{"id":1216,"date":"2025-04-28T04:15:19","date_gmt":"2025-04-28T04:15:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/booksinhomes.org.nz\/?p=1216"},"modified":"2025-05-19T01:34:34","modified_gmt":"2025-05-19T01:34:34","slug":"how-reading-opened-up-a-world-of-possibilities-from-a-former-duffy-kid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/booksinhomes.org.nz\/how-reading-opened-up-a-world-of-possibilities-from-a-former-duffy-kid\/","title":{"rendered":"How reading opened up a world of possibilities (from a former Duffy kid)"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-post\" data-elementor-id=\"1216\" class=\"elementor elementor-1216\" data-elementor-post-type=\"post\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-22960e0f e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"22960e0f\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-4babc3d5 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"4babc3d5\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p><strong>Meet Whitney-Lee Banfield<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:image --><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>What are you doing now?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;m currently studying business, while also working as a creative freelancer in the music industry\u2014supporting artists with live shows and promotion. I\u2019m also active in mental health advocacy, using my personal story to inspire others and spread hope through storytelling in the community.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>What\u2019s your journey to where you are now?<\/strong><br \/>Growing up, my brother and I faced significant hardship. We lost our home and lived in a tent for a few years during primary school, often without basic needs like clothing and food. Eventually, we were wh\u0101ngai\u2019d to our grandparents, which brought stability and love into our lives. School became our safe space, and Duffy Books helped me fall in love with reading it was a way to escape and dream of something more.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>What\u2019s one piece of advice you\u2019d give your younger self?<\/strong><br \/>Your struggle doesn\u2019t define you. It\u2019s part of your story, but not the whole story. Education and learning can open doors and create a life beyond what you see right now.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>Your favourite book or book series and why?<\/strong><br \/>Paul Jennings\u2019 short stories were my favourite. They were quirky, full of unexpected twists, and always kept me interested especially because I found it hard to focus on long books. Short stories like this were perfect for me.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>What book do you wish you\u2019d read as a kid?<\/strong><br \/>I wish I\u2019d read every Paul Jennings book!\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>What\u2019s one thing you want every kid to know?<\/strong><br \/>Reading opens up a world of possibilities. It\u2019s a place to escape, to imagine, and to dream big. No matter what\u2019s going on around you, books can be your safe space where\u00a0<em>you<\/em>\u00a0are the main character, and\u00a0<em>anything<\/em>\u00a0is possible.<\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Meet current Role Model (and former Duffy kid) Whitney-Lee Banfield.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":1217,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1216","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>How reading opened up a world of possibilities (from a former Duffy kid) - Duffy Books in Homes New Zealand<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/booksinhomes.org.nz\/how-reading-opened-up-a-world-of-possibilities-from-a-former-duffy-kid\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How reading opened up a world of possibilities (from a former Duffy kid) - 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