1 00:00:01,966 --> 00:00:03,966 JUDY WOODRUFF: As we head into the holiday week, here's a suggestion for when your flight 2 00:00:03,966 --> 00:00:08,133 is delayed, or you just can't possibly watch any more football. 3 00:00:08,133 --> 00:00:10,800 Get a book and read out loud. 4 00:00:10,800 --> 00:00:13,300 But don't just gather the kids and the grandkids. 5 00:00:13,300 --> 00:00:18,300 Tonight, beloved children's book author Kate DiCamillo shares her humble opinion on the 6 00:00:19,766 --> 00:00:24,000 universal and age-defying magic of listening to a shared story. 7 00:00:24,000 --> 00:00:29,000 KATE DICAMILLO, Author, "Louisiana's Way Home": It's 1972, and I'm 8 years old and in second 8 00:00:30,366 --> 00:00:32,800 grade at Clermont Elementary in Clermont, Florida. 9 00:00:32,800 --> 00:00:37,333 The classroom floors are wood, and there's a ticking clock on the wall, and there's a 10 00:00:37,333 --> 00:00:41,133 chalkboard, and there are mottoes to live by strung up above it. 11 00:00:41,133 --> 00:00:46,100 And the teacher, Ms. Boyette, is wearing cat eyeglasses with glinting rhinestones. 12 00:00:47,600 --> 00:00:49,600 She's reading aloud to us from "Island of the Blue Dolphins." 13 00:00:49,600 --> 00:00:54,266 And we have just come to a part of the book where the main character tames a wild dog, 14 00:00:54,900 --> 00:00:56,200 a wild dog. 15 00:00:56,200 --> 00:00:58,400 And I'm literally on the edge of my seat. 16 00:00:58,400 --> 00:01:01,533 I'm listening, listening, caught up in the wonder of at all. 17 00:01:01,533 --> 00:01:04,133 I'm a kid who loves a story. 18 00:01:04,133 --> 00:01:08,766 But also in that second grade classroom seated not too far away from me, there's a class 19 00:01:08,766 --> 00:01:10,800 bully. 20 00:01:10,800 --> 00:01:14,533 Because I am so terrified of this boy, he doesn't even seem real to me. 21 00:01:14,533 --> 00:01:18,333 He is, in my mind, less a boy and more a monster. 22 00:01:18,333 --> 00:01:20,600 In any case, Ms. Boyette is reading. 23 00:01:20,600 --> 00:01:24,700 And I look over at this boy because he is someone I am very much in the habit of keeping 24 00:01:24,700 --> 00:01:26,800 an eye on. 25 00:01:26,800 --> 00:01:31,033 And I notice that he is listening too, that he is engaged by the story, that he, like 26 00:01:32,966 --> 00:01:36,100 me, is leaning forward in his seat and listening with his whole heart. 27 00:01:36,966 --> 00:01:38,900 I stare at him, open-mouthed. 28 00:01:38,900 --> 00:01:43,566 I'm struck with a sudden knowledge that this boy that I'm so afraid of is in fact just 29 00:01:44,100 --> 00:01:45,333 like me. 30 00:01:45,333 --> 00:01:47,433 He's a kid who likes a story. 31 00:01:47,433 --> 00:01:51,033 The boy must feel my eyes on him, because he turns. 32 00:01:51,033 --> 00:01:55,900 He sees me seeing him, and something miraculous happens. 33 00:01:55,900 --> 00:01:58,233 He smiles at me. 34 00:01:58,233 --> 00:01:59,233 Really. 35 00:01:59,233 --> 00:02:00,566 And then another miracle. 36 00:02:00,566 --> 00:02:02,866 I, unafraid, smile back. 37 00:02:02,866 --> 00:02:05,700 We're two kids smiling at each other. 38 00:02:05,700 --> 00:02:08,000 Why have I never forgotten this small moment? 39 00:02:08,000 --> 00:02:12,066 Why, almost 50 years later, do I still recall every detail of it? 40 00:02:12,066 --> 00:02:17,066 I think it's because that moment illustrates so beautifully the power of reading out loud. 41 00:02:18,533 --> 00:02:21,933 Reading aloud ushers us into a third place, a safe room. 42 00:02:21,933 --> 00:02:26,600 It's a room where everyone involved, the reader and the listener, can put down their defenses 43 00:02:26,600 --> 00:02:28,666 and lower their guard. 44 00:02:28,666 --> 00:02:33,133 We humans long not just for story, not just for the flow of language, but for the connection 45 00:02:34,233 --> 00:02:35,933 that comes when words are read aloud. 46 00:02:35,933 --> 00:02:38,066 That connection provides illumination. 47 00:02:38,066 --> 00:02:40,733 It lets us see each other. 48 00:02:40,733 --> 00:02:45,733 When people talk about the importance of reading aloud, they almost always mean an adult reading 49 00:02:46,333 --> 00:02:48,466 to the child. 50 00:02:48,466 --> 00:02:52,033 We forget about the surly adolescent and the confused young adult and the weary middle-aged 51 00:02:52,800 --> 00:02:54,600 and the lonely old. 52 00:02:54,600 --> 00:02:56,700 We need it too. 53 00:02:56,700 --> 00:03:01,066 We all need that third place, that safe room that reading out loud provides. 54 00:03:02,166 --> 00:03:04,066 We all need that chance to see each other. 55 00:03:05,266 --> 00:03:06,666 JUDY WOODRUFF: What a great piece of advice.