AN UNUSUAL GARBAGE COLLECTOR

José Gutierrez lives in Bogota, a city in Columbia, South America. He is a garbage collector. His job is to collect the garbage from people's houses. One day, he found the famous book Anna Karenina in the garbage. He decided to keep it and started to look for other books in the garbage every day. Whenever he found a book in good condition, he took it home.(lines 1–7)
José lives in a poor neighborhood. Many of his neighbors have no money to buy books. As his collection of books grew, people began to ask if they could borrow books to help their children with schoolwork. José was always happy to help.(lines 8–11)
Today, his collection has about 25,000 books. José keeps them in many big bookcases in all the rooms of his house. A few years ago, José opened a free library in his house. His wife and three children help him manage the library. They also donate books to schools in poor neighborhoods in Columbia. Soon volunteers started to help the family in the library. The name of the library is "The Power of Words."(lines 12–16)
José says that he always liked to read but he never went to high school. After elementary school he had to go to work to help his family. But now, at the age of 55, he is proudly completing his high school education. It is never too late! José believes in the importance of opening the library in his neighborhood. The real value of this library is that it encourages young people to love books.(lines 17–20)