I was never a really good reader, I had trouble spelling so natrully reading was hard. All throughout elementary and up until Jr High I was in special classes to help me learn to read. Even thou I had a hard time reading I loved listening to stories. Some of my favorite shows were Wishbone, Reading Rainbow and Adventures from the Book of Virtues ( like Audiobooks for kids but with cartoons or animals reading the stories, always on afterschool). I could sit there for hours after the shows were over and imagine myself as part of the stories.

Id like to say I had a good childhood, for the most part. My mom was a young single mother raising 1 boy and 2 little girls on her own and she was always working to put food on the table and keeping a roof over our heads. But being a young single mother and what I think desperate for a man to love her we also found ourselves with different men at our dinner table. Some of these men we would see once or twice, some would stay around a bit longer and some left me and my sister with deep physical and emotional wounds that we still deal with to this day.

Its sad to say but this is how my love for reading began. On one particular bad day when one of my moms boyfriends dropped me off at school about 30mins before class I made my way to the library. I didn’t know what to do with myself, I was extremely quite and didn’t really have friends and the library was a great place to hide and be alone. As I tried to look busy I came across Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone. As soon as I started reading I was immersed in the world. I wished and wished for my Hogwarts letter to arrive. I just turned 12 and thought I still had a chance to escape and go somewhere far away. I related to Harry so much that I really thought him my friend. Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone was the first book I ever read completely on my own, with no help from my sister or teacher and I was so proud of myself. After that first book I pushed myself harder in class thanks to Hermione and eventually got myself in a regular English class in high school.

It seams like every time I was having a particularly hard time in my life Harry was always there with a new adventure I could escape into. Reading and the Harry Potter series helped me get through so much and escape to a place were nothing could hurt me and eventually they taught me to fight for what was right and stand up for myself.

Books really are magic and I don’t know what I would have done without them.