National Ambassador Gene Luen Yang on Reading and Writing Outside One’s Comfort Zone
Through his platform, “Reading Without Walls,” Yang encourages readers to pick up books outside their comfort zone — featuring characters different from themselves. As a writer, he also pushes himself to imagine lives and stories outside his own experience.
I think fiction can both reinforce our own sense of self and also help us be empathetic to other people and help us deal with those differences. There is a balance there, and a reading habit—a diet of books that includes both books about who we are and books about who other people are—is a great way of managing that knowledge. (Education Week)
