Can you believe there was a time when I hated to read?
When I was in the seventh grade, my grades were appalling with mostly Ds and a few Cs.
The academic path I was on was not a good one, and at the age of 12, I had a difficult time understanding why any of it mattered.
I had a bad attitude and I was dealing with a severe bout of depression, largely due to personal issues at home. Nothing in life mattered and I was reaching the point where I didn’t even want to live anymore.
A longtime neighbor, the late Bonnie Viars, knew I was struggling. She called me over one afternoon, which she often did by offering me a plate of her delicious homemade food and a cold Pepsi from her fridge, so I happily walked across the street to her house.
This particular day, she did not have a plate of food to offer, but instead a book I had never heard of — “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.”
I remember looking at the cover of a boy wearing glasses riding a broom with a castle in the background and thinking, “This looks stupid.”
Bonnie told me to take the book home and read it. Not wanting to be rude, I internally rolled my eyes and said, “OK.”
Disappointed, I went home and decided to take a look at this “stupid book,” certain I wouldn’t even finish the first chapter.
As though magic were real, I was hooked from page 1, and I couldn’t stop turning the pages.
For the very first time in my life, I was actually enjoying reading, and it was giving me an escape from the personal problems I was dealing with.
Before the weekend was over, I had the book finished and rushed to Bonnie’s house asking if there were any more of these Harry Potter books.
I then spent all of my spare time reading books 2, 3 and 4. At that time, those were the only published books from the series.
I would take the books with me to school, reading as much as I could in any spare time I had, including lunch. I started making it to classes early so I could sit down and get a few more minutes of reading time in.
Eventually, my grades started improving. I went from all Ds and Cs to mostly Bs and even a few As.
English became my favorite subject and I was excited anytime we were given a reading assignment because I wanted to read as much as I could.
Fast forward a few years, I later enrolled in college at Delta State University, where I majored in journalism with a minor in English. Not many people in my family had even attended a college, let alone graduated.
When I look back on the achievements of my academic and professional career, it all goes back to the day I was introduced to the Harry Potter series.
To this day, I am still an avid fan. I am often teased for my “childish” obsession, because I not only own multiple copies of the series but I have also grown quite a large collection of merchandise.
I owe a great deal of gratitude to Bonnie and J.K. Rowling. I wish I could personally thank them both for this beautiful collection of stories that truly did change my life.
When I became a mother, I knew I wanted to instill a love of reading early on with my children.
There are numerous benefits of early reading, but here are seven key benefits according to the World Literacy Foundation, which include brain development, early vocabulary development, improved reading, better writing, better communication, creating a hobby and professional skills.
Reading exercises our brains, exposes children to a wider vocabulary at an earlier age, improves their overall comprehension skills, improves their interpersonal communication skills, and gives them something fun to do.
You will never convince me that playing games on a phone or tablet comes close to being as beneficial as picking up and reading a book.
We already have a large collection of books at home, but this week I took my 3-year-old daughter, Laura, to the William Alexander Percy Memorial Library so she could get her very own library card.
She was absolutely thrilled, and we took home a hefty armful of books that she’s been repeatedly reading since we got them.
The library offers a summer reading program every year, which we unfortunately didn’t participate in, but reading isn’t just limited to summertime. Plus, getting a library card is 100% free, so why not?
It’s never too late to start reading, and anytime is the right time to do so.
Catherine Kirk is the managing editor of the Delta Democrat-Times. She can be reached at ckirk@ddtonline.com.
