Weekend Writing: A Love Letter to Children's Books

In 2001, I was a six-year-old child who woke up early on a Saturday morning. I climbed out of my bed, picked up my copy of Junie B. Jones and the Stupid Smelly Bus by Barbara Parks, and I climbed back into bed. I opened the book and began to read.

And read.

And read.

And read until I finished the book...in one sitting. I read the book cover-to-cover until my mother knocked on my bedroom door, after seeing I was awake, and she wondered why I was up so early on a Saturday morning. When she saw I was reading, I don't think she minded I was awake so early. Instead, she encouraged this behavior.

Junie B. Jones books (photo/Kasy Long)

That was only the beginning. For as long as I can remember, I have loved reading. Like many other children, I started reading "storybooks" at a young age. My parents would read the books to me, and I would begin to learn the words. I read everything that was given to me, including The Three Bears, Where's Spot?, Muffy and Fluffy, Paddington Takes a Bath, and more.

Storybooks (photo/Kasy Long)

Then, I would be able to read the books myself, reading them out loud to my parents while showing them the pictures. I would move on to more advanced books, laughing along to Go, Dog, Go!, Clifford the Big Red Dog, Amy Loves the Rain, Corduroy, Little Critter books, Mom's Day Off, Little Bear books, Amelia Bedelia books, and many others. These books introduced me to real, imaginative stories. I couldn't get enough of them.

"I Can Read" books (photo/Kasy Long)

Little Critters books (photo/Kasy Long)

That includes the Little Bear books. I began this post by explaining the story of reading the Junie B. Jones books from cover-to-cover. That's a vivid childhood memory that still feels like it happened just the other day. I can remember exactly where I was in my bedroom. But I have an even clearer picture of reading the Little Bear books. My mother used those books specifically to teach me how to read a full-length book on my own. They were labeled as "I Can Read" books, meaning they were designed for young readers to use as tools to learn how to read real books. I read those books and I loved them. Little Bear and I became friends. I loved the stories and I loved that I was reading them myself. I was reading, not my mother or father.

Me. 

I was reading. I'll forever be thankful to the Little Bear books for being the first books I remember loving.

Little Bear books (photo/Kasy Long)

From then on, I advanced as a reader. By the first grade, I was reading the entire collection of Junie B. Jones, Magic Tree House, The Boxcar Children, Amber Brown, and so many more. Throughout elementary school, I loved visiting my school's library because it meant I could check out new books every week. I read Judy Blume's children's books (Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing, for example), Charlotte's Web, Because of Winn-Dixie, Main Street series, Doll Hospital series, Americal Girl books, The Girls of Lighthouse Lane series, and more. I read every book I could find, and not much has really changed since then. I wouldn't even leave the house without taking a book with me. I would read in the car and if there was a long wait at a restaurant, I would take a book with me and read while we waited to be seated.

I guess you could say I've always been a bookworm, but I wouldn't have it any other way.

Advanced reading books (photo/Kasy Long)

The importance of reading cannot be emphasized enough for young readers. Toddlers and young school children who read every day have a larger vocabulary than those who don't read at all. Not only does reading enhance their vocabulary and teaches them how to write, but it also helps them understand different topics about the world and everyday life.

My older sister and I reading (photo/Kasy Long).

The more children read, the more knowledge they will absorb. They can (and will) use that knowledge in all aspects of life. Reading affects their brain activity, exercising their brain because by reading, you're always learning. You're always using your brain for good. 

Reading enhances a child's concentration. By consistently reading, your child learns to concentrate and sit still for longer periods of time, which will help them behave when they attend school. By reading, they'll concentrate on the words on the page and eventually have their own questions about the book and the information within it. They'll learn about different cultures and languages. They'll sometimes learn more about life in books than they can in a classroom (but I'm not encouraging anyone to ignore education).

(photo/The Library Store)

But most importantly, one of the greatest benefits of reading as a young child is being exposed to imagination and creativity. When we engage in a book, we imagine the characters. We imagine what they're doing and dream about the setting as though it's actually real. We step into the story. Reading is a form of entertainment because we get "sucked into" the story and we don't want it to end. We're on the edge of our seats, flipping pages to find out what happens next. We're excited about the characters and their imaginative stories.

I'm confident I'm a writer today because I fell in love with reading at such a young age. I fell in love with creativity and imagination. I dreamed about the stories and I thought I could write my own stories.

And I did. I began writing short stories when I was 10 years old. I was inspired by the books I loved and I wanted to write stories just like those. I loved literature and nothing has changed. I'm a bookworm and writer today because of the books I read as a child.

And I'll forever be grateful to those books. I'll forever be grateful to those authors who inspired me to write my own stories, who helped demonstrate the power of a good book, and who helped me learn to read--because I can't imagine my life without reading.

But I'm most thankful of all to my parents who bought the books for me in the first place, and who always encouraged me to read all of the books I wanted. And when I told them I wanted to be a writer, they were the first ones to hand me a paper and pen.

-KJL-