We’ve all got that book that made us like books. It’s the first book we read on our own, outside of school, cover to cover, and between those magical pages, something clicked. Something inside bloomed and came alive and we knew we’d stumbled onto something incredible that we’d never forget.
For me, that first book was Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. I know – why not the first book? I came into the series when the first movie came out. I watched it, and then I discovered there were books. So I bought the second book at a book fair. I read like I read in school: fast, more skimming than reading, to get the “point” so I could take those Accelerated Reader tests and get the points.
Before that book, I never learned to read for fun. About halfway through Chamber of Secrets, I realized that I had no idea what as happening. I decided to start the entire book over, and this time I read better; I discovered how to read for fun. After that, well, I needed to read the third book, and the fourth, and the fifth, and pre-order and wait impatiently for the sixth and seventh.
Books can open the doors into a world like we never expected, but we have to find the right book to open those doors. It depends on what we read for, whether to experience love through romantic characters, explore exotic worlds in fantasy, see the universe and technology in science fiction, or solve grisly murders with the world’s best detectives. We read to escape, to make fantastic friends, and take down the bad guys.
What’s the book that made you fall in love with reading? Don’t be shy about it. I won’t make fun of you if it’s Twilight. I read that book, too.
Beatrice B. Morgan 