‘We like books because they stay the same’ writes one of the authors from this wide-ranging, persuading, and beautifully illustrated collection of letters, directed towards young children with the noble of aim of reading books.
Here’s something I remember from my childhood memories that involved books. Growing up, we didn’t have a of money to get by, so I get no to very little money from my parents. But I had a habit of saving money whenever I got my hands on some. We didn’t have cable either, and although we played a variety of games outdoors, we still had to spend plenty of time indoors. I don’t exactly recall where the idea came to me, but I got into the habit of reading. Now, I didn’t know English at that age, I could barely read Urdu, our national language, I had that earnestness for getting know more stories. As children, we were often told stories by our parents, teachers, relatives, but they were too few and too far out in between.
I had figured out that reading books is supposed to tell you such stories as well, and how better that it tells you new ones, and plenty of them as well, whenever you felt like reading one. But listening to stories from others is very different from reading stories on your own. Mostly, it is different because it is a solitary activity. And from what I gather, parents around here, both the old ones and new, do not like kids who like to spend time with themselves.
And rightly so. As a kid, you should have friends so that you don’t grow up lonely and learn things from them as you grow up. Being around others teaches us a lot of things, how they behave and whom we like and whom we don’t. It also teaches you to become a part of something, like a group of friends, a sports team, voluntary service work, etc. So, growing up as a social kid has a lot of benefits that will help us a lot when we’ll grow up. But some of us do not find the outside world as comfortable as other kids might.
We are shy around people, we cannot speak in loud voice, we are hesitant to speak what is on our minds, we find a lot of people overwhelming and feel the need to be on our own every now and then. That is to say, some of us are introverts. But that is a gift too. Introverts are very good at spending time by themselves and that gives them the advantage to know themselves very well. They are also very creative since they have to come up with ways to spend all that time with themselves. They also tend to be different from others because their hobbies are totally different from everyone else’s. They are also more sensitive because they are too aware of how they feel, and this makes them empathetic where they care about how others might feel as well.
And I was an introvert, which was good news because reading was a good match for me. But I had a tough time growing up as an introvert, as most of us do, because as I mentioned we are different from others and don’t meet the general expectations of people. But here’s what matters: as long as you know that introversion is gift and that it gives you powers, like reading books, you will be alright, you will be able to put up with every kind of criticism, and most importantly, you’ll grow up and people won’t bother you as much when you are an adult.
Guess what, they
would be somewhat jealous of your reading habit and the fact that you know so
much. And books will some of the best friends you will ever make, in childhood
and in adulthood. They stay, they never change or leave, they are lots of them,
and what you can learn from them is always larger than what you have already
learned from them – always. So, readers young and elderly, this was my
encouragement for you to start reading: one of life’s greatest joys and
decisions.
Rating: 4/5 **** September 25, 2022_