Cool Cats Stay Reading

Do you ever find yourself reminiscing on lazy Sunday afternoons spent in the marble halls of Hogwarts Castle? Maybe you would’ve brought Fish in a Tree to read during recess, or recorded an hour with Lemony Snicket for your reading log. Where did all that go? When did we stop reading? And I’m not talking about The Tragedy of Julius Caesar or The Lincoln Highway. I mean a book that you read the dust jacket of, or a friend told you about, and you felt excitement, interest, curiosity, non-indifference, something.

Why don’t we make time for leisure reading anymore? The answer seems painfully obvious: We grew up. Time is precious, and we don’t have infinite amounts of it. We now have jobs, extracurriculars, classes with actual stakes, maybe even respectable sleep schedules. Besides, isn’t it just easier on the mind when critical thinking isn’t involved in media consumption? Trust me when I say, I understand. Probably too well. But, I think people should give reading a second chance, if for no other reason than to say hi to your younger self.

I’ve enlisted the help of our school librarians, Mrs. Johnson and Mrs. Watkins, to hopefully remind you that cool cats read for fun, and reading is totally accessible.

Mrs. Johnson is a former history teacher of 25 years and is in her third year as a librarian. She finds it to be similar, yet different enough, from a classroom setting to be exciting, describing her favorite part as “the ability to help so many more kids than just the few that you teach.” Mrs. Watkins is a former English teacher in her second year as a librarian. She enjoys “getting to interact with kids in a much more flexible way” and being able to engage in more “organic conversation” with them.

With this week marking Banned Books Week, Mrs. Johnson and Mrs. Watkins each have a banned book to recommend. Mrs. Johnson’s is Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You, a remix of Ibram Kendi’s Stamped From the Beginning, adapted by Jason Reynolds. She comments, “It’s about the history of racism in this country. It’s a really interesting read and I just think it’s a really accessible book about a very important topic.” Mrs. Watkins recommends The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie. She describes, “It’s just a great book and it’s really accessible, particularly for teenage boys and people of color.”

Have you wished you could experience a book for the first time again? For Mrs. Watkins, it’s the Harry Potter series. She says, “I wish I could unread and reread the entire Harry Potter series and experience the magic for the first time, because it was what made me love reading.” Mrs. Johnson admits she wasn’t able to decide on just one book, saying that good books “have a little bit of magic that can only be captured that first time.”

Some remain traditionalists when it comes to print vs. electronic books, loyal to either paper or hardbacks. However, my goal is to show the accessibility of reading - in every sense of the word. Audiobooks and ebooks are good alternatives if you want a bit more adaptability in your reading. Mrs. Johnson, who does ultimately prefer hardbacks, also says she “gravitate[s] more to e-books now” because she can play with the font size and the color of the text to be easier on the eyes. Mrs. Watkins points out the functionality of an audiobook for someone who might not have the time to sit down with a physical (or electronic) book. She states, “I am a big audiobook listener; with adult life being busy… teenagers’ lives are [also] busy, so I listen in the car a lot.”

I asked for one last book recommendation: If you had one chance to turn someone into a reader, what would you recommend to them? For Mrs. Johnson, it was hard to pick one book for every student. Part of what she loves about her job is talking to a student about what they already enjoy in terms of other authors, books, and even T.V. and movies, and using what she knows about the student to cater book recommendations to their individual taste. Mrs. Watkins says she would recommend Karen McManus’s One of Us is Lying. She pitches it as “The Breakfast Club meets murder mystery.” Mrs. Johnson and Mrs. Watkins agree that a good hook and a plot that keeps you turning the pages are what make for a great story.

As busy as life gets, just remember that there’s always a world to escape to, and it’s just a page away. Maybe you’ll visit sometime.