2 . 2002 it was, and I, a young girl who set out with the idea of getting my own library card, was permitted by my mother, Nichelle Nichols, to walk the mile from Prince George to the library in nearby Port Perry.

Down the street from Port Perry High was the library—a dark-brown brick building, imposing to a child of only seven years old.

To the left of the sidewalk was a series of steps that I climbed to push through a heavy door into a very large room filled with books. To an older lady I said, “I’d like a library card, please.”

She replied, “The children’s section is downstairs.”

“But I want adult books, because I can read.”

“Well, you are a child. You can’t get a card up here.”

“I’m six and I can read and write.”

“Go along child,” she said in a pleasant but authoritative voice.

I found the side door and walked in, seeing short and low shelves full of children’s books. Upon opening one, I read, “See Spot run. Run Spot. Run.” I opened another book. It read, “Once upon a time there was.” Sighing quietly, I walked out and back up to the main desk. By now, it was getting dark and I had to hurry.

“You’re back.” said the librarian.

“Yes. I will make you a deal. You hand me any book you like. If I can read a paragraph in it, you’ll give me a library card.” Shrugging (耸肩) happily, she handed me a thick book, I opened it and began to read. When I finished, the lady took the book back without a word.

I waited for a while and finally the lady stood up, handing me two cards. On one was printed the days and times the library was open to adults, and on the other were the precious words, Bonita Sue Nichols. I thanked her and quickly left the library.

4 . Reading is an exercise for the mind. It is good for our vocabulary and literacy skills, teaching us math or science concepts and helping us learn history.     1     Have you read a story and felt tears well up because of a character’s suffering? If so, that is because you have empathy (共情) for the character. Empathy is a magic eye that sees into other people’s hearts and it can be learned through various fictions.

Research shows that human brains react differently to stories and facts. Many more areas of your brain light up when you’re enjoying a story, and your brain thinks you are in the story.     2    

Empathy helps you to read people’s emotions and work out the best way to respond. This skill, called emotional intelligence (EI), can make it easier to communicate and connect with people.     3     One study found that people who read the Harry Potter novels, which tell stories about humans fighting against the evil, were less likely to behave unfairly towards powerless groups including refugees (难民).

    4     After reading The Boy at the Back of the Class, a story about a boy who is a refugee escaping from the war, students in St Michael’s High School were inspired to do a 10-mile walk for the non-profit organization Refugee Action. Their empathy also stimulated them to raise £1,000 for people who were forced to leave their homes because of war.

Reading encourages us to empathise with others, which could potentially lead to several beneficial outcomes. Not only are we more likely to engage in helpful behaviors when we feel empathy for other people, but others are also more likely to help us when they experience empathy.     5    

5 . The Book Lady

It was Jennifer Williams's mother who got her hooked on books. A librarian, she read to her three children every day. “Not until we went to kindergarten,” Williams told vadogwood.com, a local news site. “Until we went to college.”

When Williams, now 54, became an elementary school teacher and tutor in Danville, Virginia, she wanted her students to fall in love with reading just as she had. But early on, she realized that some kids had limited access to books.

“It’s very obvious to teachers of young children which kids are read to versus kids who are not,” she said. “It’s obvious at the end of the first day of school.” To Williams, the solution was simple: Give kids books. In 2017, as part of a civic event called Engage Danville, she gave away 900 used children’s books over three days. Most people would be satisfied with that.

“I was like, ‘Anybody could do that,’” she said. “I wanted to do something that’s going to stretch my faith, my work ethic, my everything.”

So she set a new goal for herself: Give away one million books. It sounds like an unreachable number, but as Williams posted on Facebook: “Don’t complain in the bleachers if you aren’t willing to work hard out on the field.”

So she got to work, first by roping in friends to donate books or money to buy books. Before long, as news of Williams’s project spread, strangers started leaving piles of books on her front porch. As quickly as the books come in, Williams gives them to local schools — free of charge — and also supplies books to little free libraries around the city of 41,000 just over the North Carolina border. She also hosts a book club for prisoners in the local prison.

In the four years she's been doing all this, the Book Lady, as Williams has come to be known, has given away more than 78,000 books — only 922,000 more to reach her goal! And she’s not slowing down. It’s too important for kids with few options.

“Reading can take you anywhere,” she told CNN. “You can travel in time and space. If you can read, you can learn almost anything.”