The following is an excerpt from Sonia Nazario’s keynote speech at the 2014 NCTE Annual Convention. You can read an article about the author and her powerful book Enrique’s Journey from the November issue of the Council Chronicle. There are also several wonderful resources for teaching this book on its website.
“In an era with a barrage of noise and information, stories are what help people go beyond the superficial. They are what help us unravel the big issues of our time.
Stories force us to rethink entrenched views, to challenge the narrative that we have in our heads, to see new solutions.
They do what a heaping pile of facts rarely accomplish –stories give us a landscape to know, to feel.
The best ones inspire common values. They show us the right thing to do.
Ever since early men and women stood around fires telling stories this is how we have really connected, people have been moved by stories. They have been moved when we take them on a ride.”
Check out this blog post by Lucy Hood in which she summarizes Nazario’s speech and reflects on its impact.