By Kelly Seymour

I tell my students that reading is the greatest escape in the world. You can go anywhere you want to be and for as long as you want to be there.

I speak from such experience. I remember being very young, and late at night I would read my books under the sheets with a flashlight. Sometimes I would be interrupted and caught- mostly I got away with it. And for a little while, loud words filled with hate, noises that scared me would disappear. And I feltbook-read-reading-blanket-79697.jpeg safe in my own pretend world.