Why Stories Matter More Than Ever (How Reading Builds Empathy)

The other day someone asked me, “Why do you write novels for children? It’s a tough market.”

It’s a fair question. It’s also a small one.

“I’m so glad you asked,” I replied. “Aside from just a love of telling stories, there are some hard reasons why I think stories matter more than ever for children. Because the truth is, it isn’t really about children—not entirely. It’s about something much larger, and much more necessary.”

A Divided World

We are living through a time of increasing division.

Differences—cultural, political, ideological—are not simply acknowledged; they are sharpened. People are sorted, labelled, and too often dismissed.

And in that kind of world, one of the most quietly powerful things we can do is read.

What Stories Actually Do

When we read a novel, we step inside another person’s mind.

Not in a superficial way, but in a sustained and intimate one. We experience their thoughts, their fears, their hopes. We see the world not as we are, but as they are. No current technology—not even the most sophisticated forms of virtual reality—can replicate that depth of internal experience.

A story asks us not just to observe, but to understand.

Why This Matters for Children

For a child, this process is especially powerful.

A young reader doesn’t simply follow a plot. They begin to ask questions, often without realizing it:

• Why did that character make that choice?
• What are they afraid of?
• What do they want?

In answering those questions, they learn to look beyond surface behaviour and into underlying cause.

They begin to understand that people are not defined by a single action, a single moment, or a single trait.

They learn something essential:

That others—no matter how different they may seem—have feelings, desires, and struggles just as real as their own.

This is the foundation of empathy.

Stories Create Conversations

But this is not only about children. Adults need stories just as much.

We are not immune to assumption, to oversimplification, to the quiet narrowing of perspective that happens when we stop listening to experiences beyond our own.

Reading reminds us how to do that.

It reintroduces nuance. It slows judgement. It asks us to consider before we conclude.

One Story at a Time

Stories won’t solve every problem. But they do something essential—and increasingly rare:

They help us remember that other people are fully human.

And that is where understanding begins.

We build that understanding quietly, over time—one story at a time.