"My reading problem began early," says Pam Ferris of Talkeetna, Alaska."I never learned how to read in school. It made me feel belittled, itmade me feel small, like I wasn’t a whole person." As an adult, Pamdepended on others ... especially her daughter and husband ... to read forher when necessary. "All I wanted to do was just go live in the woodsand have people leave me alone so I wouldn’t have to deal with theproblem."

Pam’s moment finally came. "My son was in the thirdgrade, and was learning computers. My husband was also learning acomputer. Then one day I went to a store and they even had a computerto get your packages! Well, I saw that I was going to be left outcompletely if I didn’t learn to read." Pam had already tried severalsix-month GED stints. Just before her first visit to the AnchorageLibrary Program, she stood outside the building and threw up at theprospect of taking a placement test.

After the test, she wastold, "We’re going to start you from the very beginning, learning thesounds of letters." Pam said, "I just wanted to give her a hug, becausenobody in my whole life knew that I had to go from the very beginning!A few weeks later I got a tutor, and then I just took off. My tutormade learning interesting. The first thing she asked me was what kindsof things I liked. She would find stories about antiques and read themto me. She taught me that everyday life is all about reading."