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major publications such as new york times and the "washington post" and lives in britain with her husband and her to rescue dogs. salty and peppers. please give a warm welcome. [applause] in the episode of seinfeld entitled library, a library investigations officer lieutenant buchman is it jerry's apartment. the visit occurs because according to library records generally had the topic of cancer checked out since 1971. but according to gel —- jerry he returned at the same your when he learned of the dilemma

tear kramer i' terrified you know how much that comes to? that is a nickel a day over 20 years that would be $50000. but when jerry corrects him it doesn't work like that creamer gives voice to a fear that would have sent chills through my body as a child. if it's a dime a day it is $100,000. when lieutenant buchman arrives on the scene delivering the best monologues of the series. i will try to do it justice. let me tell you something funny boy. you know that little stamp the one that says new york public library? that may not mean anything to you. but it means a lot to me. sure, go ahead and laugh if you want to. i have seen your type before. flashy, making the scene flaunting convention.

i know what you are thinking was this guy making such a big stink about old library books? let me give you ae hint, junior. maybe we can live without libraries, people you and me maybe we are too old to change the world but what about that kid sitting down opening a book right now in a branch at the local library and fine finding joins of ppc and we please in the academy and the five chinese brothers doesn'tf he deserve better? if you think this is about overdue fines and missing books, you better think again. okay. [laughter] at this point to know what you are thinking. what is she doing? why is she starting with this and went to she stopped? afraid to tell you i will never stop quoting seinfeld.

as a jewish new yorker who grew up in the nineties actually to open every speech with a reference to seinfeld. [laughter] i don't make the rules. but the reality is it is beautiful and special days like this when so many of us get to get together to celebrate the written word that the truth of buchman's monologue comes to me. he may have been comically overzealous about his job living up to his name after all, but he also got something very right. books are so much more than words on paper. for a lonely child they may will be her home, her refuge, her pipeline to appear on —- better hat child. when i future.

with certain knowledge my race was repugnant. the memory of the first days

in america still come to me in a fog of fear, loneliness and hunger. i still remember the confusion thate enveloped me as i wondered how the chinese could call this land literally translated beautiful country. that einstein once said the only thing you silly have to know is the location of the library. and we call that man a genius for a reason. when i found a branch a block away from my own elementary school the fog and confusion dissipated and my world opened up. again i was no longer alone. the library could not restore my life in china giving back my family and friends, but it did supplied new

companions, clifford the big read dog the very hungry berenstein the pairs and amelia deli' and soon the babysitters club and sweet valley high i was no longer living along with my parents in a single room sharing bath and kitchen with the rotation of immigrant families. fans of the babysitters club recall that claudia like to hide junk food in hollow books and it reminded me of home. growing up in a persecuted dissident family during the cultural revolution my father

hid his favorite english books many band under the floorboards is often ransacked and rated home. later becoming english literature professor but quickly found even in his classrooms he was not free to teach his students the critical thought and social commentary that he so admired in the words of mark twain and charles dickens. he often told me returning frustrated from facts of his favorite on —- stacks of books his arm narrative is power and nothing matters more than the stories we tell. that message perhaps is more important now than ever before. every time i heard this in china i thought i knew what he meant but i did not feel it or believe it or live it until i arrived in america and discover the safety of books.

as i taught myself english on volume after volume learning about the parts of america that are not accessible to me i was not that different and from there there was no saving me. i lived and breathed books. and i actual think buchman may have understated and then to say it offers companionship for the lonely in the loss. and then the darkness of undocumented life if we can

learn to speak english perfectly just like a native speaker than they could probably say i had been born here a full and legitimate american and arouse no suspicion about my immigration status. if i could blend in and act as if i i knew exactly what christmas was at what los angeles look like that i would fit in. in that access to safety in the long was freely available to me in one place alone. and that sanctuary in the rest of the society for the children who have no adult hesupervision after school no

means to travel around the world no one is telling them they are loved are safe or worthy every single volume offers the voice and the hope and the guidance. they need to chart a different path to dream a bigger dream for themselves. and offering home in the presence and in the future. why we would go from library to library from bookstore to bookstore and avail myself of all public resources for free. we had countless books at my disposal and i chose for myself the stories i wanted to root. and yet even in the freedom felt lost and reflections of

my life only came in slivers and in the diarrhea van frank inwhose identity meant she had to grow up in hiding and through the eyes of jonas training under the giver to see all invisible to others. those glimmers of recognition were even more precious under the scant to think we would even be worthy. henry grown up in a different part of the united states or in a different time those glimmers may not have become available to me and it's worth returning at this point to my

father's sage words, narrative is power and nothing matters more than the stories we tell. the american library association reported there was unprecedented 230 challenges to their works. we are fortunate to speak at a library and convention where i was shocked to learn the act of providing equal access to books and resources had become more politicized and exhausting than ever. the movement to ban o books isn't just happening in the classrooms, it is happening in our libraries across our nation and discourse. i'm sure you remember a time

in your childhood when your parents were godlike 200 feet tall all-knowing and all encompassing as long as they were around you are safe. for me that smokescreen faded early. when i landed at jfk at age seven i saw my parents shrink down to near mortal size. overnight reduced to those who are just as confused and afraid and as lost as i was. but never losing that quality over the years looking to fear all authority figures under the threat of discovery and the deportation that i never feared because they very is where the host to my best friends he only being withheld it was safe to be my true self including charlotte and wilbur

who remain minors start for friendship and matilda who keeps me company at times when i feel odd. and then to endure the stress of difficult condition i just need to think of the rats of nymph and i learned for the first time about the work of thurgood marshall and ruth bader ginsburg and then in their 25ve years ago that i resolve to become a lawyer just like them and change the stories our country chose to tell neither that day nor that conviction has left me. for the treasures of the books

are edged into my being in my heart still mourns those from where the red for grows and delights of the wayside school feeling itself with the feminism of the wrinkle in time t. but most of all the honor of having found books and reflected me at a party on —- at a time when he needed it despite all messaging i was not singularly unwanted perhaps i was just as worthy as the next child. there are few things more comforting than the sight and smell of books because you are here add a book festival at 9:00 a.m. on a saturday. [laughter] i suspect you can relate. now that you know a little bit about me it may be safe to

share a confession. i'm actually not that different from jerry. sometime over the winter in the fifth grade i also had a missing overdue book and as i checked out a new batch of books one afternoon the librarian said there was a problem and i appeared to have a book out that was quickly accruing finds i said i remember returning at the week before but thell system had no record. when i heard this w i sank into the ground what would happen? what i not be allowed to borrow books anymorefr or get me and my parents thrown into prison from the debt of my overdue fees? what i get to read in prison? [laughter] worst of all as they went home

and no longer had the book whether he had lost it or returned without record, what would happen? to the library have other copies of what i forever deprive the other children of that branch? what had i done? the fear was particularly weighty because the book in question was number 82 in the babysitters club series. [laughter] don't worry you may not have the numbers memorized like i do that just means you are normal person. number 82 in the series was called jesse and the troublemakerer. primarily followed jessica around the frustrations and adventures with one sitting charge of daniel roberts. they meant the absolute world to me the only black member of

the babysitters club then it felt like her family was the only black family in town and like claudia the only asian member hitting upon prejudice and ignorance are all too common in my life. meanwhile a child with leukemia and while i was fortunateth enough not to have endured anything what daniel went through, i had a sick mother and well were terrified of all attention from doctors, hospitals or otherwise. and the experiences apart and then together i found in a book reflections of my reality and now i had gone a misplaced that book so no other child who was struggling with similar issues could find the comfort that i did and that to me was the absolute worst

consequence. my library is far more opinion than creamer would have suggested they would not be a hundred thousand dollar charge for me. and said they would flag the book and give it six months to reemerge. i promised i would return home and look thoroughly just in case i really had forgotten it somewhere. to see the tears in my eyes she choked back a laugh and says don't or a deer come it always turns up and of course she was right. it was not at home but if humans later when i inquired about the book at checkout and they always did, relief poured over me the book have been

found. the book had been found the flag had been removed from my account in the overdue charges growing are not in the system but in my brain were wiped clean and i was free. but that experience stayed with me and even in the branch full of books in the series with endless volumes for a child reading five books at once every individual book mattered because of wide it portrayed in the message it shared and the hearts that it uniquely positioned to touch. and that was the idea that motivated me to write my book that might story in life my matter to one person.

perhaps i could signal to the child and perhaps i might dare to hope for my book to one day connect with just one person out there and to tell them they are worthy of being seen. and isn't that why so many of us here today are trying to read, write and community the power of storytelling? but what happens to the fabric of our society? are empathy and connection and communities when we remove one book and then another and then another. and then they collapse on each other.

so in this beautiful city i hope you'll take a moment to soak it in what an immense privilege and joy it is to be immersed so many stories or perspectives or ideas. you are free to hear them all. this is the day that shows us how fortunate we are to live in these united states. and then to share stories we are fortunate to hear.

these are not unlike one big sprawling library. i always imagine paradise will be a kind of library. we might think all the ways it could preserve and share a piece of this paradise with your community and the people all around you in the weeks and months to come. you have the power to rally for change whether by donating or volunteering at yourel library are calling upon elected official to fight for more public resources. and i and as i am legally required to open with a seinfeld quote. [laughter] maybe we can live without

libraries people like you and me, maybe, sure, we're too old to change the world but what about that kid sitting down and opening a book right now? you can be the voice of the champion that her story is what makes america beautiful. thank you so much. [applause] very happy to take questions if you come to the microphone.

if nobody asks i will be required to sing. >> thank you for coming today with dimensionality work as an education lawyer did your love of reading influence that decision to go into that field? >> absolutely. and i'm fortunate enough to be a lawyer and have seen inside our legal and judicial system and as i practiced over the years it became very apparent to me that the route to systemic change and foundational change is in the educational system to availing all children of more resources and the power of literacy

dealing with that love early and often. so with all of my experiences pointing me to the direction of educational law that that was probably the greatest public good i could contribute to. thank you. >> your firstte barnes & noble gift card was wasted on a workbook and a dictionary so if you got it today where would you spend it? >> i would have to spend it on at least five or ten of the babysitters club series they have n been recast as graphic novels will be very curious to

read those wish i can get that certificate back. >> i was saddened when i was reading your book that the parallels to the chip translation the current experience was 25 years previous to yours and curious as to what you see as an immigrant experience now? saying 20 years later how that is coming from china? >> thank you for asking the question. in the statute is that to talk about immigrants and resources

we make available to new immigrants or even just walking around new york city the problem with theer american dream is that things may have materially changed for me but as i walk from a fancy home to my fancy law office i still see young immigrant children going to the trash with their parents and still see in their eyes some of the pains and fears i grapple with decades ago and in those moments i went to pick up the child in nsaito be okay you are seen and there are people out there fighting for you but i'm afraid that would terrify that child more. [laughter] so it's all i can do to just keep working and pushed to the change but often in those

moments the survivors guilt follows me and swallows me up enough i can do every day to take away the reality. >> my book club read your broker curious you ended it when you did. there is so much more life. [laughter] >> i always wanted this book to focus on those five years. i know it's hard to say of the memoir that i really didn't think of my book being about me or my life. i wanted it to be a celebration and attribute to new immigrants and children that are very special at that universal time in our childhood where we go out and

don't understand what is going on but we are so incredibly open and vulnerable and we learn to become guarded and the things that can save us and i wanted to hone into those precious years because when you peel back the layers is that little child inside of us that drives the decisions and the way we engage with each other and interact with the world looking at that seven -year-old child as me. and probably the most practical reason i'm only 34 and don't trust myself to have the wisdom to have enough important things to say of the later years but now i'm thinking about a follow-up book. [laughter]

>> we loved your talk going up in a small community we have a bookmobile that my primary means of having a book was the school library. that was for me and i went to law school that you are an education lawyer as well the fact the last two years so many children have not been able to be physically and the school with access to the school library which is the only place they can get books now they are going back we cannot predict whatt would happen next year or the year after because the school libraries are so important. >> the pandemic magnified those divides in covid-19 was first announced my first

thought were the children to get the meals in schools because t i relied on those free meals and if not required to be thereo every day it may no longer be feasible or feel safe to get the meals what happens to those who don't have books at home or access? what i have seen engaging in community librarians these librarians are working on loaning out ipads and computers where children can access books online. to make sure that they are attuned and the librarians have become the front line of the pandemic underserved community but ino have seen a

lot of developmental delays and as we know one or two years of missed education hascr a ripple effect across the future so it is everything we are focusing on to minimize the gaps and discrepancies said to make those as widely available as possible even for those who may not necessarily have internet access to have access to electronic devices should be aou first and foremost goal of our government and agencies and community members like you. >> i'm only halfway through

your book i am curious all the contacts you had as a good and bad have you run into those people is a grown-up? >> the teachers. >> rather students or the little girl to translate for you? we were found a very close-knit community in support and actually i am leaving from here to go straight to theng airport because my best friend from the third grade, elaine in the book is gettingng married to her

and i am officiating. [laughter] very excited i have never officiated before and back to i went to elementary school and spoke to the teachers there including my second grade teacher who was still working in my h former classmates who are now teachers and nasa hades some choice words to those found described as mr. kane bemoaning teachers like him hard job ig is a don't begrudge him i'm not connected with him but the most special iss my third grade teacher that put us in touch andwh i sent her photos of the charlotte's web copy she gave me when i was eight years old and she cannot believe i kept it all of these years. but then she sent me copies of

cards that i gave her often full of gibberish that she kept for 28 or 30 years. and i guess i remembered a little bit if you remember what a snarky kid i was but in one of the cards i was apologizing to speak chinese and they said it wasn't my fault my friend did it and then followed by a little like what do you call which on the beach. [laughter] i copied it t from somewhere in that she thought that line of random ramblings were special enough to keep, it made me cry instantaneously it so very special and now she has children of her own and we are planning to meet up in brooklyn when everything is less hectic but this book has

brought about so many developments and connections i could not have fathomed and i feel like the luckiest person in the world and connecting with readers and everyone like you with who the book has resonated more than i thought because it really does prove my initial hypothesis that when you peel back the labels were not different at all. thank you so much. [applause] and now joining us ons

mark scorsone, who's an but he is also the founder of freedom fest. mr. scales and we're sitting here in the mirage hotel in

ga