The first time I ever really feel in love with a book I was in middle school. At this point I had already enjoyed reading but my mere enjoyment was about to change forever. We were given a book to read as a class a chapter a day kind of thing.
Tuck Everlasting was the book my teacher set on my desk and as we began reading that first chapter as a class I began to fall into a work I didn’t want to leave. I was drawn in from that first paragraph.
This happened to be at a time where my current coping mechanism was on hold for healing purposes so when I got home that day I couldn’t help but to pull the book from my bag and continue reading.
As I found myself lost in the woods and exploring this new place all my problems faded away. I had found myself connected to this young girl looking for something new and exciting. Her problems had become mine and let’s face it I was much happier to deal with hers.
With every turn of the page I had discovered a new adventure. As a result I had quickly found myself chapters ahead of where I should have been as this was a book we were to read as a class but I just couldn’t help it. I was so in love with the pages of this book that rereading chapters was perfectly acceptable for me.
I honestly read that whole book twice and wasn’t even upset about it. My teacher was a little upset when she found out I read so far a head but seemed less upset when she realized I was rereading with the class and not just sitting around the back of the classroom doing nothing.
To this very day that book still holds a place in my heart and I have read it several times since then. I found a world to escape to right in my own room and from that moment on reading would become a coping skill I didn’t know I was looking for.
“Like all magnificent things, it’s very simple.”
― Natalie Babbitt, Tuck Everlasting
