8-year-old girl reads books to sick kids via YouTube

Shira Josephson.
(Image credit: Screenshot/YouTube/Shira's Story Corner)

About once a week, Shira Josephson grabs one of her favorite books, snuggles up to her stuffed animals, and records herself reading out loud so children who are too sick to leave their hospital beds can enjoy hearing stories.

The videos are part of her series Shira's Story Corner, posted to her YouTube page. The 8-year-old came up with the idea to read to seriously ill kids via YouTube after going through training to become a junior ambassador at Children's Hospital Los Angeles. While at the hospital, she learned there is a special area for kids who are too sick to leave their rooms. It bothered her to think that they couldn't even visit the hospital's reading area, and she thought it would make them feel better if she recorded videos for them to watch. "It's been exciting to watch her come up with all these ideas and to help her make them come to life," her mother, Brooke Josephson, told People.

Josephson reads classics like Corduroy, Paddington Bear, and If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, and also takes requests. When she's not reading, Josephson is raising money for Children's Hospital Los Angeles and writing her own books, and she has a message for the kids she hopes she's helping: "I will do everything I can to make the videos special for you, so you don't feel alone." Catherine Garcia

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.