The Awesome Reason One Kid is Getting Free Books

As someone who used to beg her parents for a trip to the bookstore about once a week, I can sympathize with any kid looking for reading material. Which is why my heart goes out to a Utah boy receiving free books after his mailman learned he didn't have any books of his own. But thanks to the kindness of strangers, that's getting fixed fast.

Twelve-year-old Mathew Flores loves to read and is used to grabbing any reading material he can, which is why his mailman recently found him reading junk mail. The boy asked his mailman, Ron Lynch, if there was any extra junk mail he could take to read, explaining when asked that he doesn't have any books of his own and couldn't afford a bus pass to visit the public library. He explained he usually read newspapers instead, but that he'd take just about anything.

"You know, I started reading at a very, very early age," Lynch told local news. "My mother instilled reading books in me ... At 12 years old, he didn't want electronics. He didn't want to sit in front of the TV playing games all day. This kid just wanted to read."

So Lynch decided to see if he could help Flores out. He posted on Facebook, asking if any friends had books they'd bee willing to share with the boy, and his post went viral. Soon people from all over the world were eager to send books to young Matthew. Lynch said he's heard from people as far away as Australia, India, and the U.K.

Which means that Matthew now has a growing collection of books. And he says he wants to read them all. "It's super fun and it's interesting," he said. "Plus it gets you smarter."

Amen, Matthew. Amen. Summer vacation can be a miserable time without reading material.

I personally am in favor of any effort to get books into the hands of kids, and fortunately there are a lot of efforts around the country to do just that. From New York City to California, from the #BooksArentDangerous campaign to the Harry Potter Alliance's Accio Books effort, there are plenty of people working to make sure that no child is left without literature. And for those who haven't yet been touched by those efforts, it's incredibly heartwarming to know that there are kind strangers ready to pitch in and fix the problem.

Sometimes, humanity just makes you want to give everyone a hug.