A lot of kids want to be something special. A little girl can wear a cape around her shoulders and pretend to be flying, and for that brief moment in time, she feels as if she’s a superhero.
I never had a chance to play in those more active ways, but it’s amazing when I think about what went on in my head. My friends and I wrote “screenplays” for The Rockford Files and Starsky and Hutch and acted them out. I dreamed about being a female superhero, but would never dare let anyone know that I was dreaming such lofty things. I kept quiet and kept fantasizing that one day I would be changed into something special–some kind of superhero.
It wasn’t until recently that someone started passing the “Reading Is a Superpower” meme around Facebook, and my dream was suddenly fulfilled. I was reading 300-400 page books when we were still reading Signposts and other primary books. I read Gone With the Wind for the first time in third grade. The movie was being shown for the first time on television, and I decided to read it. When I read, I can travel backwards and forwards in time. I read books set in dystopian settings that portray the future as a pretty terrifying place–for example, the Divergent series. (I refuse to read the Hunger Games trilogy until I watch the final movie. I did it in the reverse order I usually do!)
I can travel to other countries that I’d never see in real life, and I can be people that I’d never even get the opportunity to meet. Reading is probably the only thing I can think of I can do well anymore.
I remember when I was young, and we’d have contests to see who could read the most books. My winning was generally a no-brainer (no bragging intended). The county library’s summer reading contest was the only thing that kept me going in those three months.
I read for intellectual stimulation, entertainment, escape, and just because it is the only way I can keep my sanity sometimes. The answer to the question, “Do you need a new book?” will always be yes!” Sorry, diamonds, books are this girl’s best friend!
Finding Our Voices Together 