Narrative English Class

When I walked into my 7th grade Language Arts class on a mid-October morning, my heart filled with excitement. The white board agenda loudly announced the class would finally return to the library at the beginning of class. My friend would not stop talking the book she had just finished, Unwind by Neal Shusterman, and I absolutely had to check it out and read it for myself. After finishing the Harry Potter series, I was eager to begin reading another interesting novel and my friend had done a great job selling her suggestion. With a new book I would be able to fill the dull, silent moments in class for the next month, and then we’d go to the library again. That was my outlook on reading in middle school, and it was similar in elementary school.

My mother’s sister’s son is four months younger than me. We have always gone to the same school and been in the same grade. We were quite close growing up, so we always wanted to be better than each other in every aspect of life, particularly reading. On the first day of third grade I made sure our teacher knew he could read faster than I could while I comprehended text better. Often when I went over to his house in our later years of elementary school, we would pick up the same Magic Tree House book and see who could read it the fastest. My cousin always won, but I generally earned better grades in language arts class. Because we were compared in this way, I felt content with my reading level and I didn’t try too hard to change how fast or well I could read. Eventually, he could also comprehend text as well as I could at his faster speed, and I accepted that I was never going to be as good of a reader as he was. Throughout the years of constant comparison that I still endure today, I’ve been putting myself in a box that constricts my reading level to right where it is or at least below my cousin’s as if I’ll never be good

Many of the mentors I have encountered through my church have encouraged me to read novels my authors such as C.S. Lewis that can challenge and develop my belief in Jesus Christ. They’ve inspired in me an interest in writings that will go deeper into the Bible and the Christian faith that will hopefully strengthen my faith as I continue to grow and mature. I’m also interested in reading pieces that will provoke in me deeper thoughts about how the world works in all aspects and perspectives. I believe that I have the ability to make profound world-discoveries as I enter into my adult life in the same that I encountered important self-discoveries in my adolescents. Reading may never become the most important pass time or interest in my life, but it will be an important part of my future in increasing my understanding and wonder of the world and shaping me into the person I’m meant to