"Every book you've ever read is just a different combination of 26 different letters"-unknown
Thursday evening I went on a great albeit short hike with two of my best friends. When we finished hiking we wound up at Mckay's Used books. If there is a store that I can spend hours in it is a bookstore. This particular trip had a goal of finding The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis & Divergent by Veronica Roth. Unfortunately we didn't find either but if you put me in a bookstore there is a great chance I can point out several books that are worth reading if I know what interests you. I did exactly that as I pointed out title after title of books that I've read and thought would be enjoyed.
I've been reading on my own for at least twenty years of my twenty-four year life. When I was younger I used to take great joy in having my older cousin read to me and then read ahead of her in my head. Because I've been reading so long and I enjoy it so much I go through books at what many would likely consider an alarming rate. When I was in middle school it was nothing for me to finish three or four books in a weekend. Most books take me a matter of hours to finish if I'm reading them straight through. A fact that annoys my younger brother. A quarter of one wall in my bedroom is dominated by a bookshelf that was once tidy and organized. Now it is overflowing with books and is a hodgepodge rather than neat and tidy space that it was in the beginning. If at all possible I would love to have a library in my own home one day.
Strangely, as much as I enjoy reading and want others to as well I do not loan out my books often. If I allow you to borrow a book know that I trust you. I've spent quite some time amassing the collection I currently have and do not take lightly allowing one of them to be taken from my house because they do represent money spent, or gifts, but they also represent memories. I can tell you how I obtained most of them. More than that they represent different times in my life. Some of them mean much more than others because of the subject matter within them or how I got them.
Still, as many books as I've read over the years it took me an incredibly long time to realize the power that the written word actually has. Think of a book, any book, got it? Good. Now try and remember what you felt while reading it. Did it make you feel good? Surprise you? Maybe it made you cry. Some of the best books can do all of those things within their pages.
As a writer I want to do all of those things. I want to inspire people and surprise them with a twist they never saw coming. A tear shed means they were invested in the lives of characters I put countless hours into bringing to life. Now I would love to be a bestselling author on the New York Times bestseller list or be the next person to become a millionaire by selling books like J.K. Rowling. If I could write for a living I would be happy. If I could make a preteen or teenager actually like to read then I would have done my job. A child that reads is a child who has countless options to explore and learn from. It not only means that they have a way to relax but it sets them up educationally.
Jonathan Kozol of Illiterate America reported that 50% of American adults cannot read books on the 8th grade level. If we get children reading now we can fix this! I can't imagine a world where our adults cannot read. If they can't read then they are going to be much more likely to never fully think for themselves. They won't be able to form opinions on things with any real strength because they will have to rely on what others tell them.
I understand the need to get kids outside and moving around and I have no problem with it at all. But when we aren't catering to their brains we are doing something wrong. If a child is going to calm down and be quiet for a time how much better would it be for him to read a book than be put in front of a screen and told to watch? There's a large difference in movies and books. When you watch a movie all of the imagining is done for you. Between the actors and the sets and the costumes designed for every scene you don't need much imagination. Put a book in the hands of a child and they are in control. There are words on the pages to guide them, dialogue and description but it's basic. Their imaginations create what they see and that is important. They get to learn to think about what they are reading and how to understand it.
A moving picture on a screen is much different. I'm not degrading movies or saying kids shouldn't see them, I highly enjoy movies myself and from a writers standpoint many of them contain deeper themes than your average moviegoer will turn up. I'm just saying that so often we think that kids need to always be moving and if they aren't moving they should be in front of a screen. What happened to sitting down with a kid and reading them a story?
Introduce the kids to words that can inspire them. Give them a world that can excite their imagination and give them something to talk about and get interested in. When they get older chances are that the love of reading won't stop. It certainly didn't with me.
Suffice to say I want to write something that sparks something in someone. I want to know that through whatever crazy idea that happens to fill my head next, a child decides that reading is fun and not a chore. Words are powerful, not just when we say them, but when we write them. I intend to use mine to inspire and build up.
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