Books are Whole Other Worlds

Imagine a place where trees ruled the earth, teddy bears came alive, or where extinct species came back to exact their revenge on mankind. Everyone pictures these places differently, has a different daydream. Everyone creates a different place from the same sentence.

I believe in books. I believe books aren’t always words on a page, or sentences and paragraphs. Books are whole other worlds where almost anything can happen. Where you can make anything happen. Each world is your own; no one will ever be there experiencing things the exact same way. Even when you and a person read the same book, you sense that world differently than them. We each make different versions. Books are the world you make them.

Books are my vacations. I can travel 7,000 years into the past or future, or half way across the world in a matter of seconds. I can fit together the pieces of a puzzle and see what the words REALLY mean. When I read a good book, I don’t see the words or the pages, I see the WORLD.

Once I was in fourth grade, the whole class was reading. In the reading corner, blocked off from the rest of the room, I sat in a really comfy, green chair. But I wasn’t there. I was in the world of Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls, Emily Jones version. The teacher called clean up. Everybody started moving around and getting to the next activity, math. Everybody but me. I hadn’t heard the teacher or sensed anybody moving around. I continued to be in the world of Where the Red Fern Grows. I was in the mountains chasing after a ring-tailed coon with Little Ann and Old Dan. About five minutes later the teacher came and stood by my chair and waited for me to notice her. I didn’t. She finally took the book from my hands and when I looked up I saw everyone already deep into their math textbooks.

Sometimes when I finish a really good book, I wish I hadn’t read it just so I can read it again from the start, not knowing what happens. Figuring out the puzzle again or experiencing the surprise new.

I believe that books are whole other worlds where you can make whatever you want happen and nothing is impossible. It is important to know where you can get away. Books aren’t the only thing that can create a world in your head. Poems, discussions, articles, anything can make you imagine a whole other world. If you need something to think about, just read a book.