The Okinawa AMICUS Library is located in the center of the school building. When you go right from the library, you’ll find the G1 and G2 classrooms on the first floor, and if you go up the stairs, you’ll reach the G3 and G4 classrooms. On the other hand, if you go left from the library, G5’s classroom is on the first floor, and G6’s classroom is on the second floor. Going down from the library takes you to the Junior High school classrooms. The library is indeed positioned like the center of a spider’s web. Moreover, students pass through this library as they arrive at school, heading to their respective classrooms. Their school day begins in the library, they pass through it multiple times during the day, and at the end, they pass through it again as they leave for home. This results in frequent opportunities for students to encounter books. For someone like me who has often seen libraries tucked away in the corners of public-school buildings, the layout of this library is truly surprising.

So, have the students at Amicus become readers as a result? On November 6th, during the monthly elementary school assembly (for fourth through sixth grades), as I was giving a principal’s talk, I asked the students, “Raise your hand if you like books.” Nearly everyone raised their hand without hesitation, which greatly surprised me, especially given what I’ve heard about the trend of decreasing reading habits among middle and high school students.

At AMICUS, there is an annual activity where each student introduces their favorite book. All students from G1 to G9 write a summary of their favorite book, which is then collected by class and made available in the library. Each student introduces both a Japanese and an English book, allowing anyone to see what books others recommend. Over the past week, I read through every one of the “My Favorite Book” summaries written by the students, without skipping a single one. Here are a few examples from their descriptions:

“The ending was totally unexpected from the beginning, and it left me feeling deeply sad.” (5th grade)

“It’s a gentle story about family love. This book is number one in my ‘novels that made me cry’ ranking.” (6th grade)

“Reading this book made me realize how lucky I am to have friends to talk with.” (6th grade)

“It helped me understand a lot about pyramids, and it sparked my interest.”

Reading these statements, it’s clear that through reading, students develop empathy to understand others’ feelings and pain, the ability to reflect on how they might act in certain situations, and the power to learn new things, such as developing an interest in pyramids. This, without a doubt, is essential for their growth.

I once heard the saying, “A person’s future is shaped by the number of people they meet, the number of places they visit and the number of books they read.” I can only hope that the students at AMICUS will meet many people and read many books during their time here.