We are honored to share this guest post from Josh Hanagarne, The World's Strongest Librarian. Josh describes himself as "an aspiring strongman, bookish nerd, twitchy guy with Tourette’s Syndrome, devoted family man, tearer of phonebooks, and humble librarian. A tall, thin paradox wrapped in thick glasses."

We asked Josh, "What do you think is special about reading aloud?" Here is what he had to say:

"One of the greatest, unexpected joys of fatherhood has been reading aloud to my son. I didn't realize how much I’d missed it until he started begging for ten stories before bed each evening.

Night by night, I see the stories, characters, and book shaping my little boy. I’ve never been more aware that reading makes us better thinkers, and reading aloud makes us better readers. I am seeing it happen in real time.

And at five years old, he is already in love with storytelling. He invents, he imagines, and he experiments as he uses stories to try and explain the world he sees.

I celebrate World Read Aloud Day because the ability to tell our own stories is an integral part of personal dignity. And my son understands it as well, even though he doesn’t know he knows."

--Josh Hanagarne

Josh has a memoir on the way! The World's Strongest Librarian will be out on May 2nd, we can't wait to read his story. Until then watch the trailer below. Josh embodies LitWorld's 7 Strengths and we were moved by the way he honors and values the power of story to sustain and empower lives.