Guest post written by author Malcolm Mitchell
Malcolm Mitchell is the rookie who helped the New England Patriots win Super Bowl LI. He’s also the founder of an initiative called Read with Malcolm, which introduces book ownership to students, and works to improve literacy in schools. Malcolm’s Share the Magic Foundation promotes the benefits of reading to kids in underserved communities. As the New England Patriots Summer Reading Ambassador, he encourages summer reading. Malcolm is the author of The Magician’s Hat and My Very Favorite Book in the Whole Wide World.
Every person is not afforded the opportunity to hope, dream and believe. While those are luxuries most never acknowledge as such, growing up in an environment where motivational assets were scarce, I’m forced to constantly appreciate and promote a tool I believe leads to a brighter future. The most empowering activity an individual can introduce into their life is the gift of reading. Reading has helped me see beyond visible obstructions, dream tangible dreams and believe the world is my playground. Make no mistake, I have not always thought this.
In Valdosta, Georgia, where I grew up, I thought there were two ways to a better life. Being an athlete and being an entertainer — those were the two. Both professions have very prolific identities that don’t require a flourishing education to become successful. I was no different than the other kids, so I did what felt natural, which was to play football and neglect school. Being a good athlete has its rewards, but only being a good athlete has detrimental consequences. Thankfully, I learned this lesson with enough time to make a change.
I started my journey to become a proficient reader by applying a core principle my earliest football coaches taught, which is, “learn the fundamentals.” As a nineteen-year-old student athlete, I ventured into a local bookstore and applied the “learn the fundamentals” idea. What books exemplify the fundamentals of reading? PICTURE BOOKS. While diving into stories like, Oh, the Places You’ll Go! by Dr. Seuss, I focused on punctuation usage and placement, tone of characters and story structure. Through the process, I read many illustrated books, learned each author’s voice, building my vocabulary based upon each word they shared. Once I got comfortable reading picture books, I moved up a level. Picture books turned into graphic novels. Graphic novels turned into young adult titles. Young adult novels gave way to adult fiction. Adult fiction led me to nonfiction. Nonfiction gave me a brain without boundaries.
Once reading became as automatic as putting on a sock, I relished in its spoils by thinking more openly, changing my angles of perception. I began to see further than the present, to the moon and stars. I found confidence in my own thoughts, unmoved by years of unwarranted bias and social decay. Reading helped me become a better me. Fortunately, athletics extended my time to learn this lesson. For many this is not the case.
According to Literacy Project Foundation, a literacy advocacy organization, 1 in 4 children grow up without learning to read. Half the “children from low-income communities start first grade up to two years behind their peers. Children who aren’t reading at grade level by the end of third grade are four times more likely to drop out of high school.
From my understanding, illiteracy is responsible for a person’s inability to access information. Not being able to read excludes them from making informed decisions, and it leads to fewer employment opportunities. Illiteracy keeps people trapped in a cycle of poverty. But there is a ray of sunshine from the opposite direction. Fredrick Douglass said, “Once you learn to read, you will be forever free.” From my experience, you can read your way out of unwanted circumstances and read your children into an unlimited future. Speaking as a father, I believe this wholeheartedly.
When I was a kid, if someone told me that I would grow up to become a published author and founder of a youth literacy foundation, I would have laughed. Even now when I see the title of my latest picture book, My Very Favorite Book in the Whole Wide World, I shake my head, not quite believing that book has my name on it. But the truth is, this story comes from my own personal experience as a struggling reader who found a path to loving books. My Very Favorite Book in the Whole Wide World is the story of a kid named Henley, who goes on a search for a special book, but, like me, he has a few challenges along the way. The book is illustrated by Michael Robertson whose illustrations show kids how frustrating, fun, scary, and, ultimately, victorious reading can be. The pictures in the book show young readers a lesson I’ve learned through hard work — that just like football, reading takes a lot of practice.
Malcolm Mitchell,
Author and Super Bowl Champion
