More than 70 elementary school students from Pine Point School in Stonington were treated this month to a reading and discussion of the book, “What Really Matters,” by author and The Elms resident Ralph A. Redding of Westerly.

Focusing on the issues of diversity and moral character, Redding’s book, illustrated by his granddaughter, piggybacks on a yearlong school cultural education project.

Redding, a cancer survivor and amputee, has lived in three countries (Canada, England and the United States). A medical doctor, he has taught at Brown University and has worked with the indigent at a free clinic that he founded with his wife in New Bern, North Carolina.

The reading of “What Really Matters” is one educational installment in Pine Point’s “Culture Jam” theme for the 2017-18 academic year whose mission is to expose students to various cultures by exploring what connects us all. The school’s objective is to help teachers, students and administrators — through music, poetry, dance and art — understand the impact we each have on each other and the world in which we live.