JANUARY 2026
The Life of a Showgirl …
and a Reader
by Judy Newman
“I wouldn’t be a songwriter if it wasn’t for books that I loved as a kid.”
—Taylor Swift
Taylor Swift came to our Scholastic offices in New York City in (2010), (2012), (2014), during the launches of three of her albums: Speak Now, Red, and 1989.
Each time she came to Scholastic, Taylor talked with kids and teachers in the audience about her new albums, she sang, shared stories, and in a truly impactful way, she engaged kids in conversations about the importance of books and reading. And she talked about her own favorite childhood books: historical diaries; poetry books like those by Shel Silverstein; the Amelia Bedelia series; and Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli.
“I read this book called Stargirl that is about this girl who is very different from everybody else in her school,” Taylor said. “And some people call her weird but no matter how much they make fun of her she just continues to be herself, and pretty soon that individuality rubs off on everybody else and they all want to be like her. So Stargirl was an amazing book that I read.”
Stargirl is also one of my favorite books, and Stargirl’s author, Jerry Spinelli, is a dear friend of mine, an amazing writer, and a truly wonderful person. So, I thought it would be fun to celebrate Taylor’s love of Stargirl and her passion for reading and asked Jerry to autograph a special copy of Stargirl for Taylor.
Which he did!
I don’t know if this lovingly signed copy of Stargirl from one Pennsylvanian to another will ever find its way to Taylor herself. I will email her mom and members of her team, and I will reach out to my friends and colleagues who know Taylor personally and see if we can get it to her for her bookshelf.
But even if Taylor Swift never personally gets this copy of Stargirl, I think it provides a wonderful opportunity to celebrate a new era—where all kids have the power to choose and read books they love and connect to their favorite authors: core principles of our nonprofit work with the United States of Readers—a fully funded public-private partnership program where kids attending under-resourced schools get to choose and own their own books—like Stargirl—for free all year long.
The United States of Readers is proving it can fight the pernicious reality that 70% of kids in the US cannot read proficiently by third grade. Yes, it’s true! We need to mobilize interest and resources and make sure that all children (with their teachers and families) have access to choose and own their own books to practice their reading so they can develop their self-confidence as readers and their choosing muscles, become literate students, and experience the unparalleled joy and power of getting into a good book.
Just like Taylor says.
“It’s fun to escape where you are in your life … there’s nothing like reading. You can go to another world.”
I have always been a Taylor Swift fan, but what I—along with the rest of the universe—understands with each unfolding chapter of Taylor’s career is that her profound empathy and ability to connect with her fans across generations and around the world—are magical and immortalizing. It is thrilling for those of us working in children’s book publishing, education, and literacy, that a big part of Taylor Swift’s life story—across all her eras—involves access to books and reading.
What Taylor Said:
“No matter what you’re reading, you’re picking up some amount of knowledge. And it’s influencing you whether you know it or not. I think it’s important you read as many kinds of books as you possibly can.”
“I think being good to other people were the main concepts that I really loved in books.”
“There’s nothing like reading. You can find a quiet space and go to a different world.”
“I think it is good to read every day. Definitely. Absolutely. I try to read as much as I can and I read different things.”
“It’s important that you read as many different kinds of books as you can … fiction and real true stories. If you read all kinds of books, you’ll figure out what your favorites are.”
“It’s fun to escape from where you are in your life and jump into somebody else’s characters. When you’re reading a book, if you can really identify with one of the characters, you can escape and go somewhere else.”
“When you can escape into a book, it trains your imagination to think big. And to think that more can exist than what you see, and that’s been the basis of why I wanted to write songs.”
Our goal is to make sure that all kids have that same access to books they love. We have decades of experience working at Scholastic with amazing authors and we know just how to do it. We’ve rolled out the United States of Readers, named a Big Bet for America by The Rockefeller Foundation, to every state in the US plus Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico.
I am grateful to Taylor Swift for giving me this opportunity to share our story about thinking big.
As always, I love to hear from you about how we can think big together—or about your favorite childhood books. Please contact me: JNewman@Scholastic.com.
Judy •
Judy Newman, Chief Impact Officer, Scholastic