Middle school literacy advocate hopes to inspire fellow students to read

When picturing a literacy advocate, many individuals do not often imagine a child. However, San Juan Unified is home to an up-and-coming middle school literacy advocate who has been featured on Good Day Sacramento and has a growing social media following.

E Train, as he is most commonly known as, took advantage of the extra time during the pandemic to read. He joined virtual book clubs, which led to his first recorded book review, which was then shared by the author on Instagram.

That experience led E Train to begin his own YouTube channel to review books, and now he is hoping to motivate children across the world to read through his podcast on Spotify, as well as his reviews on TikTok, Instagram and Twitter.

"If you’re bored and looking for a way to spend two hours of your time laughing or tearing up and feeling all the feels, read a book. Also, who knows, if you keep on reading, maybe you can do something like I’m doing," said E Train.

As part of his mission to motivate readers, E Train has routinely donated books to San Juan Unified schools and is currently working with an author for a book drop at another district school.

"I can’t share too much because it’s kind of in the works," said E Train. "I might have a pretty big author coming. My goal is not just to inspire people to read, like I said, but also give people the opportunity to read." 

The district will continue to follow E Train’s work and share his efforts to promote literacy within our schools.