People often assume I was a voracious reader as a child—nose always in a book, buried in stories, living in libraries. But that’s not my story. I had books, yes. I read, yes. But I didn’t fall in love with books until I was an adult. And when I did, it hit me like lightning.
It was 2008. I was a television reporter for WLWT, the NBC affiliate in Cincinnati. That day, I was doing a noon live shot on food insecurity, y’all remember the recession of 2008. It was bad. There were more people in line than there were granola bars, peanut butter and canned goods to go around.
We weren’t sure if the segment would even air. Then-Senator Barack Obama had interrupted regular programming, and I stood there in the cold, waiting. Watching.
That’s when I saw her.
A little girl, bundled up, standing in line with her family. Her eyes were wide and dark and heavy. Her jaw was carved and perfect, but it was her expression that pierced me. It was one of the saddest looks I had ever seen. One that felt like it had seen too much.
Here she was, waiting for a chance at two bags of food. And in that moment, I asked myself something I’d never asked before:
What could I give her… that would last longer than those two bags?
Something that would put a smile on her face?
Something that could positively impact the rest of her life?
It felt like an impossible question.
And then the answer came. One word.
Books.
The word shot through me like a surge. I searched my reporter’s bag, half-hoping to find a wrapped children’s book I could hand her, as if this was something I carried. Of course, I had none.
But that moment never left me.
I couldn’t help that little girl in the line that day. But I could help other kids like her if only I didn’t stop thinking about how to do it. I started talking to kindergarten teachers in local schools. Many of them told me that every single year, they received students who had never held a book before. Who didn’t know how to turn the pages? Who didn’t even know which side was up? What??! It turns out food deserts mirror book deserts. I learned this and many other things.
That’s when I knew.
I had to do something. I had to start something. I couldn’t save Jada—the name I eventually gave her in my mind—but I could be part of a new story. One where children didn’t have to wait in the cold to be seen. One where they knew their value, their voice, and their potential.
And from that spark… the wildfire began.
Eventually, some ten years after my early literacy innovation journey began, Living Libraries® was born. So was my first book, The LiLi Key. Then came The PreLi Key, another version of The LiLi Key for older kids, then two sets of graphic novels. Then came LiYo Literacy Yoga Fusion®, the Authors Alliance with Books with Color, then the Nate Kid and the Flip Side series and all things ChapGraph™ and an entire movement centered around making books feel different to kids—more personal, more playful, more powerful.
Because books aren’t just for escaping.
They’re for becoming.
And if that little girl, Jada, who would be about 18 now, is out there somewhere, I hope she knows that one sad look changed everything. She helped plant the seed for a movement that reached thousands of kids, with thousands more to come.
She helped me see books differently.
And now… I help children see themselves differently through books.
Kristi Cruise, Author, Creator, Change-Maker https://www.livlibraries.com/team/kristina-cruise/
