After hearing Boston student was moved by her book, Elin Hilderbrand reaches out
By Emily Maher
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NEEDHAM, Massachusetts (WCVB) — “New York Times” best-selling author Elin Hilderbrand spoke to a captive audience at a Q&A in Needham on Thursday, to share some stories of her own.
However, for the author, who sometimes brings her readers to tears, it was a message from a Boston Public Schools educator that would bring tears of her own.
“Two weeks ago, I got a Facebook message,” Hilderbrand said. “It said, ‘Elin, please read this,’ and I thought, ‘Who is this?'”
It was Brendan Donovan, an inclusion specialist at Boston Public Schools, writing to an author whose story meant a lot to an unexpected reader.
Donovan was working with a new student whose life story has been one of pain and struggle. He described the first time he heard that the student had read one of Hilderbrand’s books and was moved by it.
“I was like, ‘You did not read this. This book is not made for kids like you and people like me,'” Donovan said.
“I asked him, ‘Tell me the last book you read,’ and he responded, ‘Mister, I don’t read,'” Donovan said.
However, when Donovan pushed a little deeper, he learned a little more.
“[The student] said, ‘Honestly, I’ve read one book from cover to cover when I was in jail,” Donovan said.
That book was “Barefoot,” a beach book best seller by Hilderbrand.
“He was like, ‘I loved it, it allowed me to escape,'” Donovan said.
After hearing the student’s reaction, Donovan quickly penned a quick note to Hilderbrand.
“It’s so emotional for me to be able to think that this kid who has nothing and is living in very compromised circumstances, would get any kind of escape from my novel,” Hilderbrand said.
Hilderbrand sent the student two books and card with a commitment to care, as a gift for his birthday. That brought the young man to tears.
“He was so emotional that someone thought about him to the point where he was literally bawling crying, and I was like, ‘Can I give you a hug?'” Donovan said.
Donovan and Hilderbrand met for the first time on Thursday, promising to keep in touch and help the young man, who found an escape in the beach read.
“This is why beach books matter,” Hilderbrand said.
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