classrooms he was not free to teach his students the commentary the words he loved from mark twain and charles deckens. facts of his favorite books under his arm narrative is power. that message 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 really feel it, believe it, or live it until i arrived in america and discovered the safety of books. i taught myself english volume after volume and parts of america inaccessible to me, i learned i was not too different from the kids that books so often portrayed and so as i write in beautiful country, from there there was no saving me. i lived and breathed books. books save lives and offer companionship for the lonely and refuge for the persecuted. the darkness and priority that's blending in. my father told me early and often if i could learn to speak english perfectly just like a native speaker, i could say i was born here and aroush no suspended ands -- arouse no suspicion about my immigration status. i could blend in if i knew what christmas was and what los angeles looked like, i would