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» Hatrack River Forum » Active Forums » Books, Films, Food and Culture » An 8 year old's perspective on the power of reading

   
Author Topic: An 8 year old's perspective on the power of reading
Belle
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Emily was sitting near me last night and picked up a book that I had been reading for class. She started reading through it and asked me:

"Mom, why are you reading such an easy book?"

I asked her what she meant and she said that she could read every word on the page, so it was an easy book. Didn't I read much harder books?

I told her that was no such thing as a "harder" book, once you can read, you can read. You'll always run across words you don't understand, but if you know how to look them up or understand them from the sentence, you can read them. To illustrate the example, I told her that was a book I was reading for college, and she could read it in the 2nd grade.

She put the book down, and was silent for a second. Then she looked up at me and there were tears in her eyes. I was scared, because I didn't know if I'd said something that upset her, so I asked her what was wrong.

She said: "This means I can learn anything."

I still get goosebumps just writing about it.

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Noemon
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Wow. That really is a powerful moment. It may be one that she looks back on as pivotal in her life.
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ketchupqueen
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That's wonderful. I remember before my brother learned to read. He used to just go, "I can't wait until I can read it myself!" And once given the basic tools to learn to read, he did indeed take off and has been reading everything ever since.
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Elizabeth
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Another geek in da house!!!

That is such a beautiful story!

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Paul Goldner
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I need to remember that story.
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mackillian
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Me too. Wow.
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dkw
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Awesome.
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Teshi
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[Smile]
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Nell Gwyn
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Belle, you have an awesome kid. [Smile]
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camus
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I remember when I felt that excited about reading and looked forward with eager anticipation to my frequent trips to the local library, that is, until my reading time was slowly replaced by movies, sitcoms, computers, magazines, newspapers, internet, video games, sports, and something people refer to as responsibilities. <sigh>
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MyrddinFyre
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[Big Grin]
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Kwea
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That is very, very cool. [Big Grin]
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Dagonee
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[Big Grin]
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Dan_raven
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I like it.
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Princess Leah
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That's amazingly inspiring.

*satisfied sigh*

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Miriya
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[Big Grin]
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Goody Scrivener
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quote:
She said: "This means I can learn anything."
Perfect. Absolutely and completely perfect!!! [Smile]
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larisse
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Belle.... you have such a sweet and awesome daughter. She's beautiful inside and out. Such a smartie.
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