The story of my books

Born in the early nineties which I believe was an exciting time and being the last of six children, my  parents relaxed a little when it came to me. I was pampered to an extent and pretty much had my way quite often with my parents. I knew the latest fads in fashion and music. Ranging from the dance steps like ‘the flex’ and ‘the butterfly’ to the different genres of music, you name it and I knew it. Books were a major part of my growing years. We never had a formal library but if we did then I believe there would have been enough books to satisfy the varying curiosity of a small town. I myself found a deep passion here which was fuelled positively by my father.

The end of every school term at my primary school saw the ‘Open Day’. On this day, parents come in to review their child’s performance and speak with the teachers concerning their children, after which there was always a book fair on the school playground which displayed all sorts of story books for the children.

I remember the first book which my father purchased for me was written by Britain’s Enid Blyton, titled ‘Snicker the Brownie and Other Stories’. I was in my third year and this was the first story book I remember reading. As soon as I got home that day, I had my lunch then went up to my room to read my book. I remember the feeling as an out of body experience. I was transported to a land with different exciting magical creatures. From Goblins who assisted Witches and Wizards to Gnomes, Fairies and Elves that made gardens beautiful.  Magical forests which reunited scared lost children with their families and evil characters that always got what they deserved at the end of each story. In less than two hours I had read the book and longed for another journey into the magical world. This was the ignition of my insatiable yearning for books.

From that day forward, my father never failed to provide me with Enid Blyton books at every given opportunity. I grew older and her books seemed to mature alongside me. I discovered her other publications like the Adventure series, Barney mysteries, Famous Five, St Clare’s and finally Malory Towers. At this point in my life, other books such as Anne M. Martin’s Baby Sitters Club piqued my interest. This was a new reading perspective as it was about American pre-teens in middle school that had a thriving baby-sitting business for the neighbourhood kids. This novel taught me about accountability, resourcefulness, friendships, and many more of things I was curious about at that stage in my life.  I got my mum on board my reading craze and every weekend I was taken to the bookshop for more books.

The holiday right before my first trip to boarding school, I stumbled upon a book called ‘Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone by J.K Rowling, this marked the beginning of my Hogwarts adventure. From the unorthodox story line to the new terms like ‘muggle’ which referred to a witch or wizard of human descent fascinated me. It had the similarities to the boarding school life which I was about to begin. I could relate to the four sports houses; Gryffindor, Slytherin, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw which was similar to the sports houses in my school, even cheered for Harry during the Quidditch matches. Moving forward, I made sure I got its sequels; The Chamber of Secrets, the Prisoner of Azkaban, the Goblet of Fire, the Order of the Phoenix, the Half-Blood Prince and the Deathly Hallows. Every time I read the books, I always found it hard to believe that it was just a fiction of someone’s imagination. My parents and siblings were not far behind as they also got bit by the Harry Potter bug.

When I was done with this phase, I desperately yearned for another book that would tell me more about things I did not know yet. Then I happened upon my big sister’s book stash where I found  novels written by the Late Sidney Sheldon, Nora Roberts, John Grisham and many more. I decided to start with a book titled ‘If Tomorrow Comes’ by Sidney Sheldon. It blew my mind. The ingenious scenes came to life in my head as I soaked in the contents of each page. One of my favourite scenes in the book was when the supporting character who had no prior knowledge of chess played two of the world’s greatest champions at the same time in separate rooms and won both tournaments. You want to know how he accomplished that feat? Find the book and read it.

Apart from satisfying my voracious appetite for the unknown, reading books helped both my diction and writing skills to a very great degree. Some times when I speak, I use words I didn’t even know I knew but truth is I probably discovered it whilst reading and it automatically stored it in some corner of my head.  As the saying goes, ‘If you want to hide something from a black man, put it in a book’, this doesn’t have to be the case. As individuals, I implore you to read at least three books in a year. This ritual does not only relax the mind but helps improve a person’s vocabulary. As parents make sure your child imbibes the reading character as it would set a pleasant tune for his or her future ahead.