Help Kids Need to Read Write Chapter 18!

Why I Support Kids Need to Read- Jessica Payne

I have dyslexia.

When I was little, we didn’t know as much about dyslexia as we do today. I just remember struggling to read and not always getting the push or support I needed to get past that struggle. For a while, reading felt like something I simply wasn’t very good at.

Then, in fourth grade, something changed.

Books opened up for me through the American Girl books. From there, I moved on to encyclopedias and big historical books—the kind filled with beautiful pictures, fascinating facts, and captions that sometimes had more words than the regular text. Then came science and art.

In middle school, I discovered my first science fiction book, Ender’s Game. I loved it so much that it became the first book I ever reread without being asked to. My father introduced me to Robert Heinlein through Have Space Suit—Will Travel, and from there, I traveled even further through the fantasy collection at my public library.

Looking back, I realize how incredibly fortunate I was.

Even though reading was difficult for me, books were always accessible to me. My schools had libraries. There were books on the shelves at home. And the public library was literally just down the street. I had opportunities to find books that worked for me—to discover stories and subjects that made me want to keep turning the pages.

I didn't fully understand how much of a gift that was until my first year of teaching.

That was when I began to see the other side of the equation. I discovered that many of my students didn't have parents who regularly read to them. Many had never been to a public library. Some came from schools where the libraries had been closed, and many didn't have books on their shelves at home.

The contrast could not have been sharper.

I had struggled to read, but I had never had to struggle to find a book.

As a teacher, I witnessed firsthand what happens when a book finally reaches the right child. And what I've learned is that it doesn't matter how old a student is, how far behind they are, or whether they currently think of themselves as a reader. They can still open up when they find the right book.

But that can only happen if they have access to books in the first place.

That is why I support Kids Need to Read.

Not simply because I was a teacher, although that is certainly part of it. Not simply because I loved books as a child, although that is part of it too.

I support Kids Need to Read because every child deserves the opportunity I had: the opportunity to discover a book that opens something up inside them.

I can't put a library in every school. I can't put books on the shelves of every home. But I can be part of an organization working to make sure that children who don't have that access aren't left without the opportunity to discover what a book can do for them.

I was lucky enough to have books find me.

Now, I want to help make sure books find every child who needs them.