Reading changes your life. Reading unlocks worlds unknown or forgotten, taking travelers around the world and through time. Reading helps you escape the confines of school and pursue your own education. Through characters - the saints and the sinners, real or imagined - reading shows you how to be a better human being.

I realized that every lesson, conference, response, and assignment I taught must lead students away from me and toward their autonomy as literate people.

Failing to graduate a populace that values reading has long-term consequences for everyone.

Failure is not an option, so why talk about it?

I try to teach my students that books are a mirror, reflecting their own lives, and a window, giving them a peek into someone else's.

Books are love letters (or apologies) passed between us, adding a layer of conversation beyond our spoken words.

If you don't read, I don't know how to communicate with you...I can never express who I am in my own words as powerfully as my books can.