When I was in elementary school I read all the time. I was that girl lurking in the nonfiction section picking up five different books about marsupials and bringing them all back the next day for more. Our school librarian knew what I liked and recommended new books for me to take home in my little red backpack. Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events was my Bible for most of 4th and 5th grade.
I read for pleasure. I read the books assigned to me in class voraciously (I was the only one in my reading group who actually liked Johnny Tremain,) and when I was finished I went to the library for more. But now I find that my appetite for books is slipping. I rarely spend the weekends reading, I haven’t stepped foot in the library besides to print essays and return textbooks and reading is slowly becoming a job not a break.
Don’t get me wrong I read more than some people my age. I still enjoy reading for class, and when I get into a series I fall hard just like I used to as a bucktoothed second grader. But it’s sad. I don’t turn to a book for an escape anymore. I read so much in school that reading any other time seems like a chore.
The reading in school really is work though. I’m expected to stop every several pages and take down notes. I can’t enjoy the plot when I’m too busy analyzing it so I can write an essay in 40 minutes. It’s a sad fact that for many, school takes the fun out of reading.
Reading should be fun. Books are how we tell stories to entertain or amuse or make people feel something beyond themselves. Books are supposed to teach and amaze and keep you up late with weak eyes and a too bright reading light. Maybe you’ve felt it too: the fade out of your love for the written word.
How do we start reading for pleasure again? I think we should start small. You don’t have to read epic novels. You can read magazines or comics or books from your childhood to make you smile. Don’t worry about reading at your level, you do enough of that at school. Read what you like. It doesn’t matter if it’s the same cliched YA dystopian novel with a predictable plot and tear jerker ending. It matters that you are having fun.
Reading should not be a chore and it should not be something we fear. Language is how we express how we feel things and understand others. Books are conversation starters and escapes from reality. Books can help make you friends and make you realize that you aren’t alone. Books have very interesting facts about marsupials. So put down that Post-It and red pen and essay outline and pick up a book. I’ll see you in the library.
