Erin Entrada Kelly: Building compassion and empathy through books

“It’s important for young readers to see themselves in books, but also to see others in books. You know, there’s a lot of talk about books being mirrors and windows, and I definitely believe that our society is multicultural. There’s so many different backgrounds of every kind, different abilities, different thought processes. The value in seeing yourself is understanding that there’s not necessarily an ideal that you need to look toward, but to know that you’re already ideal as you are. But, also whenever you read about people who are outside of your experience, the ability to build empathy, and understanding of where other people come from, and what other people are experiencing, because we all live in these bubbles, right? And it’s important for us to be able to peek inside someone else’s bubble if we can. Because that’s how we become a more compassionate society. And you know, there’s a lot of studies that show readers tend to be more empathetic, and that books help build empathy, and I mean what’s more important than that?”