A Book is My Script

When I was little, I couldn’t wait to learn how to read. I’d listen to my mom read from books with beautiful pictures and I’d think she was the most talented person in the world. I wanted to learn the stories for myself; to be able to read the words that unfolded new thoughts and words I’d never heard of. I wanted to be the one with the talent, the one to tell new stories and come up with the new worlds.

The first book I ever read by myself was The Tale of Mr. Todd by Beatrix Potter. When I was little it was my favorite book because I loved the characters and the pictures. But when I read it by myself I remember thinking about the story in a different way. The characters had different voices and different personalities. I could put my own voice to them; say their dialogue the way I wanted instead of listening to the way my mom read it. It changed the story to me; it made it better. When I was mad, Mr. Todd could be mad too. And when I was happy, Mr. Todd was also happy. I controlled their emotions with my voice and my talent.

To me, being able to read is what makes me fit into the world. When I’m reading, I’m doing what millions of other people can do too. It’s a form of communication and a way of tying all of us together. Without reading, there’s no letters or signs, no text messages or magazines. There’s no way to write things down or way to make words last forever. But the worst is, there’d be no books. Books, for me, were the one thing I could control. The dialogue, the emotions; I read them how I wanted to. They were my own personal script, a way to mold a story into what I wanted it to be. Without books, I’d lose that control, that element that was all mine. I’d have nothing to direct, no script to read. Without books I’d have no lines.