What is a book?

A book is a world that you enter as soon as you flip to the first page and start reading. Books were made to be read, to change people’s lives and help them through troubling times. You get satisfaction from holding a book in your hands, feeling its weight, flipping the pages, smelling the ink and carrying it around with you proudly, showing the world what you’re reading. But when you carry an iPad or a kindle you don’t feel the weight, you can’t feel the pages as you flip them, you can’t spell the ink and the world doesn’t know what you’re reading unless you tell them. I think that there is something magical about a book and the story inside. That’s what makes you read, the story, but the physical book is just a bonus. You can point to your bookshelf and say look there’s my favorite book or look that’s the first book I’ve ever read. A bookshelf is like a trophy case, you put it out there to show everyone what you like to read and how many books you’ve read. When you have a book you also see the cover every time you close the book, you memorize it. When you go into a bookstore and you buy a brand new book and you carry it to the car, you feel certain happiness. You start reading it right away; everywhere you go you carry that book. Also, when you drop a book it doesn’t break but when you drop a kindle or an iPad. You fall in love with the story, you cry and laugh and smile at certain parts. You can also hug a book and feel the weight in your arms, you feel less lonely when you feel it in your bag. A book becomes your best friend and you shouldn’t have to share your best friend with other best friends all jumbled together on a piece of metal with a screen. The book should be yours, all yours. You can also put bookmarks into books. I love when people use torn up pieces of paper or napkins for bookmarks. You can also pass a book down to your children and they can pass it onto their children. It’s a cycle that will never end unless we let it. Book stores are closing, a place where people go to escape reality maybe grab a cup of coffee and then forgetting to drink it because you’re so into the book. The great thing about books is that you never have to charge them, they don’t need to be plugged in you can just pick it up and go. Yes, of course technology is wonderful and useful but we shouldn’t let it run our lives. Books should be a way to escape from all of the technology and the real world.

Why I Read

I read because a book can take you to another world. When you open up a book you are put in someone else’s life. You learn who they are, what they like, where they live and how they are. You get to understand their problems and their fears. I, personally, connect to the characters and think of them like they are beyond the page.  You don’t have to worry about your own life for a while, you can focus on theirs. Reading can change your mood, when you’re sad and you pick up a book like Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seus then your mood would change from sad to happy. I also read because you can learn new words. As you’re reading and you come across a word you don’t know then you would usually look it up and see what that word means so then you can understand what is going on in the story. I also read because when you put down the book, the story doesn’t end there, it continues in your life and you think of those characters and their life every day.  I read because it takes you to another world, it can change your mood, you can learn new words and the story continues even after the book is closed.