Reading Changed My Life - Townsend Press

Julia Burneykids didn’t understand what that meant, or how tofind the rest of the story. These were big kids—seventh,eighth grade—and they were embarrassed.”Julia adds, “I can’t let myself cry in front of the children.But that day I came close.” Julia quicklyorganized a class on how to read a newspaper, andthe Racine paper now donates five copies to the centereach day. Now the older children routinely keepup with the news. Other children, members of abook club, munch on pizza as they discuss a storythey’ve all read. And every day, volunteers sit inrocking chairs and read stories aloud to any youngsterswho want to listen. “I’m 51 years old, and itstill hurts to remember that no one ever read to me,”Julia says. “These children won’t have to say that.”As Julia talks, those old memories keep surfacing:the books atop her family’s refrigerator, thelonging for someone to read to her. It seems thatJulia can never quite forget the little girl that sheonce was.85