In the News...

Founder of Traveling Stories interviewed on live TV!

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Emily's Story

Emily's Story

I fell in love with reading almost before I fell in love with anything else. I think it was the way that books took me places ... and, not to sound too cheesy, but the way that they put the whole world in the palm of my hand. Through reading I had great adventures and met extraordinary people. I explored the jungles of India; helped establish schools in remote Afghanistan; took my first trip to Africa; faced danger and solved mysteries.

Reading not only gave me adventure, but it made me want real life adventures of my own.

After college I began a great adventure: I moved to Honduras to teach high school English. This was the first time in my life that I lived in a place with almost no access to reading material. I realized how much I need books and I saw how the lack of books was impacting my students. I decided that as their English teacher I would do all I could to make them fall in love with reading.So, for Christmas I went home and when I returned to Honduras I brought with me 40 books which I introduced to my students as "Ms. Moberly's Libary."

The books were a hit. All of my classes used them daily. Even other teachers asked to use the books for their classes. I left Honduras in July but I'm still receiving letters from my students telling me how much the books impacted them.

Here's a letter from my student Edgardo. He graduated from high school in 2009:

Before Ms. Moberly made me read a book I read a total of zero books. She made me read my first book. I don't know why reading with her was fun? Maybe because the methods she used were the key for convincing me to read. Since that class I have read 5 books. Maybe for you that's not mcuh but for me it is. I would say for sure that the valuable time that I spent reading in Ms. Moberly's class was extremely educational and really entertaining. Ms. Moberly changed my life with all the time we spent reading and discussing those books. I am glad that she taught me the value of reading a book and I'll never forget that.

Being in Honduras I realized that there are a lot of organizations taking care of peoples' physical needs, but who's investing in imaginations?

This is why I started Traveling Stories; to invest in kids' imaginations. To fuel their minds with stories the same way Ms. Moberly's Library fueled my students' minds in Honduras. At Traveling Stories we believe that books not only stregthen minds and inspire dreams, but they also help people overcome the obstacles preventing them from becoming the best version of themselves.

We have great hopes for what Traveling Stories will accomplish but we can only accomplish so much by ourselves. Like the African Proverb says, "If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together."