At home we only spoke Spanish, so when I went to school I mostly sat quietly and kept my head down. It was scary, but when the teacher gave me things to read, that was worse.

I could speak English, sort of, and I could even recognize some words, but mostly the ones I saw on TV. I can’t remember being tested, but I do recall Success For All because it was the first time I didn’t feel like a failure. I was in that program for three years, and by the end, in grade five, I was reading at a grade six level. I was teaching my mother how to read, using my Success for All books.

Today, I’m an animator of children’s stories, working with very sophisticated software tools. I’m very busy, but I still read a book a week.