

In the library, I sat down on the floor in the children’s section, and________a few books off the shelf at random. The cover of a book caught my eye, it___a picture of a dog. I had recently had a dog, the first and only animal companion I ever had as a child. He was my secret sharer, but one morning, he was gone,_____to someone who had a space and money to care for him. I never forgot my dog.

There on the book’s cover was a dog which looked___to my dog, as if they were the same one. I ran my fingers over the picture of the dog on the cover. My eyes ran across the________, Amos, the Dog with a Plan.________I had read the title. Without opening the book, I borrowed it from the library.

Under the_____of a bush I started to read about Amos. I read very slowly with difficulty. Though________were turned slowly, I got the main idea of the story about a dog who, like mine, had been________from his family and who finally found his way back home. At the end of the story, my mind________the final scene of reunion, on and on,________my own lost dog and I were, in my mind, running together.

My mother’s_____returned me to the real world. It___to me that I had read a book, and I had loved reading that book. Books________be incredibly wonderful and I was going to read them.

I________told my mother about my “miraculous” experience that summer, but she saw a slow but remarkable improvement in my classroom____during the next year. And years later, she was______that her son had read thousands of books, was awarded a PhD in literature, and____his own books, articles, poetry and fiction. The power of the words has held.

9 . In my class were many children who had had great trouble with reading. I decided to try at all costs to __ them of their fear and dislike of __.

One day in class, I said to to them, “Now I’m going to say something about reading that you have never heard a teacher say before. I would like you to read a lot of books this year, but I want you to read them only for __. I am not going to ask your questions to find out whether you __ books or not, if you understand enough of a book to enjoy it and want to __ reading it, that’s enough for me.”

The children were __ and silent. One girl, who had just come to us from a school where she had had a very __ time, looked at me for a long time after I had __ .Then she said slowly, “Mr. Holt, do you really __       that?” I nodded.

Apparently she decided to __ me. The first book she read was Dr. Seuss’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas, not a(n) __ book even for most third graders. For a while she read a number of books at this __. Perhaps she was understanding some __ about reading that her teacher had never given her enough time to       __.

During the spring semester, she really __ me, however. One day, in one of our many free periods, she was reading at her desk. I __ what the book was. I said to myself, “It can’t be.” ___ I asked, “Don’t you find parts of it rather difficult?” She answered, “Oh, sure, but I just __ those parts and go on to the next good part”