Sibling Story一对姐妹的故事

Haili Smith， 16， says she and hersibling， Brooke， “have very differenttastes in books”. Haili likes spinetinglers2.Brooke， 13， prefers fantasy3.What they share is the belief that kids aremore motivated4 to read if they relate toa book’s characters. That’s why， in 2020，they started Books Like Me. Thenonprofit5 group supplies teachers withculturally diverse6 children’s books.

“We didn’t really like reading，”Haili said. “Then we started to look forbooks that had characters we sawourselves in. It made us want to readmore. We thought we could share thatwith students， because we knew that thiswasn’t just something that affected us.”

So far， Haili and Brooke have givenaway more than 16，000 books. As wordabout their organization has spread，requests have come in from schoolsnationwide.

Educators say it’s important forstudents to have access7 to children’s bookswith different characters. A book can be amirror， letting kids see themselves reflectedin its characters. Or it can be a window，helping kids see from the perspective8 ofcharacters with backgrounds and experiencesdifferent from their own.

Over the years， Haili and Brooke havebeen invited to speak with educators aboutthe importance of culturally diverse books.They’ve also taken books directly tostudents.“At a book fair in Florida， I was ata table showing kids the books and theywere picking them out，” Haili recalls.“They all looked so happy when they founda book that really resonated9 with them.”

That， of course， is the goal.

16 岁的海莉·史密斯说，她和她的妹妹布鲁克“对书的品味截然不同”。海莉喜欢“大吃一惊”系列。13 岁的布鲁克更喜欢奇幻小说。她们的共同点是相信如果孩子们与书中的人物产生共鸣，他们就会更有动力阅读。这就是为什么在2020 年，她们创办了“像我的书”的原因。这家非营利组织为教师提供文化多样的儿童书籍。

海莉说：“我们其实并不喜欢读书。然后我们开始寻找那些在角色身上能看到我们自己影子的书。这让我们更想要阅读。我们想可以与学生分享这一点，因为我们知道这不仅只是影响我们的事情。”

到目前为止，海莉和布鲁克已经赠送了16000 多本书。随着有关他们组织的消息传开，各地的学校纷纷提出请求。

教育工作者表示，让学生接触到有不同角色的儿童读物是很重要的。一本书可以是一面镜子，让孩子们从书中的人物身上看到自己。或者它可以是一个窗口，帮助孩子们从与自己背景和经历不同的人物的角度来看待问题。

多年来，海莉和布鲁克一直受邀与教育工作者谈论文化多样性书籍的重要性。她们还直接把书带给学生。“在佛罗里达州的一次书展上，我坐在一张桌子旁，给孩子们展示书籍， 他们正在挑选。”海莉回忆说，“当他们发现一本能引起他们共鸣的书时，他们看起来都很高兴。”

当然，这就是目标。

▏Notes

1. sibling. 兄弟姐妹

2. spine-tinglers 大吃一惊、惊险魔幻系列小说

3. fantasy. 幻想作品

4. motivated . 积极的，主动的

5. nonprofit. 非营利的

6. diverse . 不同的，各式各样的

7. access. 获得的机会

8. perspective . 视角，观点

9. resonate. 引起共鸣