“Twas the night before Monday and all through
the house only one creature was stirring and it wasn’t a mouse, just a young
girl eager to learn, a grin crept across her face with every page she turn. Sitting under her covers and flash light in
hand, traveling by reading to an uncharted land…” (Brittany Evans-Campbell adaptation of Clement Clarke Moore’s “Twas
the night before Christmas”)
Reading has
always played a significant role in my life as early as I can remember. From
the exposure in the daycare that I attended with early sight words to my attempt
in the first grade to read full pages of literature until now as an adult,
reading novels at my leisure, each played a role in my love for reading. I remember the first book I learned to read right
before I entered 1st grade. It was Hop on Pop by Dr. Seuss. I was so
excited to be able to read aloud on my own without having to wait for my mother
or grandmother to read it to me. I read that book to everyone that I knew! It was
a sense of accomplishment. I remember one day getting in trouble by my
grandmother because I taunted my cousin who was a year older than me, but could
not read the book like I could. I even offered to teach her.
As the
contents of the books became more then 3 and 4 letter words my grandmother felt
it necessary to invest in “Hooked on phonics”. This literacy tool was all the
rave at one point in time and in order for me to stay ahead of the curve, my
grandmother thought a nightly dose after my homework but before dance practice was
the answer. So for majority of my elementary school career “hooked on phonics”
was a part of it. Some days I enjoyed it, some days I tolerated it and some
days I just did not want to be bothered. About the 6th grade is when
reading actually felt like a chore. I did not enjoy the selections that were
given, I did not like the written assignments given, I did not want to do my
extra lessons at home; I just wanted to dance, WAS THAT TOO MUCH TO ASK? My
love affair with reading started to dwindle and my passion for dance has taken
over. Less time was had for leisure reading adventures; more time was placed in
traveling with my dance team.
In high
school a spark had ignited the flame that illuminated the words on the pages of
books and back into my heart again. I truly believe that reading can transport
you to another place and let you experience traveling and the journey to foreign
lands through literature was amazing. In my world literature class reading works
of great eastern philosophers, Lao Tzu and Confucius opened my eyes to a world
that the urban area I resided in did not allow me to view from my window. Novels such as “One Flew Over the Cuckoo's
Nest” by Ken Kesey spoke to my creativity. Reading has always kept my mind actively engaged
with the world as I see it and still prompts my curiosity daily. If it is an
article online, in a magazine or a new novel or self-help book I pick up,
reading has and will always take me on a journey, and who knows where I will
land. Are you ready for your next journey?
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