Photo courtesy of Pixabay.com
How many of you readers loved to read when you were in elementary school? How many of you had your parents read stories to you when you were little? Or if you didn’t like reading, was there a favorite book that you would love to read? Was there a story that you could just imagine yourself in, as the princess, as the prince, as the adventurous and brave protagonist who wins in the end? Or maybe you absolutely hated reading but there was always one book you were happy to read? Did you ever have a favorite book? How excited do you get when you start reminiscing about the books you used to read when you were little with your friends? More often than not, there’s exclamations of “oh yeah, I remember that” and “I loved that book” and sometimes, there’s “I completely forgot about that one.” I asked some Cal Lutheran students these questions to see how prominent books were in our lives when we were little.
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I personally loved reading when I was in elementary school and I still love reading now. My mom taught my older sister and I how to read when we were very young and from that moment on, I fell in love with books. I read books from the Disney fairytales to books like Nancy Drew, The Little House on the Prairie series, and The Royal Diaries series. When I was little, I loved Disney’s Beauty and Beast because Belle loved books as much as I loved them; she was a girl in a small town who had a big imagination and big plans for her future. I resonated with her love for books, knowledge, and her plans for her future. I had my favorite parts of books, just like Belle did, like the chapter where she meets her prince charming, but doesn’t discover that it’s him until chapter 3. I loved The Royal Diaries because they were about the lives of real life princesses and when I was younger I, naively, thought anyone could be a princess because all of these different females were princesses; they didn’t all look the same and they weren’t all from the same place, but they still had the ability to make an impact on their part of the world.
Andrea Lopez, the Senior Editor of our Her Campus at Cal Lutheran chapter, loved reading and she had two favorite books: Ida B and Scarlett. Both of these books have a young girl as the protagonist accompanied by ongoing difficult situations she finds herself in; she eventually finds her way to happiness through her independence. She enjoys their story and how they find their happiness in dark times.
I think one of the best parts about books is how we can see ourselves in the characters. As we’ve grown since elementary school, we’ve all found ourselves in difficult situations and at this point in our life, as college students, we’re also trying to find ourselves and who we want to be in the world. The characters in books can give us hope and ideas about our capabilities and possibilities for our future. When we looked at life when we were in elementary school, we could see our whole future as optimistically as possible. As we see our lives now, as college students, we’re a bit more pessimistic or realistic, but our goals and determination come from the life we saw for ourselves when we were children. It’s%20my%20favorite.%20via%20
Julie Wilson, a junior at Cal Lutheran, loved the Magic Tree House and The Mouse and The Motorcycle. the Magic Tree House captured the adventures and the endless possibilities a child’s imagination can take the reader. Julie plans to use her imagination, creativity, hard work, and talent to pursue a career as a character animator.
Ramsey Khader, a Criminal Justice and Psychology major at Cal Lutheran, loved Follow My Leader, a story about a boy, Jimmy, who was blinded by a firecracker and finds comfort, guidance, and protection in the German Shepherd, Leader.
Mandy Avella, a Marine Biology major here at Cal Lutheran, loved reading when she was in elementary school. She specifically loved the Junie B. Jones stories and Junie’s character resonated with Mandy because she was “dorky and out there and I was somewhat like that in elementary school too.”
Michael Welch, a junior at Cal Lutheran, loved the The Foot Book by Dr. Seuss. Christina Suarez, a senior at Cal Lutheran, hated reading when she was in elementary school, but she also loved one of Dr. Seuss’ classics, Green Eggs and Ham, as well as Chicka Chicka Boom Boom.
Francheska Cal, future co-president of our Her Campus at Cal Lutheran chapter, liked Junie B. Jones and David Gets in Trouble. As an aspiring elementary school teacher, she believes in the importance of books. For example, she wants to use one of her favorite childhood books, When You Give a Mouse a Cookie, to teach her future students what the impact and importance of sharing is with the people around you. Photo courtesy of author
If any of you answered the beginning questions, think about how you can impact the lives of the lower income elementary students in the Conejo Valley. Think about how there were stories you fell in love with and how maybe they impacted your life, even in the smallest sense. Think about how you could help a child see the world differently through the pages of a book, through the eyes of a protagonist. Think about how you can give a child a sense of hope or escape with the story and imagination within a book. Please bring gently used or new books for lower income kids in grades K-5 in the Conejo Valley, on the Spine from 11:25 am to 1 pm on November 14. You never know what your contribution can do for a child in need.
Thumbnail photo courtesy of Pixabay.com