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Health & Fitness

Books and Books and Winter Cheer

Reading a book over winter break would be like imprisoning yourself inside a school desk nine days before school actually starts again? Thats not the case in Naperville!

Most people would say that reading a book over winter break would be like imprisoning yourself inside a school desk nine days before school actually starts again. But opening up your mind to a book during winter is not a bad idea, actually, and reading plays a huge role in my winter break, as it has every winter in Naperville.

Naperville has plenty of bookshops and good places to go buy a book, thank god, so finding them aren’t that hard, but most people would argue that reading them is the worst part. Why read a book? Watch a movie instead, they would argue.

Watching a movie is a great idea, no doubt! I watched Mission Impossible 4 (four)-Ghost Protocol in theaters with IMAX sound and resolution. Amazing from all angles. But the point is, in a movie, you have to watch what’s in it. The actors, the director and the film crew make what you see.  You can’t change it.

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In a book, you control what’s what and how everything flows. Your mind explores every word as a new thriller, a new clue to the next. The sentences are differently paired, and if you want to imagine something your way, you can. Every pictorial image that is create by the massive intake of vocabulary can be used to make new ideas, or just enjoy how the author can write something down and make it unique to you inside your brain.

Reading a book won’t guarantee you an A in Language Arts, but the amount of background knowledge gathered while reading is immense, and you can say you’re genius and have some chance of people believing you.

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The new (Your Name) Einstein!________ Okay, not really.

But in Naperville, nothing is limited to a small screen because anything can happen, in the world, in the book, or in your head. And being able to do it my way has definitely changed me as a person as I’ve grown.

In first grade and second grade, reading seemed like a chore. Why read about other people’s problems if you could solve them in a snap instead of fixing your own.

But, I soon realized, there was something magical in reading about scenarios either in the past present or future. The suspense of turning every page, reading every word, just wanting to rub your hand together and squeal like you were about to dive into a cream covered waffle, all of the mixed emotions forcing your onward, it was a special feeling, something I hadn’t experienced before.

But Mr. Chris Daniels, a friend, let me experience one day when he bought me a book as a gift. My mother sat me down outside the home in the back and started to read to me. And I felt it. She read the whole thing through with me, that very day, and I soon, I couldn’t get enough of that feeling. I wanted to turn every page possible in every book and read. Mr. Daniels let me experience that first, and I owe all of the love for books to him.

But after second grade, I was on a roller coaster. Every turn I took was with a page. Eventually I read so much it affected me visually, and I had to get glasses. But I kept reading. And reading. And reading. Tearing a book away from me was like inviting a shark to a party.

I read everywhere I went, and multiple times a day. And what did I say about that feeling. It just surrounded me, everywhere. Life was a storybook, I soon found out. I could control it and make it mine. Whatever I wanted to happen I could make. I controlled my dreams. And it was amazing, just living like that. That is how you should live. Free. I kept feeling and understanding and loving the powers of words. It’s gravitational force pulled me closer to every page, and I, for one, kept turning. That’s how I lived my life. In reality, but always remembering that I could make my life however I wanted it to be. No one had force over it, and I could twist into anything I wanted.

Oh, and about the genius thing. TOTALLY WORKED OUT!!! I swear, I was known as the answer book during fifth grade, which was kinda scary, but like I said, the nerd glasses helped me as much as possible. And I hadn’t studied any history books or gone to a writing seminar camp or done research on the Civil War.

I had read, and I knew.

Because the knowing always makes you powerful and true to yourself and the world.

So read during the winter season, and let yourself into the realm of magic that awaits you. Live your life like you mean it.

Or, more precisely, like a book. 

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