I realize this campaign has been going on for a while, but I’m only now finally sitting down to write about it. I first came across it on Facebook, where I saw John Green’s message to writers and readers, after which I started following the campaign more closely and realizing how many of the popular books in the market that people devour and drown themselves in lack that simple thing.

While I was growing up, I always had a fancy for folk tales and fairy tales, stories of legend and mythology,...