When I was younger, I absolutely hated to read. I remember throwing one of the biggest fits ever when my first grade teacher decided I was ready to start reading chapter books. I remember thinking why should I have to read chapter books? Picture books worked just fine for reading. Besides, reading is boring. Looking back on that memory, I can’t help but laugh. I can’t believe that I ever thought reading was boring. As I got older, reading became something important to me. I could read all day long and never get bored. During the summer time, reading was basically all I did when I was free. As I got older, I became so obsessed with stories, I started to write my own. I would spend my nights either reading or writing a fictional story. My mom said I was never a ‘normal kid’ because I’d rather stay inside and read than go out a do something. I remember thinking that being normal was boring.

The main reason I like reading is because you are basically transported into a whole new world. The older I got, the more stressful my life had become, whether that be with my job or with my school work, and reading really helped me work through that. Being able to sit down and get so immersed in the book pushed all my worries away, and really helped when I thought my head would explode from over thinking things.

The second reason I like reading is because I can read the same book a million times and still find new things I hadn’t notice in the story before. I’ve probably read Harry Potter over twenty times and every time I find something completely new. Whether it was a small detail or foreshadowing a huge scene. Books never get old. That’s the best thing about reading; I could read the same book over and over again and never get bored of it. Books will always be amazing to me.

Throughout my middle school days I was made fun of for always having a book with me, sometimes more than one. I was teased and called a book worm, but it never bothered me. I didn’t think there was anything wrong with being a book worm. During those days, we had to do five book reports throughout the school year. Because I was the book worm of my English class, I always got them done pretty early in the beginning of the year. My teachers would consistently point out how fast I got them done, which only opened up for more teasing, but I’d still feel really proud of that. Book reports were usually a big part of our grade and it always made me happy that I was going to get a good grade for doing something I loved.

Reading is better than TV, in my personal opinion. It’s up to you to make the story come to life with your imagination. I love picturing the characters and the scenes playing out in the back of my mind while I read. I guess the reason I love reading so much is that it forces you to use your imagination. The older I get, the more I feel that my imagination is used less. Reading gives me an excuse to use it.

There are many other reasons why I like reading, but I don’t think anyone wants to read an article that takes ten hours to read. Reading is truly the best form of entertainment. I am so thankful to my first grade teacher and my mom for forcing me to start reading chapter books. My obsession for books and reading will probably never lessen and I sure hope it doesn’t, because I don’t think I could go a week without reading some kind of story. I like reading so much becasue it forces me to use my imagination to actually enjoy the story and I think that is one of the best things in this world.