WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU read beyond your comfort zone-whether in point of view, genre, or format? Graphic novelist Gene Luen Yang has focused on doing just that from his platform as the National Ambassador for Young People's Literature, a position to which he was named in early 2016. It's a cause that's natural for libraries to promote to patrons but also for each of us to consider in our own approach to our personal and professional reading. Long a fan of Yang's work, it was a pleasure for me to hear him reflect on his life and his role at the recent Day of Dialog event hosted by LJ sister publication School Library Journal. He built a compelling argument for the importance of recognizing when we have a limited perspective, either because our preferences have narrowed what we experience or because we have come to assume we don't like something.
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