Creating Room To Read: A Story of Hope in the Battle for Global Literacy

In what sometimes seems like a post-book world, it is easy for technologically savvy readers to forget that many people lack basic literacy and have no access to books (regardless of format) at all. Wood (founder, Room To Read; Leaving Microsoft To Change the World) looks back at the work of his literacy organization, on the opening of the 10,000th library it helped build in Southeast Asia and Africa. The Room To Read program is based on a challenge-grant model that works with local communities to build support for individual projects. Room To Read does not define itself as a charity; monies given are investments, not donations. The organization has expanded to include teacher training, education programs for girls (who make up two-thirds of the world's illiterate population), and book publishing in local languages. Wood traces the philosophy and growth of the organization and tells the stories of the people in these communities.