Born to teachers, living in the vicinity of a postgraduate college library, books have been my best friends. Call me eccentric, call me nerd, it does not matter. I do read almost 5-6 books each month, despite being a full time doctor, wife and a working mom. One of my colleagues gave me a 200 page book to read and I called him just next day telling I had finished. He was surprised. “Did you not sleep whole night?” was his next question.
If a book gets me interested, it will be besides me wherever I go, be it hospital, mall, park and even in the kitchen and yes, I won’t mind sacrificing my sleep for it. As fate would have it, got married to husband who too reads but only medical books. He as well all my in laws are hooked to Television 24 x 7.
It wasn’t surprising that my child too got hooked to Television at a early age! All my efforts to make him read would go down the drain. I kept on buying books in the hope that he will read, but it would be only me reading out to him, in our story session before sleep.
When he was in Grade 3, one of my friends gave him Geronimo Stilton “The Cat and the Mouse.” That was the turn of tide. After that he read every book of Geronimo Stilton he could lay his hands on. Then came the famous Wimpy kid series, and he savoured them all. Next was the Famous five series and we have the entire collection at our house.
When he reached Grade 4, I got him the Illustrated version of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s stone. Within next 2 months, he had read all the Harry Potter books. By the time schools reopened after summer break, he had read the series twice. And just like mom, J.K Rowling become his favorite author as well.
He has read Magnus Chase, Alex Rider, Percy Jackson, Land of stories and so many till date. We dread going to malls, as Borders is too lucrative for him. The day the books are purchased, he will skip everything from bathing to dinner and would be seen on his bed with the book the entire day. We had to buy a separate book shelf to stack his books, though we keep on donating to libraries at frequent intervals.
He is the most frequent visitor of his school library and can skip lunch so that he gets to exchange the books. The mom in me gets worried, but the reader in me is happy that I have finally motivated one person to enjoy books and renounce the Idiot box.
A child should be encouraged to read from a young age. Story time before sleep, reading out to them, and acting as a role model does make a difference. Expose them to different genres, buy them books, gift them instead of gadgets and guns, get them enrolled in local library. If they are not interested, just keep on trying, it takes just one book to catch their fancy.
Books are a great way to relax. They enhance your vocabulary and comprehension skills. Once they learn to befriend books, they will be free for life.
I am participating in A2Z Blogging Challenge this April and this post is my entry for letter “R”
The Vagabond 
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