"Why do I read? I just can't help myself. I read to learn and to grow, to laugh and to be motivated. I read to understand things I've never been exposed to. I read when I'm crabby, when I've just said monumentally dumb things to the people I love. I read for strength to help me when I feel broken, discouraged, and afraid. I read when I'm angry at the whole world. I read when everything is going right. I read to find hope. I read because I'm made up not just of skin and bones, of sights, feelings, and a deep need for chocolate, but I'm also made up of words. Words describe my thoughts and what's hidden in my heart. Words are alive -- when I've found a story that I love, I read it again and again, like playing a favorite song over and over. Reading isn't passive -- I enter the story with the characters, breathe their air, feel their frustrations, scream at them to stop when they're about to do something stupid, cry with them, laugh with them. Reading for me, is spending time with a friend. A book is a friend. You can never have too many."
When you read, you are taken to new worlds. You are able to mentally travel to different time periods and locations, and the best part is that you don’t even need a passport! You meet characters whom you begin to care about. Some of these characters remind you of people you know in real life. Others are so fantastically amazing that books are the only places they belong because living in the “real world” might change them. You accompany these characters on journeys as they experience dilemmas and victories. Unlike movies, where a director already has decided the details for you, when you read, you get to be the director. How do you picture the characters? What do their worlds look like? You create these details with your mind, and your books start to come alive! If that is boring, then I would like to stay bored for a lifetime!
In order to enjoy reading, you need to allow yourself to give certain books a chance. This is why it's so important to me to start the year by allowing you to find your own book. What should you do if you find reading to be difficult? Well, keep this in mind: Focusing too much on individual words can cause people to feel flustered. However, think for a moment about watching a movie at the theater. Have you ever missed a couple of words that an actor said and then asked yourself, What did I just miss? Of course you have! This happens to all of us. But then I don’t sit there for the next ten minutes thinking, Watching this movie is so hard! That's it. I don't like movies anymore. Should I let the rest of the movie become ruined just because I momentarily felt lost? No, because then I’m losing sight of the bigger picture—which is to enjoy what’s in front of me! When watching even the best movies, you leave thinking that you could have made a better ending. You miss words here and there. Certain scenes confuse you. Why should reading be any different though? Does something being slightly confusing or different than what you expected automatically make it boring or unimportant? Allow yourself to enjoy reading as an experience rather than a chore, and I think you'll start to like it a bit more!
-Ms. Sanford
When you read, you are taken to new worlds. You are able to mentally travel to different time periods and locations, and the best part is that you don’t even need a passport! You meet characters whom you begin to care about. Some of these characters remind you of people you know in real life. Others are so fantastically amazing that books are the only places they belong because living in the “real world” might change them. You accompany these characters on journeys as they experience dilemmas and victories. Unlike movies, where a director already has decided the details for you, when you read, you get to be the director. How do you picture the characters? What do their worlds look like? You create these details with your mind, and your books start to come alive! If that is boring, then I would like to stay bored for a lifetime!
In order to enjoy reading, you need to allow yourself to give certain books a chance. This is why it's so important to me to start the year by allowing you to find your own book. What should you do if you find reading to be difficult? Well, keep this in mind: Focusing too much on individual words can cause people to feel flustered. However, think for a moment about watching a movie at the theater. Have you ever missed a couple of words that an actor said and then asked yourself, What did I just miss? Of course you have! This happens to all of us. But then I don’t sit there for the next ten minutes thinking, Watching this movie is so hard! That's it. I don't like movies anymore. Should I let the rest of the movie become ruined just because I momentarily felt lost? No, because then I’m losing sight of the bigger picture—which is to enjoy what’s in front of me! When watching even the best movies, you leave thinking that you could have made a better ending. You miss words here and there. Certain scenes confuse you. Why should reading be any different though? Does something being slightly confusing or different than what you expected automatically make it boring or unimportant? Allow yourself to enjoy reading as an experience rather than a chore, and I think you'll start to like it a bit more!
-Ms. Sanford