- At 16-years-old, my next guest is going above and beyond
to get books into underprivileged kids' hands.
She only started this back in March, and she's already given
out more than 22,000 books thanks to the army
of volunteers she's amassed all over the country.
That's serious girl power, that's all I'm saying.
And so different than any literacy movement
we've featured before because I love
that it's by a kid for kids,
and other kids seeing that makes it important to them too.
It makes it cooler.
Sorry, adults.
But, from Bookworm Global, please everybody welcome Alana.
(cheers) (audience applauds)
Pow, pow, pow.
I told her she looked so beautiful today, and she said,
"None of this is mine."
(laughs)
You look very beautiful.
But tell me, how did Bookworm get started?
- Well, I've always been a really avid reader,
and I've loved reading since I could read.
And so, during the stay-at-home, I've been reading more,
and buying myself more books.
And it got me thinking about how schools and libraries
were closed, and there were these kids
who live below the poverty line or under-served communities,
and they aren't able to buy themselves books.
So, I wanted to find a way to get them books
that they could enjoy and read.
- And what a time to need books.
You know what I'm saying?
We need the escapism.
And I love that.
I'm like you.
I'm a teacher's kid, so like, I love reading.
How does it work?
How do people get the books?
- Well, it spreads usually by word-of-mouth
or social media post.
And we have over 230 volunteers.
And we set up book drives and then our volunteers
either collect the books, or people drop them off
at my house, and then from there, we get them out to schools
or non-profits, and right now we've been working
mainly with schools because they are giving the books
immediately, and we're trying to get them to schools
where 96% of the kids are eligible for free meals
because they live below the poverty line.
And then, they can get their books immediately
and they're able to read.
- Yeah, and what a time to get your kids to read.
I mean, you know, like, kids that wouldn't normally
be like, "Okay, I've played enough video games
at this point, give me something else."
(Alana laughs)
And when you get into a series that you love,
that's the cool thing.
Like, you get into one book you love, like "Matilda"
changed my life when I was a kid.
I read it and I was just like, what?
And then it made me wanna read more.
So, you know, you find that one book that, kind of,
turns a kid into a reader, it's really cool.
So, tell us about some of the places that you donate to.
- Well, we focus on schools and other non-profits,
and we recently donated 3,500 books to a school
in Inglewood near where I live.
- Oh, that's really awesome.
- Yep.
- And what a cool surprise.
You're giving someone a whole story.
That's really cool.
Well, along with building this huge initiative,
Alana is mentoring another young girl,
a volunteer in the program.
We have her dialed in.
What's up, Rylan?
- Hi.
- Hello.
I love your red.
You both look so beautiful in red.
I'm into it.
So, tell me, Rylan, why did you wanna get involved
in Bookworm Global?
- Well, as soon as I heard that Alana had started
Bookworm Global, I immediately asked my Mom
if I could be a part of it, as well as do something
similar in my community.
To me, it's so important to give people books
that don't have the same option or access to books
that they would if school was going on.
So, being able to just be a part of this organization
that gives books to kids,
especially during this time, it's amazing.
And giving books to kids that allow them to immerse
themselves into worlds they never thought possible,
it's just truly an experience.
- Man, you just said it.
Worlds that you don't think are possible.
'Cause it's like your imagination.
Movies are awesome.
TV is awesome.
But, your imagination has no budget.
So, you can create whatever you want from the story
you're reading, and that's how I always try
and get my kids to think when they're reading.
So, Rylan, you did your own book drive
for Bookworm last year, right?
- Yes, I did.
I did a book drive for National Literacy Day
which is on September 8th.
I collected over 600 books
that I sent to the Children's Book Project,
and I felt like a spark that was helping
to ignite advocacy for literacy.
And I realized if I could affect two people,
and those two people affect 10 people,
and those 10 people affect millions of people, and so on,
and especially, I can't forget, seeing people smile
when they're receiving or donating the books.
It just doesn't get any better than that.
So, Alana, I'd like to personally thank you,
from the bottom of my heart, for allowing me to be a part
of such an amazing organization.
Thank you so much.
(audience applauds)
- Oh, I love this.
I wish we could group hug.
That was so sweet.
I heard, through the grapevine, that one of Alana's
favorite writers is Anna Todd.
Anna Todd is really incredible.
She started her career simply putting stories
up on social media, and things blew up.
That's literally how everything happened for her.
And now, she's a "New York Times" bestselling author
whose work has been read over a billion times.
So, what do you love about Anna's writing?
- I love how Anna connects her books to older books.
Like, I love "Pride and Prejudice".
That's one of my favorite books.
- Oh my gosh, me too.
Me too.
- I read it for school last year
and it's my favorite book now.
- Oh, you should try "Jane Eyre".
Okay, keep going.
- I have.
But I love how she connects her characters to Jane Austen.
Like, her characters develop the same way.
Like, they're not perfect.
And they have development of their character
through their relationship, through their love story,
and you're able to, kind of, go through it with them,
and you're able to love them the same way
that they love each other.
- Yeah.
- And it's similar to how Jane Austen does it,
and it's similar to how many other writers do it.
So, then it pulls you in even more.
- I love that.
Also, we were talking during the break, like,
and then it becomes a series that you're like,
"I've gotta get to the next book."
I love that.
When you stay up all night and you're like,
"This is a poor decision.
If I go to sleep right now, I get four-and-a-half
hours of sleep."
(laughs) Like, you start making very poor decisions.
- (laughing) Yes.
- But it's so great though what writers, like,
a great writer can do for you that you connect with.
So, how would you feel about meeting her?
Would you ever wanna meet her?
- I think that I would, like, cry.
- Well, good news.
It would've been weird if you'd have said something else.
(Alana laughs)
We actually have her on the line right now.
Hi Anna.
(audience applauds)
- Hi.
- Hello.
- How are you?
- I am so wonderful.
We were just talking.
Look, she's freaking out.
(Alana speaks through laugh-crying)
Alana's freaking out (laughs).
So, Anna, your work has been read over a billion times.
How important was reading to you as a kid?
Was it always important?
Or did you, kind of, learn to love it?
- It's always been important to me, but unfortunately,
I grew up in a place where I didn't have too much access
to reading, so that's where my love
of classic literature came.
I'm not advocating for this, but I started, kind of,
stealing books from my school,
and things that we weren't supposed to read.
I gave them back most of the time, but once my teacher's
realized I was doing that,
they sometimes would let me keep them.
But I had my first friends came from books,
and the way I learned about the world came from books,
so I've always been a reader, but I never really thought
writing would be something accessible to me.
So, I just read and read and read.
- So, Anna, what do you think of Bookworm
and all that Alana is doing?
It's pretty incredible, right?
- It's beyond incredible.
I'm honored that you're even a reader of mine.
I'm so happy to hear about this.
I'm actually going to donate at least 500 books
to your cause.
- Yeah.
- And I would love to talk to you separately after this,
even just to, I don't know, send you a book
signed by the cast of the film, something.
I wanna do whatever I can for you.
I'm gonna hit up all my author friends
and try to get as many books for Bookworm Global.
I'm very proud of you.
You guys are beyond.
I mean, even just the way you're helping the community
and the thoughtfulness during this time.
Everyone needs an escape, and you're giving so many people
their first worlds and their first friend.
Like, it makes me so happy,
and I wish I was there to give you a hug.
- Are you freaking out still? (laughs)
- (laughing) I'm still, like, processing it.
This is amazing.
Thank you so much.
- You're not hearing, you can't hear her.
Like, when you're talking she's like (laughing).
- I'm like, having a panic attack.
This is amazing (laughing)
- Is there anything you wanna say?
'Cause I know, like, I recently had, this season,
one of my favorite authors on as well,
and it's so amazing when you connect to a writer,
and their words really just paint this whole.
The imagery that comes in your mind,
and it just creates this whole world
that you can escape into.
Is there anything you wanna tell her?
- This is beyond surreal.
I don't even know how to react.
Your book was my favorite book ever,
and I've read it multiple times.
- Thank you.
- And I recommend it to people, and then people
borrow my book, and someone almost took it,
and I made them give it back to me (laughs).
Or my Mom was gonna have to buy me a new one.
But I have read them all.
They are my favorites.
And this is beyond insane (laughs).
- Oh my gosh.
- Thank you.
- What I find so cool is that you mentioned
something, Anna, about when you were a kid, you know,
you had to, like, steal the books from your school
because you didn't have the opportunity.
I didn't either.
We didn't have a lot of money either.
And I think what's cool about this is now you're helping
an organization that's helping kids like you,
and who knows who will become
an author out of that, you know?
Or who will be inspired by that.
- Yes, that is incredible.
Honestly, my favorite thing to hear is more people reading
because of me, or writing.
A lot of my readers weren't really readers before,
so this is incredible to be able to help
such an amazing organization, especially made by a reader
of mine, it's just full-circle moment for me.
It's amazing.
- Okay, and I also just wanna point out
that we both have tattoos on our hands like this too.
Like, it's really weird.
Anyway though, it's time for a break.
Thank you so much, Alana, Rylan and Anna for joining us.
A powerful segment.
Y'all reading is so wonderful, so much opportunity,
so much imagination involved.
Please, please, please join Bookworm Global
and help these kids get some books.
We need it, we're trapped inside.
(laughs) Not for long, right?
Let's get our lives back.