• May 20, 2026

Greg Soros, Author, on Why Empathy Starts With the Right Book

Before a child can practice empathy in the world, they often encounter it first in a story. That belief sits at the center of Greg Soros‘s work. The children’s author, with more than 16 years of writing experience, has developed a clear philosophy about what books owe young readers and it goes well beyond entertainment.

The Mirror That Validates

Soros uses the language of mirrors and windows to describe what children’s literature should accomplish. The mirror, in his view, is a tool of validation. “Young readers need to know that their feelings, their families, and their struggles matter,” he has said. “When a child picks up a book and thinks, ‘That’s just like me,’ it creates an immediate connection that makes reading personal and meaningful.”

For Greg Soros, author and advocate, that connection is the foundation of everything else. A child who feels seen in a story is more likely to trust books, to return to them, and to absorb what they teach. His writing process is designed to produce that effect consistently. He visits schools, speaks with child development professionals, and works with sensitivity readers to ensure his portrayals feel accurate to the children who will read them.

The Window That Expands

But Soros does not stop at the mirror. He argues that books must also function as windows opening views into experiences children have never encountered personally. A child reading about a classmate’s different cultural background, a character navigating a disability, or a family structure unlike their own is building a map of human experience.

“Every children’s book carries the responsibility to contribute positively to a young person’s emotional and social development,” Soros explains. His training in educational psychology informs this conviction. He understands that children process the world through story, which makes the stories they read unusually powerful. The best books, he argues, manage to serve as a mirror for one reader and a window for another simultaneously a single narrative doing double work. That intersection, for Greg Soros, author, is where children’s literature becomes genuinely transformative. Refer to this page for related information.

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