An English teacher in his 14th year, Christopher Leavens speaks fast and animated, with his eyes often growing wide when he’s talking about reading.
A good book, he says, as a matter of fact, can change a kid’s life. Just being a reader also helps improve writing and communication skills, he adds, his excitement building.
“Their sleep gets better, their stress level, their impulse control, their empathy, all these other things,” Leavens, 36, says. “If you could take what reading does to you and put it in a pill, it would be the fastest-selling pill in the world, because of all the benefits that can come from it.”
Now picture for a second, when in 2022 Leavens joined the staff at Guadalupe Centers Middle School, in Kansas City, as an English Language Development teacher and learned there was no library or librarian. No shelves full of books for the kids to peruse and choose from…