1 . During the coronavirus lockdown, a fifth-grade teacher contacted me asking for help. She was ________ with students not attending online class but her students all loved the story in my book. So she asked if I had any ________.

My immediate ________ was for me to do a weekly book club where I would read to the students. The idea was ________ by Mrs. Sandberg, my first teacher in America.

When I moved to America from Iran in 1972, I spoke seven words of English. Despite the language ________, I immediately loved school. My favorite part of the day was ________ lunch, when Mrs. Sandberg read to us. Her kind voice ________ me to magical places where animals could talk and where kids had grand adventures.

With this joyful ________, I started the club. At the first session, five kids ________. I read to them and tried to ________ a conversation. Whenever I asked a question, I was met with complete ________. The following week, a few more kids came; they ________ started responding, but with one-word answers. The next session, they gave ________ answers and more students participated in the conversations.

This club has quickly become the ________ of my week. I have gotten to know the students and grown fond of every single one of them. Reading out loud forces me to forget everything else for an hour. I recently wondered if our post-lunch reading hour had given Mrs. Sandberg a chance to forget her ________, too.

2 . The brown bear was walking quietly behind the pink duck, ready to put his paws around her neck and throw her into a pot of boiling soup.

We turned the _________. While I laughed quietly at the _________ of a bear boiling water to _________ a duck, I lifted my head to find little Victoria sat huddled (蜷缩的) next to my arm, honestly _________ to turn the page and find her favorite pink creature in a bear’s _________.

My mind began to wander. I _________ the Thursday when Victoria ran into the reading room showing a golden certificate from her _________. “Best reader,” it glistened (闪光). A smile came across my face as I looked into the eyes of the7-year-old who just last year had been _________ in first grade _________ her reading was not up to standard.

It was the same __________ that had filled my face six months before, when Victoria joined the __________ program. After spending the first session responding to a stream of questions, I __________ that Victoria’s talkative nature and __________ for answers overshadowed her desire to __________ and read. I __________ her energy and great curiosity and fueled it with my own enthusiasm. For every __________ she presented, I took her to scan the library shelves __________ a related book. I watched her eyes grow with excitement as I __________ helped her press through the stories, a journey in search of her __________.

Though I go in the library each week to be these kids’ __________, I come out, having been their student. They have introduced me to a side of me I never realized existed.

6 . The books in David’s schoolbag felt like bricks as he ran down the street. What he wanted to do was play basketball with Eric,_________ his mother told him he would have to return his sister’s books to the library first.

He went into the building; only a few minutes _________ closing time. He put the books into the return box. And after a brief _________ in the toilet, he would be on his way to the playground to _________ Eric.

David stepped out of the toilet and stopped in _________ — the library lights were off. The place was _________. The doors had been shut. They _________ be opened from the inside: he was trapped — in a library!

He tried to _________ a telephone call but was unable to _________. As the sun began to set, he searched for a light and found it.

__________ he could see. David wrote on a piece of paper: “__________! I’m TRAPPED inside!” and stuck it to the glass door. Surely, someone passing by would see it.

He was surprised to discover that this place was not so unpleasant, __________. Rows and rows of shelves held books, videos and music. He saw a book about Michael Jordan and took it off the shelf. He settled into a chair and started to __________.

He knew he had to__________, but now, that didn’t seem to be such a __________ thing.

9 . My love for libraries grew after I joined the public library.

From the age of 8, I was allowed to walk from my home to the city _______. There the librarian gave     me my first library card, and I could ______ a range of books from then on. I was _______, and this love for libraries and reading changed my life, ______ me to create a safe ______ for high-school students one day, too.

By the time I was in high school, I could read about the ______ that we were studying in class, _______Charles Dickens and Mark Twain. When I studied English literature at university, I thought it was time to _______my own library. For the next 30 years as a teacher, I continued to ______ books. Until one day, I realized that all my ______ had become a part of the house, like wallpaper.

Toward the end of my ______ career, I became a teacher-librarian at my old high school, where I had first learned English literature. This ______ resumed (重获) my love and appreciation for libraries. I never forgot how ______ it was to be surrounded by books.

With the money intended for the library, I ______ for novels that would interest my teenage audience. I bought sofas and comfortable chairs, ______ the library into an inclusive (包容的) public space, ______ for everyone.

In doing so, I realized that the library isn’t just a place to do research. ______ , they are places that offer an opportunity to connect with the _______, the present and the future. All that is required for students is ______ a bit of curiosity. Libraries are places that should be full of life. And their doors must be kept open to everyone — ______ !

10 . 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 books on my bookshelves were written by British authors, and there was _________ in translation from other languages. What a shame! So, I decided to launch my _________ reading project.

But how could I find books from much of the rest of the world? I had to ask for _________. So in February 202I, I posted a short _________ online. Within hours, people began to _________. At first, it was friends and colleagues. And soon, it was _________.

Four days later, I got a(n) _________ from a woman called Rafidah in Kuala Lumpur. She said she _________ my project and went to her local bookshop to __________ my Malaysian book. A few weeks later, a package which contained one book—Rafidah's choice from Malaysia reached me. At the time, I was __________ that a stranger more than 6,000miles away would help someone she would probably never __________.

Rafidah's kindness __________ to be the pattern for that year. A writer from Spain __________ emailed me an unpublished translation of his novel to me. Thanks to the kind strangers, I could read books from over 70 __________ .