I have loved reading for as long as I can remember. As a child, I would sit on the couch with the TV playing, completely zoned into the story on the page. Every visit with my grandpa consisted of a new book of Laura Ingalls Wilder, Little House on the Prairies series. My dad laid in bed with me as we read a new book each night, eventually moving from Dick and Jane to Junie B. Jones. My mom would take me to the library almost every week to pick out the next week’s books and stories. Reading quite literally filled my childhood.
Jonas and I recently discussed where a love for reading comes from. Personally, I think it comes from many places. Perhaps a love for reading comes from watching your parents sit by the lamp, turning through pages. Or maybe it comes from listening to stories read before our eyes can see the words. Of course, there is always that first book you fall in love with, making you want to read another. A love for reading can grow from anywhere, you just have to remember to kindle it.
As a child, I would read anything I could get my hands on. From backs of cereal boxes to the little notes my grandma left around the house, I read everything. Eventually, it was my ever growing book collection, constantly out growing its shelf. I remember finishing Roald Dahl’s, The BFG in second grade while sitting in the garage as my dad finished his latest wood project. The saw was growling in the background as I turned to the last page. When I placed the book down on the workbench my dad declared it was time for ice cream. I think this instilled a love for reading and for ice cream, honestly nothing to complain about.
The point being, we all start reading somewhere. Maybe reading was an escape, a way to get out of your world for a little. Maybe reading was a chore, something you had to do in order to gain a privilege. Wherever you started reading, you picked up a book, read it, and when you finished you just knew you needed more. For me that was The BFG. Which I followed with every last book in Roald Dahl’s kid collection. What was your first book that made you know you had to find another?
I recently went back and reread Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, a book I read after The BFG. Honestly, it did not fill me with the same childhood wonder it once did. I think this is common. It’s not meant to fill me with that wonder anymore, new books exist to do that very thing. What it did do was remind me what the wonder produced.
I think that’s the special thing about reading. I can pick up a book that fills me with imagination and whimsy, that then carries into my day to day life. Take Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, a reread through that story and I am left wondering what events those white rabbits are racing to. Some books bring about different focuses. I read a book on bird watching, and even though I’m still not an expert on it, I still look up at the sky wondering what birds will fly by.
To awaken the love for reading at a young age is to gift a child with a lifetime of wonder and imagination. Many things can build imagination. Boredom for example, is a great way to build imagination. Reading is another. And with imagination, we spark wonder. It’s never too late to find that wonder. It’s never to late to develop a love for reading.
About five years ago I was in a reading slump. In that year I read roughly three books. I couldn’t even tell you the titles. My wonder vanished with my love for reading. I may not be able to tell you the three books I read while in my slump, but I can tell you the book that took me out of it. Another childhood favorite, one many people are familiar with. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K Rowling threw me out of my reading slump. I was able to finish the whole series in under two months. My wonder was awoken, along with my love for reading. And since then I haven’t been caught without a book.
Now when I hear a friend is stuck in a reading slump, my first word of advice it to pick up a book that sparked imagination and whimsy. A book they read when they were young that told them to pick up the next book. Reading these books won’t bring the same wonder we once had, we don’t need that anymore. But it will reawaken our love for reading. It will have us reaching for more, and sometimes that’s all we need.
So are you in a reading slump? Are you looking to find some childhood wonder? Go dust off your shelves or dig up your library card. There is a book waiting for you somewhere, you just need to go find it. I wish you luck.
And as always, happy reading.