Nearly eight hundred million people in this world cannot read or write, most of them in developing countries. Two-thirds are women and girls.

    John Wood who started the Room to Read campaign （运动）, has opened 1650 schools and 15000 libraries in some of the world's poorest communities（社区）. He said that from the beginning, Room to Read'sgoal was to reach 10 million children around the world in the poorest countries.

    In 1998, on athree-week vacation journey in Nepal, Wood met a local headmaster who invited him to visit his schoolin a far mountain village. The experience changed Wood's life.

    "This headmaster had 450 students at the school, but he didn't have any books," Wood said. "He had a library that was empty."

    Wood promised to fill the library shelves and returned to the village one year later with some of his friends with 3000 books. And that was just the start. Later, Wood used some of his personal money to start Room to Read.  He believes that world change begins with educated children. Today, the programme can be found in 10 countries across Asia and Africa.

    Wood believes the key to the program's success is local support. While Room to Read gives away money and provides books, communities offer land and parents help build the school. Agnes, a Room to Read teacher in Zambia who also runs the library, is proud to say the literacy' at her school has improved.  Room to Read's biggest challenge is the huge need.  Hundreds of communities have asked for literacy prograrnmes. One way of Room to Read's success is that it will achieve Wood's goal of reaching 10 million kids by 2015, five years earlier than it is planned.

    Doctor Seuss was born in 1904. By the middle 1950s, he had become one of the best-loved and most successful children's book writers in the world. His books are very popular with young readers. They enjoy the invented words and the pictures of unusual funny animals and plants.

    In 1954, life magazine published a report about school children who could not read. The report said many children's books were not interesting. Doctor Seuss strongly hoped to help children and decided to write books that were interesting and easy to read. He used words with the same ending sound, like fish and wish. He did not receive training in art. Yet, he drew the pictures for most of his books.

    In 1957, Dr. Seuss wrote The Cat in the Hat. He used less than 230 words to write the book and even a six-year-old should be able to read it. It was a fun story and easy to read. Children loved it. Their parents loved it, too. Today it is still one of the stories they like best. The success of The Cat in the Hat made him want to write more books for children. In 1960, he wrote a book using less than fifty words. The book is called Green Eggs and Ham.

    In 1984, Doctor Seuss won a Pulitzer Prize (普利策奖). He was honored for the education and enjoyment his books provided American children and their parents.

    He died at the age of 87, but his influence remains. Millions of his books have been sold worldwide. People say his books helped change the way American children learned to read. Yet, his books are loved by people of all ages. Doctor Seuss once said, “I do not write for children. I write for people.”

    When shopping in a store, I met a boy. When I saw him waving his hands excitedly in the air and shouting in a loud voice, “ Mommy, I'm here,” I knew he was mentally challenged.

    I asked his name and he said proudly, “ My name is Denny and I'm shopping with my mother.” “Wow,” I said, “ That's a cool name. How old are you, Denny?”

    “How old am I now, Mommy?” he asked his mother. “ You're fifteen years old, Denny; now be a good boy and let the man pass by.” I continued to talk to Denny for several more minutes about summer, bicycles and school. I watched his brown eyes dance with excitement because he was the center of someone's attention.

    Denny's mom thanked me for talking with her son. She told me that most people wouldn't even look at him, let alone talk to him. I told her that it was my pleasure and then I said, “ There are plenty of red, yellow, and pink roses in the garden, however, 'Blue roses' are very rare and should be appreciated for their beauty and distinctiveness（独特性）. Denny is a 'Blue ses' and if someone doesn't stop and smell that rose with their heart and kindness, then they've missed a chance to appreciate the beauty.”

    She was silent for a second, and then went away with tears in her eyes.

    There are many kinds of love. For me there is a kind of unusual love, which I call "soft love". Both my parents love me very much. Now I'd like to thank my father for giving me so much soft love. He has his own way to communicate with me.

    My father works at a university as a teacher. He is very strict with his students. He puts his heart into his work. All of his students love him. At home he is both a good husband and a good father. He is strict with me, too, so I am afraid of him. There is one thing that I will never forget.

    At the end of last term, my scores were lower than ever before, so I was very worried about it. My father came to my room and saw the report card. At that time, I was afraid that my father would be angry with me. But to my surprise, he left the room without any words. I couldn't help crying.

    The next day, when I got up, I found a letter. I opened it, and it was written by my father, "Dear daughter, I know that studying is hard work, but you won't give it up, will you? I believe that you can be the best. Now I want to give you some pieces of advice: ⒈Where there is a will, there is a way. ⒉Practice makes perfect. ⒊It's no use crying over spilt milk." After I read the letter, I couldn't say a word. So I wrote, "Dad, I can do it! Thank you!"

    I think that the soft love between my father and me makes us even closer!