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About Me

My Story in Verse

How I Became a Reader

By Lauren

 

It seems much too obvious

to state here that

I love reading.

 

After all,

this is a site dedicated to:

reading books

reviewing books

reflecting about books.

 

Of course

I love reading.

 

I love

the thrill that rushes through me

in me

around me

when I open up a good book.

 

I love

escaping reality

losing myself in words and pictures

 

I love

beautiful illustrations

and beautiful characters

and beautiful writing

 

I love

when a scene or an image is

so perfectly and eloquently expressed

you read it

then reread it and reread it

to wrap your mind around the words.

Or sometimes you just sit there

staring into space

and let the words wrap around your mind.

 

But

 

I didn’t always love reading.

As a child and teenager, I struggled with reading anything

that was different from

that was outside of

my very narrow interests.

I fiercely loved a few books

but I painfully trudged my way through most books

missing stories

missing out

 

But

 

Then I started teaching children

and I starting reading to them

with them

for them

Until one day,

I found that I was reading

For me

 

and reading

and reading

 

This is a journey I am still on

will forever be on

discovering new stories

discovering new writers

discovering new ways to read

 

I have journeyed from being

a reluctant reader

to a teacher

to a lover of books

to a librarian

 

Children’s literature is truly a beautiful thing,

all too-often overlooked

or looked down upon by adults. 

But great depth is hidden therein

And it awoke

stirred

aroused in me

a love for reading that is meant to be shared.

 

I discover this every day:

through my job at a school library

during car drives when I listen to audio books

before bed in the comfortable glow of light.

 

Through all these books

I’m learning new things about myself

new things about others

and now more than ever

I want to help others become readers too:

Children

and adults

 

Because if I became a reader

then

you can too

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