![\"Bringing](\"https:\/\/sduptownnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/web-MAIN-Play-area.jpg\")
At Waypoint Public on April 4, Michelle Suzuki sipped on a cola and watched Moberly read to her 3-year-old daughter Luna.<\/p>\n
\u201cLuna got excited when she saw all the books, especially the \u2018Disney Princess\u2019 story books,\u201d Suzuki said.<\/p>\n
When Moberly finished reading \u201cMerida Is Our Babysitter\u201d with Luna, she asked her some questions about the story, pointing out words and pictures. After Luna had answered the questions, Moberly gave her a \u201cbook buck,\u201d which she turned in later to get a little prize doll.<\/p>\n
In another corner, a 6-year-old boy named Sena sat with volunteer Theresa Nguyen. Together they read four books.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s a very good reader. Today, Sena is reading books mostly about food,\u201d Nguyen said.<\/p>\n
Hezhi Naseem, field manager for Traveling Stories, was busy in another corner reading books with 8-year-old McKenna. When she gave McKenna her book bucks, Naseem got up and organized some of the books that were spread out all over the floor of the play area.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt looks like a library exploded in here, which isn\u2019t a bad thing,\u201d Naseem said, laughing.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a good arrangement for everyone at Waypoint Public. General Manager Justin Sins said the owner has children and got the idea to build a little play area.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of people in their 30s with children want to be able to go and enjoy happy hour, but not at Olive Garden or Chili\u2019s. And now with Traveling Stories, they can come to here to an authentic neighborhood place, knowing that their kids are doing something fun and rewarding at the same time,\u201d Sins said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe see a lot of the same people come in each month with their kids. It\u2019s a fun energy,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Veronica Grajeda, mother of children 20 months old and 6 years old, came to Waypoint Public at the invitation of some friends.<\/p>\n \u201cKids just naturally want to be paid attention to, and they tend to make noise, and now here is a place where nobody will complain that they do. It\u2019s a great idea,\u201d Grajeda said.<\/p>\n Moberly considers the partnership a success story, too. \u201cI love watching a reluctant reader get excited about reading for the first time,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Reading has always been important to Moberly, who considered books her best friends as she grew up. \u201cEspecially Nancy Drew!\u201d Moberly said.<\/p>\n Her journey with Traveling Stories began after college when she took a job teaching English and writing for a newspaper in Honduras.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was the first time in my life that I lived somewhere where I didn\u2019t have access to books. All I had to read were the three books I brought with me to Honduras,\u201d Moberly said.<\/p>\n \u201cI noticed how this impacted me, but even more than that, I noticed how it impacted my students. They had never experienced bedtime stories, or reading for fun.\u201d<\/p>\n So when she went home for Christmas that first year, Moberly filled one of her suitcases with books. She brought them back to her students in Honduras and introduced them as \u201cMs. Moberly\u2019s Library.\u201d She made them read every day in class.<\/p>\n \u201cAt first they were reluctant, but as students found a book they connected with they began to fall in love with reading,\u201d Moberly said.<\/p>\n That inspired Moberly to start Traveling Stories.<\/p>\n Naseem said one of the goals is to make reading fun by creating a space that caters to different types of readers.<\/p>\n \u201cTraveling Stories is helping to lower illiteracy\u00a0rates by working to turn reading into an indulgence rather than a chore,\u201d Naseem said.<\/p>\n The organization also sponsors a StoryTent program to encourage reading at four locations in San Diego County. The top challenge for Moberly and the volunteers is having enough people to read at the StoryTent locations. Volunteers are recruited in several ways, including presentations at groups and schools, online through volunteeermatch.com, and by word of mouth.<\/p>\n Traveling Stories is also looking for new partners, such as companies that want a volunteer day, schools that have students needing volunteer hours or churches wanting to get involved in their community.<\/p>\n![\"Bringing](\"https:\/\/sduptownnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/EmilyMoberly-LunaSuzuki.jpg\")