Growing up, I was an avid reader. I started reading young, encouraged by my parents with silly games and interesting books. I have an older sister, so we already had plenty of material for me to get my hands on. In elementary school, we had reward-based reading programs. I was constantly competing with my friends to read more than anyone else, so I could get the most points and the best prizes. My sister had brought home a lava lamp one year, so there was some serious incentive to an 8-year-old.
It was at the age of 11, when I had just started middle school, when I met one of my best friends. While she changed my life, it was the book series she introduced to me that really made a huge impact. I had read "Harry Potter" and would soon consume "The Hunger Games" and "Twilight" series’. Sure, they’d be cool and interesting, and I will always love "Harry Potter," but when she introduced me to the series, I was captivated.
Suspension of disbelief is an amazing tactic only some of the best writers can pull off. Being able to believe that what’s happening could plausibly happen in real life is the sign of an experienced and beautiful author. It was in this series that I found this. That talking animals and weird lore and an entire world built into ours, lying just under our noses, would be completely realistic.
This series is still being published, after I started it some eight years ago, but I fell out of it as I went through high school. I was too busy with sports and extra curriculars and simply school itself. When I was reading it, there had already been 12 books published, and I read the next six in the years as they were released. I eventually caught back up and finished with the six after that, but I didn’t have the time to keep going after that.
Now, there are multiple one-shot books I haven’t read, the start of another six set of books, and two different series by the same author with the same premise. It’s expanded so much and so far beyond what I had ever imagined that it makes me with for the days when I had time to sit down and really read a book. This series was a part of my life, and when I fell out of it, I figured I would just have to accept that.
I’ve considered hundreds of times the idea of going back to it. I’ve gone into books stores, found the box sets and contemplated dropping about $100 to buy the first three of them. I’ve wanted, so many times, to just grab them all and reread the whole series from start to finish in one go.
Maybe one day I will. Maybe I’ll finally have the time to go back and pick up a good book and embrace the nostalgia for what it’s worth. So, don’t forget your favorite series, no matter what age you read it at. Think about it every now and again, do a Google search and see what it’s been up to. Maybe you, like me, will get to go back and do it all again.
