This post absolutely spoke to my writer/teacher/reader's soul. As a middle school English teacher, I constantly try and find the perfect story to guide my students to exactly what I think they need at the time to heal, to succeed, to learn to interact with others, etc. Your very first of the nine regarding empathy I find to be one of the most powerful aspects of books. I teach special education for students with social emotional needs and I use literature to teach students who typically are stereotyped as lacking the ability to connect, yet I know ( and can prove from their discussion and writing) that they are in fact not only able to empathize and form connections to characters, but can transfer the skill to "real" people too. Books have long since been my greatest companion and life's teacher.