“You need to read something,” my mother states for the hundredth time. “Miss Butler has required you to read a certain amount of pages, and reading If Only I Could Read over and over again doesn’t count.”
“But I hate reading, you know that.” I answer, ready to come up with any excuse to get out of reading the book my mother held loosely in her hand.
“Miss Butler recommended this book.” She says, hoping that my admiration for the teacher will win me over. “She said the school library won’t order this book so if you want to read it you need to get your own copy.” Seeing the look on my face she adds, “and one book isn’t going to kill you.” She holds the book out to me before continuing her battle with an eleven-year old girl that despises reading. “And you never know, maybe this book will be different than the others. I’ve heard great things about it. Your brother enjoyed it.” My mother waves the book in my face trying to get me to take it.
“Please, Nik will read anything you put in front of him.” I state rolling my eyes at the fact that my mom is trying to get me to read a book by saying my brother liked it. That boy will read any book no matter what it’s about or how long it is.
“We’ll read the first chapter together.” she compromises. “If you don’t like it, then I’ll find a different book for you to try out.” She holds the book out to me again, her eyes pleading with me to agree to her compromise.
“Fine, but I’m not going to like it.” I defiantly state as I grab the book from her outstretched hand and head over to the old, red couch to begin my session of torture for the day. I take a quick peek at the cover trying to find out what I have gotten myself into. The name Harry Potter written in funky, gold lettering catches my eye. Looking further down I see a young boy flying around on a broomstick trying to catch what I believe is a little, gold ball with wings. “Is that a unicorn?” I ask myself, and “what are the heads of three dogs doing on the cover of this book?” I sit myself down on the couch ready to see what this book apparently has that the dozens of other books were missing.
“Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling,” my mom begins, praying that this book will spike my interest, and that I will finally see the world I am missing. “Chapter One: The boy who lived. Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much. They were the last people you'd expect to be involved in anything strange or mysterious, because they just didn't hold with such nonsense.” My mom continues reading as I am unknowingly sucked into the Harry Potter universe.
“So, what did you think?” my mother tentatively asks as she closes the book only to have me snatch it out of her hands. “What are you doing?” I ignore her, open up the book and begin reading from where we left off. “I take it you like it.” My silence answers any questions she may have about me enjoying this book. “I’ll just leave you to your book,” my mother states as she gets up off the couch and heads out of the room.
“Paige you need to come into the kitchen for dinner.” my dad calls from the doorway.
“Huh?” I ask. I just barely started reading. How in the world could it be time for dinner already? I mark the page and reluctantly close my book. With book in hand I walk into the kitchen and sit at the dinner table.
“How are you liking your book?” my mother asks.
“It’s all right.” I’m hoping that my mom won’t notice the lie. Seeing her knowing smile, I add, “Truth is I can’t put it down. I’ve never read a book that has done this to me.” My mom smiles at me and I know that I will never hear the end of how I couldn’t put a book down.
“I love Hagrid,” I think to myself while taking a break from reading. Giving Dudley the tail of a pig is absolutely brilliant. Even though Hagrid is eight and a half feet tall, he just seems like he would be so cuddly and fun to talk to. I just know I am going to end up liking him.
As the days pass I find myself falling more and more in love with Harry Potter. Getting to school by train and going to a school that has ghosts and moving pictures seems like my type of school. Plus, it’s hands on learning at Hogwars. How can I argue with that?
“Why does Ron have to be such a jerk?” I mutter to myself. I know that Hermione is a know-it-all and it would be insanely annoying to have someone like her tell you you’re pronouncing something wrong; but I don’t understand why Ron has to be such a jerk to her. Just because Hermione is a little bit different, it doesn’t give Ron the right to make fun of her and then not even care when he sees that he has made her cry.
“Yes!” I yell out. Harry and Ron have saved Hermione from the troll. A mountain troll. Imagine that. Finally, Ron has done something that’s actually useful. Hermione took the blame for the three of them not being in the common room, which kind of surprises me. Plus, it was Harry’s idea to go and find her so he just went up a whole new level in my book.
Quidditch, now that sounds like a cool sport. Flying around on broomsticks and trying to catch a little, gold ball called a snitch seems difficult enough. But add in avoiding two balls that seem to have minds of their own called bludgers seems way more complicated than my simple game of soccer.
“What the heck!” I cry to myself. “What is Professor Snape’s problem? What did Harry ever do to Snape to deserve having Snape try to kill him?”
“Paige?” My mother asks as she tentatively sticks her head in my room. “Is everything all right?” Not noticing that my mom is talking to me, I continue muttering to myself about how idiotic Snape is. “Paige, what is going on?”
I look up from my book and notice my mom standing in my doorway. “Nothing is going on. I’m just reading my book. Can you close the door for me?” I quickly say hoping she will leave me to my new addiction. She nods her head and closes my door leaving me to continue exploring my newly found world.
I went into the bathroom today and was disappointed when the mirror didn’t show me my heart’s greatest desire. I’m dreaming about flying around on broomsticks and using a magic wand to make things hover above the ground. Is it normal to do that when reading a new book?
I can’t believe it. Professor Quirrel is the bad guy, not Professor Snape. I was positive that Professor Snape was the one trying to steal the sorcerer’s stone; but now that I look back it actually makes a lot of sense that it ended up being Quirrel. Professor Quirrel wouldn’t touch Harry when they first met. Plus, he was with Snape and Professor McGonagall when they found Harry, Hermione, and Ron in the bathroom with a knocked out mountain troll on the ground. “Oh, Quirrel is supposed to be really great at controlling trolls huh. Ha ha I just got that.”
“Yes!” I yell to my audience of stuffed animals. “Gryffindor won the house cup. Dumbledore went and gave a ton of points to Harry and his friends to make it so Gryffindor would win and not Slytherin.”
I didn’t know a book could do this to me. I have entered a world I didn’t even know existed until a few weeks ago. I know that saying a book has changed my life is kind of weird, but it’s true. I don’t know if I will ever be the same, but I do know this. A few weeks ago my mom told me I would like a book if I read it, and as much as I would like to prove my mom wrong by saying I hated it, I can’t. I enjoyed reading a book. Strike that, I loved reading a book. I can’t wait to continue my journey with Harry Potter and find out what happens next. My name is Paige Porter and I recently learned that a book can open up a whole new world. All you have to do is open the book and keep your mind wide open.
Are you like me and need just one book to suck you into the world of reading? Or are you like my brother who just always loved reading?
By the way, my sweatshirt in this picture is for Fred and George Weasley's joke shop.
