Heroes Caught Reading

As promised I have the final post today. It's a mix of my hero plus my hero's contribution. And I very nearly cried when I received these images. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do!

Paulette Feeney is such an incredible woman. She's kind and funny and smart. She's warm and generous and has such a positive attitude. She and I have only had the opportunity to meet in person once, but the enormity of her heart and her unconditional friendship make me feel like we've been friends all our lives...and maybe into past lives, as well. :-) Plus she's a teacher. As I mentioned when I kicked off this series, teachers are heroes for the work they do every day. But in addition to that, Paulette has done some incredible work with children in Tanzania. Her excitement, joy and pride in young folks is contagious. So I was thrilled when her picture reading was one of her reading to those children:

And then, Paulette has offered up her own heroes!

First she shares V Hinkle who has led several teaching safaris to Tanzania and Sierra Smith (now a freshman at Duke).  Sierra participated in two trips teaching English and reading!

These kids are the true heroes, overcoming many obstacles to get an education.  They help each other learn!

Including this one so you can see all of the kids who were not in the class peering in the windows (no glass)....they stayed for three hours!  Some of them would scratch the lessons in the dirt outside and try to learn what we were doing...the biggest crowds, always, were during story time!

We started a library at this primary school!  The favorite books: Tikki Tikki Tembo; Stone Soup; The Giving Tree.

I thought this was the perfect contribution to end on. I love that reading brings people together all over the world. I hope you have enjoyed this year's feature. I so loved seeing heroes in all shapes and sizes and colors and ages. It's important to see that heroes don't have to be on tv or the radio or in sports. They're all around us making the world a better place in their own ways. And we are so much richer with them in our lives.

Thank you so much for sharing this with me. Thank you to everyone who contributed and shared their heroes. Happy Reading my friends!