Books have been Erika’s mortal enemy since the dawn of time. She did not find any fun in sitting down and reading a long book, instead, she wanted to play outside with any sticks or bugs she could find. Her mind could never wrap around the fact that people read for fun. It was not until middle school that she faced the cruel fact, she would eventually have to read books, and it was not until high school that her entire mentality changed. Erika made the executive decision to join a book club her high school had to offer, and that is when she fell in love with reading. When Erika came to the United States that is when her hatred for books intensified, now not only did she have to read books but she could not understand them. In class, Erika would look around and see many different kids reading, and looking like they enjoyed it. This baffled her. “How could someone possibly like reading?”, she thought, “How did they not fall asleep the moment they flipped open the cover?”. Erika’s hatred for books was always reflected on her report card, her teacher’s favorite phrases were: “Please have Erika read some books over the summer”, “I would suggest having Erika do 30 minutes of reading at home”, and her personal favorite “Erika is not at the required reading level”. Lucky for her, her parents did not read or speak English! Since her parents were never aware of her lack of reading, Erika continued to avoid books at all costs; well except Diary Of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney because according to her those books were actually fun! Now, it was not until middle school that Erika noticed that she could not avoid reading for the entirety of her life. During those middle school years, Erika again noticed that the other kids were reading plenty of books; from Percy Jackson to Harry Potter, to historical books just for the fun of it! This made Erika feel self-conscious due to the fact that she was not capable of reading a simple book like the other kids, but she also realized that her lack of reading had affected her speech as well. After spending four years in an English as a second language (ESL) class Erika still had trouble pronouncing certain words, and this brought a lot of embarrassment when it was her time to read aloud in class. But, no matter how many times she embarrassed herself, she still did not change her reading habits; that was until High School began. One random school day Erika’s favorite English teacher, Mr. Scrudato, went up to her and asked “Hey Erika, what do you and your friends do on Tuesdays after school?” Erika and her friend group, not being super productive, just went to White Castle after school to talk about the latest gossip, so she responded “we do nothing!” That is when Scrudato’s eyes lit up and proceeded to ask “How would you guys like to join my new book club?!” “sure we would love to!” Those words came as a complete surprise to Erika, even though it came right out of her mouth. Now, before they knew it, Book club became official and they had decided which book they would be reading first: Everything Everything by Nicola Yoon. This book was all about forbidden teenage romance, and Erika being a hopeless romantic completely loved it! How could this be? A girl who dreaded reading her entire life had suddenly read an entire book and truly enjoyed it! That was the moment that Erika betrayed her younger self, and she could not be happier about it. This book became a symbol of her newfound love for reading. She realized that books are not boring in fact, they hold many beautiful stories; from forbidden love, magical kingdoms, and killer mysteries, to heart-wrenching stories. After this, Erika would read book after book, feeding her imagination and creating entire worlds in her head. It was safe to say that she had become one of the kids that she looked up to, those who spent their free time cuddled up in a corner reading for hours on end. She never would have imagined becoming one of those kids, but it was Book Club that became an outlet for her to discover amazing stories. 

That is why I believe that schools should focus on giving kids the resources, and creating outlets to expose them to books that pique their interest. I know just how difficult it is to find the beauty in reading, but with the right support and passionate teachers, it is possible to fall in love with reading; and I want every kid to experience that kind of love. Especially since technology has now completely taken over and we have grown accustomed to getting our information from videos, we have to do our best to keep reading alive. We must continue to emphasize the importance of reading because it strengthens our vocabulary and memory, increases our imagination, and most importantly provides us with an abundance of knowledge.