Winning Essays 

Topic: Reading Helps Us to Learn

By Zaria Graham

       Reading helps me to learn.  I can learn many things about the world and life through books.  I just finished reading The Forbidden Schoolhouse.  I learned people can be very cruel in the world.  They can drive you to do crazy things.

          In the book The Forbidden Schoolhouse people in Conterbury, Conneticut did not like the fact that black people were in their town.  To show their anger they tried to burn down the school.  The townspeople did this cruel thing because they all thought African-Americans were savages and liked to start uproars.

          Another thing I learned is it’s important not to judge people by their appearance.  Many people do this to a person they don’t even know.  I think they should read my book so they could know how bad it hurts.  In the book, a judge found a person guilty just because of the color of his skin.  The Judge even said he did not like African-Americans.  This hurt everyone that knew the verdict was “Not guilty”

          By reading this book I learned that once you have a dream, stick to it.  You never know your dream can influence others.  In the story, Prudence Crandall had a dream to teach African-American girls.  She lives out that dream and even though there were some bumps along the way, those African-American girls got an education.

         In conclusion, reading is very important life long skill.  Reading has helped me to learn about the world, life and many other things.  The Forbidden Schoolhouse is one of the books I read this year and I plan to read more.  I love to read and do read, everyday. 

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