Creating a reading ecosystem contributes to building a reading culture.

Reading a good book helps to open up the mind and elevate oneself.

PV:Sir, we understand that you are a native of Nghe An province. Could you share some memories of your childhood with the readers of Nghe An Newspaper?

Mr. Nguyen Anh Tuan:I was born in 1976 in Thanh Tien commune (Thanh Chuong district), a poor rural area of ​​Nghe An province at that time, into a family of five siblings. My father was a retired soldier, and my mother was a primary school teacher. Although I didn't come from a farming family, I still experienced a difficult childhood.

Because my family had many children, my parents' salaries were quite meager, and we weren't allocated any land, so my family had to clear hillside and riverside land to improve our lives. My childhood was filled with summers spent hunched over, bailing water from the rice paddies, and gleaning peanuts, potatoes, and rice to exchange for money to buy used books from older students.

In 1991, in the middle of my 9th grade year, with my parents' permission, I went to Binh Dinh to live with an uncle to continue my high school education. Three years later, I moved to Ho Chi Minh City to attend university and start my career there. So, I've been away from my hometown for almost 33 years now.

PV:Could you share your personal experiences with reading from your time as a young schoolboy in a rural district until now?

GrandfatherStupidYen Anh Tuan:As I mentioned above, I experienced a deprived childhood, lacking even basic necessities like food and clothing, let alone books. I didn't even have enough textbooks, let alone reference books or storybooks. It wasn't until I was in 9th grade that I read a book other than a textbook. And the number of storybooks I've read can be counted on the fingers of one hand, mostly books my parents brought home like "The Tortoise and the Hare," "The Little Mermaid," etc.

It wasn't until I moved to Binh Dinh and visited book rental shops that I started reading more. Then, the genres I read gradually expanded, from literature to philosophy, history, religion, sociology, psychology… After graduating from university and getting a stable job, my reading habit continued to grow.

I don't read as frequently as I used to, but I still maintain the habit of reading. My reading speed has also slowed down; before, I could finish a book in a few nights; now it might take a week, or even a month, to finish one, unless it's an extremely good book, then I'll read it all in one go. There are books I reread instead of always looking for new ones. There are books I read many years ago, marking the important parts in blue and red. When I encounter a situation in life and remember that book, which might help me solve the problem, I open it up and reread the marked parts.

With a good book, I always reflect on what I've learned and how to apply it to my personal life or to the community. There are things we never learn in school but only through books. We need to broaden our worldview, our understanding of the universe, and our perspective on the world to embrace new ideas, knowledge, and skills. Reading a good book helps to open our minds and elevate ourselves.

Creating a reading ecosystem

PVWhat was the idea and motivation behind your founding of the "Compassionate Book Shelf" program and the "House of Wisdom" model?

GrandfatherNguyen Anh TuanSince graduating from university in 1999, despite my difficult financial situation, whenever I read a good book, I would often photocopy it to give to friends. In particular, once I read the book "The Best Doctor Is Yourself," I made hundreds of copies to give to friends because I found it so inspiring and wanted more people to read it.

My main field of expertise is civil engineering, and I founded and managed a construction company specializing in transportation infrastructure for over a decade. Since establishing a stable job, I've always dreamed of creating a model for sharing and donating books, connecting talented teachers and good friends across the country and around the world. That's why I and like-minded individuals founded and expanded the "Compassionate Book Shelf" and "House of Wisdom" models, hoping to provide free, quality reading and learning opportunities for people and children in impoverished rural areas.

Before establishing the "Compassionate Bookcase" and the "House of Wisdom," I also organized many charitable activities such as donating houses to needy families, giving gifts to people affected by natural disasters and floods, and providing livelihoods for the poor... After a while, I felt the need to upgrade my charitable activities, aiming for deeper, more sustainable acts of compassion, with the development of reading culture, self-learning, continuous learning, and intellectual development as the core foundation.

Accordingly, the "Compassionate Bookcase" is a charitable program in the field of education, focusing on building a series of bookcase and library models, creating a reading ecosystem for schools and communities, contributing to building a reading culture, and fostering intellect and compassion for people of all ages. The "Compassionate Bookcase" not only donates books but also provides advice and technical support on reading promotion solutions, how to organize reading activities, and guidance on the process of building bookcases from pilot projects and expansion to evaluating the effectiveness of reading.

"The House of Wisdom," on the other hand, creates spaces for self-learning, continuous, lifelong learning—learning not for grades or rewards, but simply out of a passion for knowledge, the beauty of intellect, and learning to apply immediately to daily life.

Creating reading communities will generate a greater ripple effect, stimulating a large number of readers. When children read a good book, they share it with their friends in the class, school, and village, making others eager to read as well, learning from each other, and borrowing books from one another. After finishing a good book at home, they bring it to contribute to the school or class library...

Besides developing libraries in classrooms, the founding members also strive to build libraries in places with reading needs and appropriate management structures, such as parishes, temples, hospitals, prisons, shelters, charity classes, and community libraries in homes... aiming to inspire interest and gradually establish a reading habit among Vietnamese people. Our wish is that those we help today will be successful and happy tomorrow, and then they will return to help others even better than we are doing. This is the cycle of "giving back" that creates strength for the community.

PV:GrandfatherCould you please describe the achievements and milestones that the "Compassionate Bookcase" and "House of Wisdom" have achieved nationwide in general and in Nghe An province in particular??

Mr. Nguyen Anh Tuan:Established in 2016 with the motto "Giving a child a book changes the world," the "Compassionate Bookcase" program has donated nearly 25,000 bookcases with over 1.5 million books to more than 3,100 schools and communities in 63 provinces and cities across Vietnam and some provinces in Laos. The "House of Wisdom" model, launched in May 2018, has now appeared in 14 provinces and cities nationwide and in 5 countries: Malaysia, New Zealand, Australia, Japan, and the United States, with over 250 houses. In Nghe An province alone, there are nearly 3,000 "Compassionate Bookcases," concentrated most heavily in Yen Thanh district (over 1,200 bookcases) and Thanh Chuong district (nearly 1,000 bookcases)...; and nearly 10 "Houses of Wisdom."

Through "Compassionate Bookcases" and "Houses of Wisdom," and through activities such as reading, sharing, and introducing books by writing reviews, giving presentations, storytelling, acting, and competitions, the children have developed a love for reading and learned valuable things about life skills, scientific inventions, and the lives of famous Vietnamese and international figures. This has nurtured their dreams, shaped their character, and fostered a spirit of sharing, empathy, and community service. Many children shared that reading has changed their worldview, making them realize that learning isn't just for their grandparents, parents, or teachers, but for themselves, thus making them more confident and proactive in life. This passion for reading has spread not only among students but has also positively influenced teachers and parents, prompting many adults to reconsider their own reading habits to set a good example for their children.

To date, the "Compassionate Bookcase" program has built a large and dedicated team of collaborators across the country, including teachers, parents, students, and alumni of various schools. Their enthusiasm and desire to instill a reading habit in their children and students have led them to actively participate in the program. Beyond individuals, an increasing number of organizations and businesses are also joining the "Compassionate Bookcase" program. They recognize it as an effective, meaningful, and sustainable social activity.

In October 2023, the "Compassionate Bookcase" and "House of Wisdom" programs were honored in the "Outstanding Practice" category of the "Literacy and Knowledge Dissemination" Awards organized by the U.S. Library of Congress. This award, established in 2013, recognizes organizations with groundbreaking, innovative, and effective strategies for promoting reading and creating lifelong learning opportunities for everyone.

PV:InIn today's digital age, modern audiovisual media and social networks have made many young people hesitant to read books. As the founder of the "Compassionate Book Shelf" program, what are your concerns about this, and what solutions do you think are needed to spread a reading culture in the community?

GrandfatherNguyen Anh TuanIt's true that television, smartphones, and social media apps like YouTube, TikTok, and Facebook have significantly impacted the development of reading culture. The emergence of e-books and audiobooks has also greatly affected the market share of physical books. However, for me, reading physical books remains a delightful experience, from touching and turning each page, feeling the scent of new books, to marking and annotating them… all of which still evoke very special feelings.

And I've noticed that today's younger generation, especially students, are not as indifferent to books as we might think. Through impact assessment reports from the "Compassionate Bookcase" and "House of Wisdom" initiatives, surveys and daily sharing by students on Facebook pages about the books they've read, and through activities like role-playing and storytelling based on books in schools, I have great confidence in the effectiveness of their reading. In Thanh Chuong and Yen Thanh districts (Nghe An province), and Nghi Xuan and Thach Ha districts (Ha Tinh province), reading logs show that some students read 80-100 books a year, demonstrating a very high reading capacity. The challenge here is how to attract more children to books!

Through the activities of the "Compassionate Bookcase" and "House of Wisdom," we encourage children to organize more book-based storytelling activities, book introductions, and interactive sessions with famous characters from literary works and renowned speakers. For example, at some "Houses of Wisdom" in Nghe An province, we organized interactions between students and Mr. Duong Anh Vu - a world record holder in academic memory, students from Spain, Master of Philosophy and volunteer lecturer Ian Gardiner from New York, and the family of Professor Shannon Gramse from Alaska, USA... This aims to inspire a passion for reading and knowledge acquisition in the children, contributing to the spread of reading culture in the community.

P.V:Thank you for this conversation!