The Velocity of Being

Maria Popova, creator of Brainpickings, has edited a book (with Claudia Bedrick) of letters to children--about the importance of reading: The Velocity of Being.  On Vimeo, we get to see the the editors of the book and to some of its contributors.

One is a hundred-year-old Holocaust survivor who risked her life in concentration camp by reading aloud to imprisoned girls.

https://vimeo.com/306022843?mc_cid=ea933a9230&mc_eid=7940cd5ca2

Each letter is paired with an illustration from Maria Popova's favorite children's books--not "sugar coated" or "darkly moralistic" ones, but those that "distill" some timeless wisdom that speaks to children as well as the "child inside" us all.

Because the book was eight years in the making, some of its contributors (like Ursula Le Guin) are no longer alive--in the usual sense of aliveness.  But the common and very-much-alive thread among them all is the desire to encourage what art and literature can offer children--empathy.

I've seen plenty of snippets good-guy/bad-guy fighting video games and movies meant for children, and have overheard enough sappy cartoons--along with my share of news--to be be passionate about children being exposed to the alternatives to current and arbitrary lines of good and bad. This book is important and these voices inspiring!