Picture Dictionary & Books : Free for English Learner!

"Days that I have held, days that I have lost, days that outgrow, like daughters, my harboring arms."

Reading taught him his own courage.

Remember that he kept reading Frederick Douglass, even though it was painful.

He kept being conscious, even though being conscious hurts.

Reading is a form of thinking, that's why it's difficult to read because we have to think.

And Patrick chose to think, rather than to not think.

And last, reading gave him a language to speak to his daughter.

Reading inspired him to want to write.

The link between reading and writing is so powerful.

When we begin to read, we begin to find the words.

And he found the words to imagine the two of them together.

He found the words to tell her how much he loved her.

Reading also changed our relationship with each other.

It gave us an occasion for intimacy, to see beyond our points of view.

And reading took an unequal relationship and gave us a momentary equality.

When you meet somebody as a reader, you meet him for the first time, newly, freshly.

There is no way you can know what his favorite line will be.

What memories and private griefs he has.

And you face the ultimate privacy of his inner life.

And then you start to wonder, "Well, what is my inner life made of? What do I have that's worthwhile to share with another?"

I want to close on some of my favorite lines from Patrick's letters to his daughter.

"The river is shadowy in some places but the light shines through the cracks of trees ... On some branches hang plenty of mulberries.

You stretch your arm straight out to grab some." And this lovely letter, where he writes, "Close your eyes and listen to the sounds of the words.

I know this poem by heart and I would like you to know it, too."

Thank you so much everyone.