Reading Changed My Life - Townsend Press

Reading Changed My Life! Three True Storiesthe realities Julia Burney was thinking about whenshe said, “I knew from the time I was a little girlthat reading was power. . . . You cannot thrive inthis society without reading well. I arrest peoplewho are unable to read their rights, and I think howhopeless life must look for them.”The three women whose stories appear hereonce faced odds that must have seemed hopeless.But instead of giving up, they took responsibility forturning their lives around. Maria Cárdenas, DaisyRussell, and Julia Burney each recognized thepower that reading provides, and each has claimedthat power for her own.vi