Yes Lyz, you can nail it better than anyone I’ve ever read (or listened to). You have a powerful gift and the courage to use it when the modern world bares you and your family to a torrent of hate and abuse. Respect.
"Knowledge comes with risk. When they say the truth sets you free, what they don’t tell you is that the freedom comes because the truth lit the match and burned down your home. Not knowing is a little easier."
This needs to be read at every school board and library trustees meeting in the country ❤️ Thank you for these strong words and congrats on your award!
This is, bar none, the best speech on the power of books and the freedom to read I’ve ever seen. Spare no one who would ban books or the truth from children. Light a fire under them. I grew up thinking I was alone. Being scared by the Bogey at first is so much better than that prison of loneliness, when one book, just one, could open a child’s life to a rich and beautifully diverse world.
I am sure if I had seen this speech I would have also cried as I did here in my car after school drop off. Books are so powerful. We can’t protect our kids from everything—this week as it was the anniversary of my uncle’s death and as we have talked about infant and pregnancy loss with our Every Baby Remembered Walk and the wave of light, I have talked more to my kids this week about death and loss than usual. They are 5 and 7 and they know babies don’t always live and they know their parents and especially their mothers are forever changed by that grief. They know a 55 yo man can die from glioblastoma 18 months after first discovering he had it and that it can recur after a successful surgery.
My 7 yo checked out I Survived the Nazi Invasion the first week of 2nd grade. I didn’t particularly want to have the conversation with him, my initial inclination when asked about Nazis was to run and hide, but instead I talked to him because indeed like the child in the book, there were VERY young children who were dealing with these horrors and their parents couldn’t protect them. I watched Life is Beautiful again this year and recalled the story of the 5 year old whose dad told him it was a game to protect him and sobbed again.
The world is awful but it is also beautiful because there are books and all those books are helping someone feel seen.
Love this whole speech! Spot ON!!! Thank you for articulating this issue so clearly and powerfully! Books set you free! 📚
Bravo!
Yes Lyz, you can nail it better than anyone I’ve ever read (or listened to). You have a powerful gift and the courage to use it when the modern world bares you and your family to a torrent of hate and abuse. Respect.
"Knowledge comes with risk. When they say the truth sets you free, what they don’t tell you is that the freedom comes because the truth lit the match and burned down your home. Not knowing is a little easier."
That is so tragically beautiful, thank you.
This needs to be read at every school board and library trustees meeting in the country ❤️ Thank you for these strong words and congrats on your award!
OMG - YES!!!!
Thank you, Lyz! I needed to hear these words.
Thank you and congratulations!
Yeahp.
One of the best things I've ever read about books and kids and other people! It is true, true, true!
Just brilliant, thank you!
This was beautiful. Thank you for sharing.
This is, bar none, the best speech on the power of books and the freedom to read I’ve ever seen. Spare no one who would ban books or the truth from children. Light a fire under them. I grew up thinking I was alone. Being scared by the Bogey at first is so much better than that prison of loneliness, when one book, just one, could open a child’s life to a rich and beautifully diverse world.
I am sure if I had seen this speech I would have also cried as I did here in my car after school drop off. Books are so powerful. We can’t protect our kids from everything—this week as it was the anniversary of my uncle’s death and as we have talked about infant and pregnancy loss with our Every Baby Remembered Walk and the wave of light, I have talked more to my kids this week about death and loss than usual. They are 5 and 7 and they know babies don’t always live and they know their parents and especially their mothers are forever changed by that grief. They know a 55 yo man can die from glioblastoma 18 months after first discovering he had it and that it can recur after a successful surgery.
My 7 yo checked out I Survived the Nazi Invasion the first week of 2nd grade. I didn’t particularly want to have the conversation with him, my initial inclination when asked about Nazis was to run and hide, but instead I talked to him because indeed like the child in the book, there were VERY young children who were dealing with these horrors and their parents couldn’t protect them. I watched Life is Beautiful again this year and recalled the story of the 5 year old whose dad told him it was a game to protect him and sobbed again.
The world is awful but it is also beautiful because there are books and all those books are helping someone feel seen.
👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏
I started crying a little at "Rachel Held Evans" and didn't stop for a while.
yes😢
This is such a great speech. Congrats on the award!